Uh Oh We're In Trouble!

NewlyWed_3

Hi Everyone,

I'm relatively new to this board, I've sat and read threads constantly and have been too scared to put on my SOA. My husband and I got married in January 07 and stoopidly didn't try to clear some of our debt beforehand. The debt is split below between mine, hubby's and joint although we throw money at each others from the joint account.

We're struggling from month to month and are not budgetting correctly. I've tried the budget sheet from on here but we can never keep to it. Any ideas on budgetting would be greatly appreciated.

I'm tired of living from month to month and seriously need some good advice to help me out of this hole so that I can think about starting a family!

Ok here goes:

Incoming:

Me: £830.00 every 4 weeks (Council Tax & Credit Union Loan paid through my salary, this includes £20 saving per month to christmas account)
Hubby: £1560 per month
Total: £2390.00

Mine:
HFC Credit Card £1350 @ £36pm 23.9%
Barclaycard £650 @ £20.00pm 19.9%
Egg Card £730 @ £25.00pm 19.9%
Capital One £200 @ £15pm 1.563%
Cahoot Flexible Loan £4000.00 @ £106.00pm 15.3%
Mint Card £400.00 @ £15.00 14.88%
Clydesdale Bank Loan £8000 @ £259.60 14.3%

Hubby:
Barclaycard £280 @ £5pm 27.9%
Beneficial Finance Card £1000 @ £30pm 19.9%
Lloyds Credit Card £1500 @ £31pm 19.6%
HfC Loan £13000 @ £513.83pm 29.9%
Egg Card £5500 @ £100pm (0% as debt collectors involved)

Joint:
Welcome Finance Loan £1000 @ £96pm 32.5%
Lloyds TSB Loan £3000 @ £96pm 14.6%

Expenditure:
Household Food £100.00 (this can easily creep up to £160!!)
Car Insurance £15.00
Travel to Work £85.00
Insurances £100.00 (life, crit illness, unemployment, b&c)
Mortgage £449.60
Electricity £35.00
Gas £20.00
TV Licence £11.00
Mobile Phones (2) £80.00 (signed into contracts until August)
Telephone, Broadband, TV £36.00

:eek: :eek: This means our debt is sitting at a whopping £41,610!!! Thats not including our mortgage :eek: :eek:

I have sat today and input this into the snowball calculator and it claims we'll be debt free by December 2010!! I think this is fantastic and I promise I'll never have another credit card or loan in my life!! I'm still having problems budgetting though!!

Thanks for listening to my rant and hope to hear from you all soon before I land up in potty land!!

sammy115

I am sure someone will be along to help you with your SOA shortly, but your main problem is that your budget isn't working. Keep a spending diary. Its hard at first but once you get into a habit it gets easier.

I was shocked to see where my money was being wasted, and realised that I had wildly underestimated my spends.

well done for taking the first step

chica_fi

There's some really high APRs there. How is your credit rating - have you missed any payments? Cos you could look at switching to a low life-of-balance card or other loan with better rates. Consolidation is generally not a good idea but if you can bring down the APRs you would find it making a huge difference.

Little_Miss_Winner

Hi NW, and welcome to the DFW Board..:hello:

The payments that you make at the moment to the various credit cards are they the minimum payment?

midnight_caller2002

hi - that first post is always difficult.....

Your SOA is very helpful but before any advice would be really helpful for ppl like me to know a couple of other bits....

1. Your rates of interest charged for outstanding debt are really high for some of the debts. Why is this... blindly agreeing or due to defaults, missed payments etc??? (If you are meeting your payments month in month out it is well worth ringing creditors directly to ask for your rate to be lowered. if they refuse ask for their direct supervisor, threaten a BT to another provider. Even a couple of % of those payments will make a difference.

2. Egg- debt collextor??? is this a DMP or what... this may answer why your rates are so high.

in the menatime why not visit the money saving tips in the other forums. Surprising how much cutting out that coffee on way to work or that choccie fix from the petrol station really adds up.- silly things like buying food in bulk or even changing supermarket, packed lunches etc really will add up.

How much tat do have lying around the house- probably more than you think.... always worth having a clear out- get it on ebay... if you havent used in the last 12 months your not going to. get some money back and some cupboard space.

Good that you have been on snowball calculator- try and make that date a max.... beat it - make saving money a way of life, every day you owe them money is a day your arent working for the things you deserve.

It will get easier.

look forward to helping!
:A

NewlyWed_3

Wow where to start with my answers.

As for the % rate - its always been that, payments have been missed but the rate has never changed. Just get a charge! Most payments are the minimum they will accept from me. I'm constantly being hounded to pay more and have had to change my telephone no!

The egg is my OH's. He let this slip too far and before any warning etc the debt collection agency were in touch demanding half of the full amount or a min of £100 per month.

We're currently ebaying everything that doesn't move! So that's helping a bit.

I've been browsing on CCCS website and what they have produced for us seems to look pretty good. Is this a good way to go or am I seeing an easy route out?

Little_Miss_Winner

By my reckonings you have just £109.oo left after all the above has been taken out. Thats just approx £25.00 per week.

But you haven't included petrol. Mot, Road tax, other car outgoings. Haircuts. Clothes. Birthdays. Christmas. Social. Everything you may spend on a daily basis, lunches, paper? etc......all these things add up, and with £25 a week between 2 of you, i bet you are going over that?????

NewlyWed_3

albertross wrote: »

I don't want to put you off, but I think your calculations may be out a bit, debt free in 3.5 years looks unlikely to me.

How come? I've put it in the snowball calculator with the rates and outstanding balances. The term of the Clydesdale Loan and HFC loan both end in July/August 2010.

In order for us to follow the snowball we'd obviously have to cut down our expenditure on other things but that would be worth it surely.

I'll go have another bubble now

NewlyWed_3

Thank you :eek:

hypno06

May be ok, my DFD is 3 years which is not bad considering £45000 of debt. Just depends on what your monthly payments are.

GirlRacer_2

Hi and welcome. I note that your mobiles are in contract until August, you can still contact your provider and drop to the lowest tarif, this will save you quite a bit. Also your insurances seem a bit high, pop over to the insurance board and as them there or shop around online for a better quote.

Do as suggested, keep a spending diary - you'll be amazed where your money goes.