Don't know where to start! SOA in post #22

Squidlet16

Hi!
Looking for some advice please. I feel quite overwhelmed at the moment but I'm hoping you guys can help us find a way through this.

The facts:

1: We are planning on emigrating to Australia. This isn't something we're doing on a whim - we've been planning it for 9 years but haven't been able to get there yet...which leads us onto...

2: We bought a 'do-er upper' with nram in October 2007 with the intention to do up and sell on. Our mortgage is 93000 & our property still needs doing up. We've put approx 9000 into it so far. A house recently sold on our estate for 89950 but it was completely done.

3: We have unsecured debt of 24100. This includes just under 14500 with nram (together loan); just over 8000 with natwest, & the rest is natwest overdraft.

We need to sell the house to emigrate and I just can't see the woods for the trees. Can anyone help with where to start in terms of being able to move away??

I should add that we haven't been late or defaulted on any payments. We're not sure whether to put more money into the house, if we can sell it as is, if we should overpay on mortgage (currently interest only), whether nram would accept a shortfall, whether we'd be best to go for bankruptcy etc??

Any help is appreciated. Please be gentle. x

John1993_2

The first thing that you should do is to post up a full statement of affairs. There are plenty of people here who will help, but they need the full picture, not just bits and pieces.

It looks from what you've posted that you've got yourself into a bit of a mess. That's not great, but it can very likely be fixed. If we can see what you have coming in, and what's going out, what you owe and what you own, then we can get started.

Squidlet16

Thanks. We've definitely got ourselves into a mess...I want to put it right as quickly as possible before it becomes unmanageable, and so that we can start our new lives asap.

Not sure how to do a SOA? I'm happy to give as much info as possible to get some advice so if someone could point me in the right direction that would be great. For starters:

My monthly net income (after childcare vouchers and work lease car) is £1245. My husband's net monthly income is £1340 - sometimes £1660 as he gets paid weekly.

We get £81 per month child benefit.

Our Mortgage is £489.72 (approx. £360 of this is mortgage, the rest is the unsecured loan with NRAM)

Our Natwest loan is £273 per month.

Our overdraft interest is approximately £40 per month

We have £140 on a Next account.

That's all of our income and debt related outgoings.

Thanks.

John1993_2

There's a standard form on the internet, and you can then format it for this site. I do 't have it to hand, sorry, but someone will doubtless be along soon and post a link.

For now, though, don't panic. While we wait, you can have a look at things such as mobile phone bills, food shopping, entertainment etc, and start having a think about which savings you can make there.

Edited to add, your mortgage and loans together add up to a lot more than the value of the house which you mention. I'd be quite surprised if a £90,000 house has dropped by 36,000 in the last few years as the raw figures suggest. If the together loan, mortgage and 9k spend we're not on this 90k house were they acquired on other projects, or on just living?

Anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself here. Search for "SOA" on here, find a thread linking to the form, and then spend some time filling it in as best you can. Even if you don't post it on here afterwards, it'll help you see where the money is going.

And one extra point, you husband's income, if weekly, is not the big variable that you post. Assume 4.3 weeks in a month, and smooth it out.

splodgethefirst

Here's a link to the SOA calculator - make sure to choose format for MSE at the end

http://www.stoozing.com/calculator/soa.php

Squidlet16

Thanks guys.

Fair question about the debts! The house cost us 93000.

The other debts are from our wedding 7 years ago, and from covering childcare bills accumulated during my last year at university whilst training. The wedding loan was originally a normal bank loan which would have been due to be cleared in January 2012 - except that we were very naïve when looking to get onto the housing ladder and took some advice to go for together loan with what was then Northern Rock. *ouch*

The childcare bills accumulated and led us into the overdraft which we've struggled to get out of, and slipped further into, due partly to not being able to see what we have each month, and partly to reaching a point of "what's another £20?" mentality...if that makes sense?!

Stupid question - my husband earns £320 a week (net) but every other week he is contracted to work Saturday morning and earns £350 instead...how do I work out his 'monthly' wage? (Sorry if it's really simple!).

I'll have a look a the SOA link...thanks both.

splodgethefirst

Stupid question - my husband earns £320 a week (net) but every other week he is contracted to work Saturday morning and earns £350 instead...how do I work out his 'monthly' wage? (Sorry if it's really simple!).
.

I would use his smaller weekly wage, divide it by 7 then multiply by number of days in the month. there's probably a better way, though

Squidlet16

That makes sense...that would come to £1417...does that sound about right?! My head's already spinning! :huh:

splodgethefirst

also just tried it as lower wage *52 weeks of the year divided by 12 months - roughly £1387 a month? (with no Saturday bonus pay)

pelirocco

How do you plan to emigrate ? Are you going down the skills route

John1993_2

Squidlet16 wrote: »

"what's another £20?" mentality...if that makes sense?!

In essence it looks like you've been living beyond your means for a very long time now. When you borrowed for your wedding, did you have a plan about how you were going to pay it back? Has something changed, or have you always just borrowed without an ability to repay?

I await your SOA to give specific advice, but if you are insolvent, then I don't see you being able to emigrate until you've paid off what you owe. There are stringent entry requirements, and being in debt to such an extent is going to tend to rule you out of getting a visa.