Screwed up...had done so well

amorge

I haven't been on here for a while. I managed to virtually clear all my debt but for selfish stupid reasons I have totally blown it and am now in a muddle. It all started when my husband & I separated 2 1/2 years ago, I carried on spending on the kids & me as if there were 2 wages coming in.

I've done my SOA as below. I can't do anything about the car payments so reducing them is not an option. Mobile phones; this is for 3 and I'm tied into contracts for all of them, these can be reduced in April next year. I'm in the process of changing my gas/electric to a cheaper tariff but don't think I'll be able to save much there. House insurance may seem high to some but I have some family jewellery that bumped it up (not an option to sell). Entertainment costs is for the 3 of us, cinema, pub (me not kids!!), I go out one evening in a weekend and probably only spend £20, apart from that I have people over or go to theirs with a bottle.

My credit rating is average but am unable to get any balance transfer cards, I tried last month. I have looked at increasing my mortgage to cover the debts but you have to earn 15k minimum and I don't (they don't take maintenance/tax credits into account).

Work wise, I have just been told I'm being made redundant in October. I will only get £1300 payout - if I have another job to go to I'll throw that straight into the highest APR debt, if no job I'll have to use that to pay the bills.

I currently have both my daughters living with my but fingers crossed my eldest will be off to Uni in September (results permitting). This will mean that my food bills should decrease by about £50 a mth, the other bills a small amount I guess.

I've been really really stupid getting myself into debt again and am so cross with myself. any constructive comments would be great but please don't criticise as I know what a mess I'm in. I struggle with motivation. My aim is to clear my debts one by one and close the CC card as soon as clear.


Household Information[/b]
Number of adults in household........... 1
Number of children in household......... 1
Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 965
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 700
Other income............................ 240
Total monthly income.................... 1905

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 245
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 288
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 111
Electricity............................. 45
Gas..................................... 45
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 42.50
Telephone (land line)................... 7.50
Mobile phone............................ 74
TV Licence.............................. 12.12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 30
Internet Services....................... 7.50
Groceries etc. ......................... 240
Clothing................................ 30
Petrol/diesel........................... 100
Road tax................................ 1.66
Car Insurance........................... 25
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..................... 15
Contents insurance...................... 15
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 30
Haircuts................................ 10
Entertainment........................... 150
Holiday................................. 50
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1574.28


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 310000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 23000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 333000


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 34500....(245)......1.5
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 20000....(288)......6
Total secured & HP debts...... 54500.....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Barclaycard 1..................2270......48........18.9
Flybe CC.......................500.......20........26.48
Santander......................2200......51........16.9
Flybe Balance Trans............1900......20........0
BLS............................0.........35........0
Barclaycard 2..................800.......30........29.9
M&S Mastercard.................2000......40........0
John Lewis.....................2700......80........16.9
Total unsecured debts..........12370.....324.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,905
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,574.28
Available for debt repayments........... 330.72
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 324
Amount left after debt repayments....... 6.72

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 333,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -54,500
Total Unsecured debt.................... -12,370
Net Assets.............................. 266,130

Pennysmakepounds

I'm no expert, but you have ALLOT of equality in your house.
Is downsizing not an option??
Your expenditure isn’t actually that bad in my humble opinion, you have fixed costs that you can’t do anything about but apart from that it’s not too bad.
You could look to cut back on entertainment for a while maybe.
I’m sure someone will be along shortly who has more exp. then me in relation to out-goings.

PS. thats a VERY expensive car. Do you really need one that expensive.???

amorge

Hi, I do have a lot of equity and did look at downsizing, however, a house in this area would cost £250k minimum so with the moving fees I wouldn't gain anything.

The car was unfortunately purchased recently and I can't get rid of it, it is needed for work.

[Deleted User]

amorge wrote: »

House insurance may seem high to some but I have some family jewellery that bumped it up (not an option to sell).

Could you store it at your bank instead?

Household Information[/b]
Number of adults in household........... 1
Number of children in household......... 1 - I thought you said you have 2 daughters living with you?
Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 965
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 700
Other income............................ 240
Total monthly income.................... 1905

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 245
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 288
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 111 - Is this over 10 or 12 months?
Electricity............................. 45
Gas..................................... 45
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 42.50
Telephone (land line)................... 7.50
Mobile phone............................ 74
TV Licence.............................. 12.12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 30 - Cancel and go Freeview/Freesat.
Internet Services....................... 7.50
Groceries etc. ......................... 240 - This is quite high.
Clothing................................ 30 - Every month?
Petrol/diesel........................... 100
Road tax................................ 1.66
Car Insurance........................... 25
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..................... 15
Contents insurance...................... 15
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 30
Haircuts................................ 10
Entertainment........................... 150
Holiday................................. 50
Emergency fund.......................... 0 - You need something in here.

Total monthly expenses.................. 1574.28


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 310000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 23000 - Any chance you could sell this and buy something cheaper?
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 333000


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 34500....(245)......1.5
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 20000....(288)......6
Total secured & HP debts...... 54500.....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Barclaycard 1..................2270......48........18.9
Flybe CC.......................500.......20........26.48
Santander......................2200......51........16.9
Flybe Balance Trans............1900......20........0
BLS............................0.........35........0
Barclaycard 2..................800.......30........29.9
M&S Mastercard.................2000......40........0
John Lewis.....................2700......80........16.9
Total unsecured debts..........12370.....324.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,905
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,574.28
Available for debt repayments........... 330.72
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 324
Amount left after debt repayments....... 6.72

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 333,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -54,500
Total Unsecured debt.................... -12,370
Net Assets.............................. 266,130

You really need to get rid of the Flybe and Barclaycard 2 Credit Cards.

