The rocky road to nice things!

EllaBeagle

I started writing this thread and then deleted the whole lot as I had started to ramble a bit. So......deep breath.......cup of tea........and firstly

Our debts

Which currently stand at:

Car finance 4200.00
Kandco 1300.00 £1400.00
Shoppacheck 280.00
Shoppacheck (OH) 280.00
Lowell 800.00
Rent arrears 300.00
School arrears 400.00
Credit card 250.00 £220.00
[STRIKE]
Wonga 460.00
[/STRIKE]
Would like to wipe some if not all of these out especially over the course of 2013. My catalogue and credit card I would like to keep going however with a little less of the spending so it still helps my credit file.


Long term goals (5 years)

To get a mortgage! Would like to buy our home via the right to acquire scheme and make some big changes to the property.
To finish my studies in Accountancy by starting Level 4 in September 2013 and my degree after that.
To set up a small bookkeeping business from home to go alongside my part time job in an Accountants (may or may not be a good idea)
To start saving


Short term goals

To decorate the house
To have a holiday in 2013
Will add to this as I am sure there are lots more.


First things first is to get Christmas out of the way and start being a little more frugal. Will have a look at some of the marvellous threads on here about saving on food and frugal meals. I'm also part of the positive steps thread which helps alot so will post my positive steps to complete this week.

trishx

Don't worry about rambling - it's good to let it all out!

Well done for starting a diary and tackling your debt.

Eek! I spy the dreaded payday loans Can you post an SOA (including the APRs for each of the debts)? I'm sure the good people on these forums will have some money saving suggestions for you

EllaBeagle

trishx wrote: »

Don't worry about rambling - it's good to let it all out!

Well done for starting a diary and tackling your debt.

Eek! I spy the dreaded payday loans Can you post an SOA (including the APRs for each of the debts)? I'm sure the good people on these forums will have some money saving suggestions for you

Thanks Trish :beer:

Luckily I'll have a big lump sum next week to wipe out my payday loan. And that will be the end of that! :j I will honestly never use them again. Started out a 50 pounds and ended up at 500! x

citizenkitten

to quote Tixy a regular here

I suggest

Hi and welcome to the forum.

its probably a good idea to complete a statement of affairs and post on here so that you and we can see your full situation and what options might be best for you. http://www.stoozing.com/msoc/soacalc.php It will give a full picture as to what you can afford towards your debts after living costs.

IMPORTANT - Where to seek professional impartial advice about your debts.

EllaBeagle

This is my SOA although I'm not sure if I've done it right or not.


Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 2
Number of cars owned.................... 2

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 750
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1300
Benefits................................ 85
Other income............................ 600
Total monthly income.................... 2735

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 130
Rent.................................... 400
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 100
Electricity............................. 40
Gas..................................... 40
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 50
Telephone (land line)................... 12
Mobile phone............................ 35
TV Licence.............................. 24
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 30
Internet Services....................... 7
Groceries etc. ......................... 200
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 150
Road tax................................ 25
Car Insurance........................... 170
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Lowell.................................. 60
Shoppacheck............................. 80
Car finance............................. 130
Credit Card............................. 12
Catalogue............................... 180
Total monthly expenses.................. 1875


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 0
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 0


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 0........(0)........0
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 4500.....(130)......0
Total secured & HP debts...... 4500......-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Catalogue......................1300......180.......0
Credit card....................250.......11........0
Shoppacheck....................560.......80........0
Total unsecured debts..........2110......271.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,735
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,875
Available for debt repayments........... 860
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 271
Amount left after debt repayments....... 589

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 0
Total HP & Secured debt................. -4,500
Total Unsecured debt.................... -2,110
Net Assets.............................. -6,610

Created using the SOA calculator at https://www.stoozing.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using other browser.

EllaBeagle

Ah just realised my partners wage should be 1200 not 1300.

citizenkitten

EllaBeagle wrote: »

This is my SOA although I'm not sure if I've done it right or not.


Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 2
Number of cars owned.................... 2

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 750
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1300
Benefits................................ 85
Other income............................ 600 (WHAT IS THIS FROM? CAN YOU INCREASE IT?)
Total monthly income.................... 2735

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 130
Rent.................................... 400
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 100
Electricity............................. 40
Gas..................................... 40
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 50
Telephone (land line)................... 12
Mobile phone............................ 35 HIGH, RENEGOTIATE
TV Licence.............................. 24 MAKES 228 A YR, WHEN LICENCE FEE IS 145 ISH?
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 30 DO YOU REALLY NEED THIS? RENEGOTIATE IF NEEDED
Internet Services....................... 7
Groceries etc. ......................... 200
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 150
Road tax................................ 25
Car Insurance........................... 170
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0 NOTHING AT ALL A YEAR?
Car parking............................. 0 NEVER PARK WHERE IT COSTS?
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0AGAIN NOTHING
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0 AGAIN NOTHING AT ALL A YEAR?
Haircuts................................ 0 NOTHING?
Entertainment........................... 0 NOTHING?
Holiday................................. 0 NOTHING?
Emergency fund.......................... 0 BE GOOD TO PUT SOME MONEY AWAY IN THIS
Lowell.................................. 60
Shoppacheck............................. 80
Car finance............................. 130
Credit Card............................. 12
Catalogue............................... 180
Total monthly expenses.................. 1875


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 0
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 0

Comments above with no judgement attached, just want to make sure we are getting a true and realistic picture of your spends and therefore give hopefully good advice

beanielou

You dont have school arrears included in your SOA?
What are they for?
Is an amout for the rent arrears included in the £400 for rent?
Remember they are a priority debt.

