Where to start?

MW3

Hi everybody

I seem to have got myself into a bit of a mess and wondered if we could collectively put our heads together to work out a way to sort out my money problems?

I have a bank account that is going further into overdraft every month (currently standing at around £2k o/d), no loans other than my mortgage and home loan totaling just under £500 p/m and 2 credit cards with about £2000 on between them.

In terms of income I get child tax credit, child benefit and what my partner pays to me to cover his share of the bills as these come out of my bank account.

I don't (yet) have the wolf beating down my door but have ended up paying charges on bill payments that have been returned and I'm sure that situation is bound to get worse soon.

Where do I start? I'm not entitled to any benefits because of living with my partner and him working full time, and I've desperately been looking for a job but there's nothing around here that would make up for what I would lose in child tax credits by the time we've paid out for childcare for the kids after school and in the holidays.

I am starting to find the situation really stressful and can't seem to get my head into gear and work out what to do. If I don't touch my account at all then after bills I have £100 left each month.

Can anybody help please?

Many thanks.

MW3

Tixy

Hi and welcome to the forum.

Usually the best starting point it to complete a statement of affairs showing your income & expenditure each month, and then how much you should have left towards debt repayments - which recommend this calculator to do that - http://www.stoozing.com/calculator/soa.php

If you can post the results on here then people may be able to make suggestions as to places you can save money such as getting things cheaper/switching to cheaper deals or providers etc.

You say your partner pays money in to your account to cover 'his share' of bills? how are you splitting costs currently? is he paying a fair share of the outgoings considering your relative situations and income?

mrsscattercushion

Tixy has given some good advice here, a newbie here myself but one who has worked with my OH to clear his debts over the last 5 years.

I'd sit down with a brew and get an honest breakdown of your income/outgoings, as well as discussing this with your partner, to look at his income/outgoings to make sure he is paying a fair share and also get him on board with money saving.

People may have suggestions re best providers and other ways to boost your income...I've been on here a few days now and seen lots of suggestions on the various boards about ways to make additional money online, how to shop and cook smarter, cutting waste etc .

It sounds like you've taken the first step in getting on a public forum and asking for help....well done, that is never easy.

MW3

Thanks for replying! Does this help? My partner pretty much pays for all the groceries etc so I feel his contribution towards the bills is fair.

We are stuck with Southern Electric for our electricity supplier as I've tried to switch several times now and each time it turns out the new supplier can't support my 3-reading meter, so I guess we can't cut any money there.

The satellite/cable TV figure also includes internet and landline as we have a package with Virgin. For that we get free calls any time, which worked out cheaper than a lower priced package and the phone calls on top.

The car insurance figure also includes my breakdown cover payment.

The buildings insurance figure also includes contents insurance, but we have 3 extended warranties for our tumble dryer, washing machine and oven with D&G so I put that under the contents insurance label.

Life assurance is my mobile phone insurance payment.

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 0
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 860.9
Other income............................ 400
Total monthly income.................... 1260.9

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 427
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 72
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 135
Electricity............................. 138
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 62.53
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 37
TV Licence.............................. 12.12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 52.71
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 0
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 0
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 52.21
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................. 18
Buildings insurance..................... 53.14
Contents insurance...................... 27.82
Life assurance ......................... 14.99
Other insurance......................... 6.46
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Currys.................................. 3.00
Total monthly expenses.................. 1111.98


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 150000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 900
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 150900


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 102789...(427)......0
Secured Debt.................. 17143....(72).......0
Total secured & HP debts...... 119932....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Virgin CC......................1190.69...25........0
Tesco CC.......................120.51....10........0
Total unsecured debts..........1311.2....35........-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,260.9
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,111.98
Available for debt repayments........... 148.92
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 35
Amount left after debt repayments....... 113.92

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 150,900
Total HP & Secured debt................. -119,932
Total Unsecured debt.................... -1,311.2
Net Assets.............................. 29,656.8

Tixy

You really need to budget for all your expenditure, not just bills.
So you need to budget your petrol spend for a month and include that. And then work out annual costs of things like road tax, and MOT/servicing/tyres etc and put 1/12 of the annual cost in.