At the rate you are paying them, it'll take you about 36 and 43 months (respectively) to pay them off, and cost you around £700 in interest.

If you cancelled the Satellite/Cable TV, cut Entertainment to £50, reduced grocery spend by £40, and stopped buying clothes for a while, and spent all of this on those 2 Credit Cards, you could have them cleared in around 7 months, paying around £100 in interest.

If, after paying those 2 off, you put back the clothing spend, but put the money saved from the Satellite/Cable TV, reduced Entertainment and grocery spend, toward Barclaycard 1, you could have that paid off in about 21 months (instead of 80 months), paying about £400 interest (instead of about £1,600).

[Deleted User]

amorge wrote: »

Household Information[/b]
Number of adults in household........... 1
Number of children in household......... 1 - 2?
Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 965Have you started looking for a new job? Is there any possibility of redeployment where you are? (sorry, don't know much about redundancy, so no idea really when the right time to do these things is)
Benefits................................ 700Will this be effected when/if your daughter goes to Uni?
Other income............................ 240Will this be affected if/when your daughter goes to Uni?
Total monthly income.................... 1905

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 245
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 288
Council tax............................. 111 Over 10 or 12 months?
Electricity............................. 45Switch the hot water boiler down by a few degrees, as with heated (in winter obv.), energy saving bulbs, don't leave things on standby etc
Gas..................................... 45as above
Water rates............................. 42.50metered or standard charge, if standard, consider if a meter would be cheaper
Telephone (land line)................... 7.50
Mobile phone............................ 74reduce when able - look at SIM only and PAYG deals
TV Licence.............................. 12.12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 30go freeview
Internet Services....................... 7.50
Groceries etc. ......................... 240See what you can save here - drop brands, don't food shop hungry, make a list of what you actually need and stick to it, try lidl/aldi, cook from scratch, batch cook
Clothing................................ 30essentials only
Petrol/diesel........................... 100
Road tax................................ 1.66
Car Insurance........................... 25
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0nothing?
Car parking............................. 0nothing?
Other travel............................ 0never?
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0never?
Buildings insurance..................... 15would these be cheaper if they were combined?
Contents insurance...................... 15as above
Life assurance ......................... 0nothing?
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 30does this get saved somewhere for when it's needed?
Haircuts................................ 10
Entertainment........................... 150maybe try and shave a little off this at least
Holiday................................. 50not sure that you can afford this right now - is it booked? How much is already paid for?
Emergency fund.......................... 0you really should have something here
Total monthly expenses.................. 1574.28


Assets
Cash.................................... 0what about for non-monthly expenses/non-regular bills?
House value (Gross)..................... 310000
Car(s).................................. 23000 you have said that you need a car for work, but do you NEED a £23000 car for work? Seems high compared to income. What are your options re: handing back? Is there any kind of break clause at any point?
Total Assets............................ 333000[/b]


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 34500....(245)......1.5
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 20000....(288)......6
Total secured & HP debts...... 54500.....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Barclaycard 1..................2270......48........18.9
Flybe CC.......................500.......20........26.48
Santander......................2200......51........16.9
Flybe Balance Trans............1900......20........0
BLS............................0.........35........0 so is this paid off then?
Barclaycard 2..................800.......30........29.9If and when you can find monthly surplus, concentrate overpayments here/
M&S Mastercard.................2000......40........0
John Lewis.....................2700......80........16.9
Total unsecured debts..........12370.....324.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,905
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,574.28
Available for debt repayments........... 330.72
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 324
Amount left after debt repayments....... 6.72Not a lot of wiggle room here.

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 333,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -54,500
Total Unsecured debt.................... -12,370
Net Assets.............................. 266,130

Comments above,

HTH,

D9

Cycrow

you dont seem to be spending alot on petrol, how far are you actually travelling to work each day?

closed

get a water meter

buy stuff (food etc) on the lower apr cards, until they hit the limit. use the cash saved to pay off the higher apr cards, but pay the minumum at least on all.

spending doesn't end when they go to uni, often the reverse.

rob404uk

I presume the car is linked to the 20000 debt. Do you own the car or is it a hire pay monthly job? If not the easy option is to sell the car and buy one for around 5000. Will that not do for your job?

rob404uk

Also, you still have done well. Even though you feel down now, I think many people would love to have the options you have.

[Deleted User]

one option could be to sell your house, then rent for a while. This would free up equity and clear your debts. Definitely worth thinking about.

nicp60

amorge wrote: »

Hi, I do have a lot of equity and did look at downsizing, however, a house in this area would cost £250k minimum so with the moving fees I wouldn't gain anything.

Even if you got a house for 250k, you'd be left with around £20k (after settling your existing mortgage and possible fees etc) to pay off your debts. You'd also be mortgage free, leaving you with £245 a month to knock off the HP agreement for the car or to save.