EllaBeagle

Hi everyone :j

Had a bit of a manic week so will check back and post my SOA as soon as I get time to go through it properly.

Just a quick update! I finally have a current account! :j Not much to jump up and down about I know but it kinda shows that my credit file is getting better.

My credit file was a mess about 2 years ago. Had about 4 defaults so last year I settled all of them, got my catalogue account back up and running (literally begged them to let me have my account back after I paid the default). They gave me a credit limit of 200 and 18 months later still up to date and my credit limit is 1800!

Also have a small phone contract and shoppacheck on there all up to date. Still in the red with a very bad credit file but its slowly ironing out. Halifax, natwest and santander all turned me down for a current account but Lloyd's TSB have accepted me.

I'm going to start fresh with this account. Try to keep everything up to date and not miss any direct debits. I'm going to take advantage of their free money manager too. See if that helps.

Be back soon!

EllaBeagle

I stupidly applied for a mortgage in principle from Lloyds a few days ago I'm so impatient! However the advice they gave me helped a little. Basically I can't have a mortgage until my defaults have dropped off my credit file which if you go off the date that they actually defaulted I'm going to be waiting until 2016! :eek:

My partner would be considered for a mortgage if he paid of the £800 we owe to Lowell. Its disheartened me a bit because by the looks of it its going to take a long time to get to where we want to be. Its also made us reconsider buying the house we're in and maybe just save up as much as possible over the next few years. After all our debts have been paid of course. And then get a mortgage somewhere else.

God this must be the most boring debt free diary that ever graced MSE! :rotfl:

I will make time to do the SOA as soon as possible. I know for a fact we are spending way too much and that some things need tweaking such as Sky, phone etc.

EllaBeagle

This is my updated SOA. A few things:

1. My mobile phone contract should only be 16.00 per month to include 0845 and 0800 numbers but it always ends up around 35.00 per month. I have never been able to access an itemised bill or my account details online as every time I try to log in it won't let me. I rang them up to ask them for help with this but they can never get me access to it? It really angers me because I can't even check if they are some how ripping me off. Any help with this would be great. SORTED JUST RANG THEM AND I NOW HAVE ACCESS TO MY ACCOUNT

2. Sky. I am paying for the phone line just to have access to the internet. I threw away my house phone so I wouldn't use it. I pay 7.00 a month for unlimited internet access because they said I keep going over. Is there any way of just having the internet access but no phone? Also I want to drop the movies and try to bring it down as theres lots of channels we don't watch. Any advice would be great.

3. Petrol. It costs me 30.00 a week to get to and from work. Is there any help I can get with travel costs from either tax credits or work itself? I only work part time so its a big chunk of money going on that! Then theres my partners car which we don't need as I can take him to work and pick him up but he won't agree with me! So frustrating because we really don't need a second car.




Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 2
Number of cars owned.................... 2

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 775
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1283
Benefits................................ 700
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2758

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 130
Rent.................................... 435
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 88.4
Electricity............................. 40
Gas..................................... 40
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 56
Telephone (land line)................... 12
Mobile phone............................ 35
TV Licence.............................. 0
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 32
Internet Services....................... 7
Groceries etc. ......................... 400
Clothing................................ 20
Petrol/diesel........................... 216
Road tax................................ 40
Car Insurance........................... 171
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 150
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 40
Other child related expenses............ 40
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 50
Haircuts................................ 10
Entertainment........................... 40
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Credit card............................. 11
Catalogue............................... 200
Car finance............................. 130
Shoppacheck............................. 80
Lowell.................................. 65
Total monthly expenses.................. 2538.4


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 600
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 600


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 0........(0)........0
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 4500.....(130)......0
Total secured & HP debts...... 4500......-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Credit card....................250.......11........0
Catalogue......................1600......200.......0
Shoppacheck....................500.......80........0
Lowell.........................800.......65........0
Total unsecured debts..........3150......356.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,758
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,538.4
Available for debt repayments........... 219.6
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 356
Amount short for making debt repayments. -136.4

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 600
Total HP & Secured debt................. -4,500
Total Unsecured debt.................... -3,150
Net Assets.............................. -7,050

Created using the SOA calculator at https://www.stoozing.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using other browser.