If you pay for the children's clothes then again you need to put in a monthly estimate.

Is the house owned jointly with partner? and is the £150k the whole house or a half share in the value?

Is £427 the total amount paid? or does partner also pay that amount?

If you pay the whole mortgage then that and the other household bills (not your mobile/ car costs/ life ins) you have listed come to £1004.82 and partner contributes £400 to that.
How much is he spending on groceries? and how does his income compare your benefit income?

How many are in the family? your water rates look quite high - are you on a meter or unmeasured?
Your buildings & contents figure looked very high at £53.month if the house is worth £150k. You should be able to shop around and halve that amount.

MW3

All of the bills are the total amount paid, so the £427 is the total mortgage payment p/m. I have done the figures based on my bank account with the total amounts that come in, or go out each month. I know it isn't ideal that I haven't added other items such as groceries.

I own the house after receiving it in my divorce settlement (and subsequently having to go to court to get a judge to sign the transfer document when the ex refused to.) Ex is still on the mortgage though as the mortgage co won't take him off because technically I don't earn anything, and I don't think we could remortgage to get his name removed as I'm pretty sure the monthly payment would go up and I'm not sure we'd be accepted anyway, with my lack of salary.

Partner earns roughly £1000 p/m.

We are a family of 5 and on unmetered water with Wessex Water.

I will look into switching our home and contents insurance, thanks for the advice on that

wegle

If partner earns £1000 pcm, gives you £400 that leaves him with £600. What is this being spent on?

Your SOA only shows bills not any spending, such as petrol, clothes etc. the best thing to do is be completely honest and put everything in there, even if it comes out with a negative figure. This will give you a true representation and an idea of how much needs to be cut or found to support you.

Your water rates are very high. Make sure you supply meter readings if you're on a meter and check your usage.

It's an obvious one but the virgin is high and a non essential. You can get phone and broadband packages with free evening and weekend calls for half that.

Mobile phone insurance. I'm of the inion that this is generally not worth the paper it's written on and would be cancelling it.

Tour paying in total around £100 a month for various insurances, I'm positive that some of them can be cut, check what is covered on your contents etc. you may be paying for stuff to be insured twice.

Are the debts truly all 0%?

Just a few points there but you really need to sit down with the OH and come up with a full SOA to determine how much is spent where. Good luck!

LannieDuck

If you have free calls on your landline, do you really need a mobile phone as well? Could you at least switch to a pay-as-you-go?

tallyhoh

He only gives you £400? I fell for that one years ago & it took me a long time to realise it wasn't fair.

From your SOA he should be giving you at least £500 a month.

Are you entitled to more benefits, your income seems low compared to some I have seen on here for a family of 5.

Tixy

Certainly looks like you are going to have an overspend once you have put in all your outgoings, which would tie in to the fact you say the overdraft is increasing each month. You will likely reach the point you cannot continue to extend it so do need to make some changes and very soon.

Is a car essential for you? could you manage without as you are not working? as the insurance/breakdown cost is high and when you have changed the SoA to show all the running costs for it then its going to be quite an expense.

As others have said it does seem that partner isn't paying as much as he could/ a fair share. But if the house belongs to you not him then that does put a slight different angle on things.

Just wondering - is your partner father to your children? if not do you not get any child maintenance from the father at all?

dancingfairy

You might find it helpful to do a spending diary to see how accurate your SOA is. I'm also assuming that your OH gives you 400 a month and pays for the food and other bills on top?
What you might find helps is to open another account with another bank. If it is a basic bank account then you won't have an overdraft or have to have a credit check. You can get your benefits paid in and any money from your partner paid in there. You can set up standing orders for your bills. You could also set up another savings account and set up a standing order to that every month for other bills.
This should give you more control over things and you can then set up a standing order to your old bank account and gradually pay it off.
Obviously this will only work if you have a proper grip on the budget and are underspending each month.
Best of Luck
df