How shocking is this?? My SOA

Tommy81

Hey guys,


I have finally had my LBM!!


for the first time I have actually sat and listed/calculated my debts and I am horrified, shocked, embarrassed.... the list goes on.


I knew I owed a fair bit but not 30K!!. I have included my SOA below and would welcome any comments.


I have included all of my income. The £350 extra is the money that my wife has surplus each month. All of the debts on my SOA are in my name. My wife and I keep our debts separate. She only owes a relatively small amount but the £350 is what she could contribute after she has paid all of her own commitments.


My credit card payments include the overpayments that I make ( £750 per month in total)


I guess I am lucky that I have a decent income and can therefore make the payments and have some money left over but I cannot help feel foolish and like I have let everyone down. The debt was accrued due to home improvements, holidays and generally overspending and not thinking enough about the finances.


How shocking does this look? I don't know anyone who has debts on this scale!! I feel really ashamed!!!




Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 1
Number of cars owned.................... 2
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 2937
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 81.2
Other income............................ 350
Total monthly income.................... 3368.2
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 250
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 102
Electricity............................. 35
Gas..................................... 35
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 43
Telephone (land line)................... 15
Mobile phone............................ 35
TV Licence.............................. 14
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 20
Internet Services....................... 15
Groceries etc. ......................... 250
Clothing................................ 50
Petrol/diesel........................... 120
Road tax................................ 3
Car Insurance........................... 35
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..................... 10
Contents insurance...................... 10
Life assurance ......................... 33
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 100
Haircuts................................ 10
Entertainment........................... 100
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1285

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 140000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 3000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 143000

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 89000....(250)......1.5
Total secured & HP debts...... 89000.....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
tesco loan.....................5800......364.......7.8
Barclaycard....................6000......120.......0
Barclaycard....................4000......200.......6.9
overdraft......................2000......25........13.9
very...........................416.......45........18.9
Creation.......................7000......230.......0
MBNA...........................5000......200.......16.9
Total unsecured debts..........30216.....1184......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 3,368.2
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,285
Available for debt repayments........... 2,083.2
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 1,184
Amount left after debt repayments....... 899.2
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 143,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -89,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -30,216
Net Assets.............................. 23,784

Newyorkdreams

Hi Tommy - congrats on your LBM. Don't be too ashamed - there are many people on this forum who have/had debts the size of yours (myself included - £60K between me and my DH). It's what you do now that counts!

Good luck and take care

NYD x

Newyorkdreams

Sorry I should also have said welcome to the forum. There will be some lovely and knowledgeable people along shortly (far more knowledgable than I) to give you some advice and tips on your SOA.

NYD x

Tommy81

Thanks for the reply. I just can't help feeling like I am in some way letting my little boy down ( he is 4).


On the other hand he does have everything he needs and so far I can't really say that any of us have suffered as a result of the debts but I just keep thinking about how much easier life could be if I hadn't been so irresponsible.

bambos

Tommy81 wrote: »

Hey guys,


I have finally had my LBM!!


for the first time I have actually sat and listed/calculated my debts and I am horrified, shocked, embarrassed.... the list goes on.


I knew I owed a fair bit but not 30K!!. I have included my SOA below and would welcome any comments.


I have included all of my income. The £350 extra is the money that my wife has surplus each month. All of the debts on my SOA are in my name. My wife and I keep our debts separate. She only owes a relatively small amount but the £350 is what she could contribute after she has paid all of her own commitments.


My credit card payments include the overpayments that I make ( £750 per month in total)


I guess I am lucky that I have a decent income and can therefore make the payments and have some money left over but I cannot help feel foolish and like I have let everyone down. The debt was accrued due to home improvements, holidays and generally overspending and not thinking enough about the finances.


How shocking does this look? I don't know anyone who has debts on this scale!! I feel really ashamed!!!




Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 1
Number of cars owned.................... 2
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 2937
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 81.2
Other income............................ 350
Total monthly income.................... 3368.2
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 250
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 102 is this over 12 months?
Electricity............................. 35
Gas..................................... 35
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 43
Telephone (land line)................... 15 can you make do without landline or get this amount down?
Mobile phone............................ 35 payg is cheaper
TV Licence.............................. 14why so high?
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 20 ditch for now
Internet Services....................... 15 try and lower this
Groceries etc. ......................... 250 this can definitely be lowered
Clothing................................ 50 every month??
Petrol/diesel........................... 120
Road tax................................ 3
Car Insurance........................... 35 is this cheapest?
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0 you need something here
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0 never??
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 10
Contents insurance...................... 10
Life assurance ......................... 33 seems high
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 100 wow every month??
Haircuts................................ 10
Entertainment........................... 100 you need to bring this right down
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0 you need something in here
Total monthly expenses.................. 1285

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 140000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 3000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 143000

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 89000....(250)......1.5
Total secured & HP debts...... 89000.....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
tesco loan.....................5800......364.......7.8
Barclaycard....................6000......120.......0
Barclaycard....................4000......200.......6.9
overdraft......................2000......25........13.9
very...........................416.......45........18.9 try & make min payments on some of the others & tackle this one first
Creation.......................7000......230.......0
MBNA...........................5000......200.......16.9
Total unsecured debts..........30216.....1184......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 3,368.2
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,285
Available for debt repayments........... 2,083.2
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 1,184
Amount left after debt repayments....... 899.2
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 143,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -89,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -30,216
Net Assets.............................. 23,784

my comments

Bublin1

You've not included your wife's income, only what she has spare. Does she not contribute to the household bills or are the figures on the soa half to only reflect what you pay?

Tommy81

Thanks Bambos
Actually my council tax is over 10 months so I will try and amend this later.
How much should the TV licence be?
We don't spend the full 50 on clothes every month but taking into account growing feet etc then I don't think that is an unrealistic average for us.
My son LOVES the Disney CHannel and I don't want to take this away for the sake of £20
I agree that we could reduce our grocery bill by planning ahead more
I am going to try and move the 18.9% card to a 0% one very soon


We do save £100 for Christmas etc although last year we didn't spend it all and put the rest towards paying off a store card. I like to know that there is money available for Christmas though without having to worry




thanks again

Tommy81

Bublin1 wrote: »

You've not included your wife's income, only what she has spare. Does she not contribute to the household bills or are the figures on the soa half to only reflect what you pay?

Hi


Yes, I halved the mortgage payment and the other payments reflect what I pay. Our mortgage is actually £497 but my wife pays £250 of this. The £350 extra income is what she can contribute after all of her own bills are paid


I know that some people disagree with the separate finance thing but it works for us

[Deleted User]

You do need something in the Emergency Fund, especially as you are a home owner.

You should also cut down on the overpayments, on the low APR debts, until you have cleared the three big APR ones, starting with Very.

At the rate you are currently paying Very, it's going to take 10 months to clear, and cost £30 in interest.

Doubling the payment would see it gone in 5 months, for £12 in interest.

£30 isn't a lot, but those extra 5 months, are 5 months in which the other debts are accruing unnecessary interest.

System

Tommy81 wrote: »

How shocking does this look? I don't know anyone who has debts on this scale!! I feel really ashamed!!!

You would be surprised, actually. Debt is a lot of people's dirty little secret and many people don't tend to talk about it to their friends. When I started opening up to some of my closest friends about my debts, almost all of them were in the same boat but had been keeping it quiet.

System

Do you really need two cars? If not, think about selling the least economical.

Otherwise, I don't think your SOA looks unreasonable. I have a couple of other comments which may or may not be helpful....

Tommy81 wrote: »

Road tax................................ 3 Is this right? For two cars?
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 100
As others have said, this is REALLY high. You and your partner don't need to buy each other gifts if you're trying to pay off debt.

You have a healthy surplus each month. Pay off the highest APR first then work your way backwards like that. Try to move some debts to interest-free if possible, but with high levels of unsecured debt like yours, you might struggle. Don't apply for too many credit cards in a short space of time. Try spacing applications out one every six months.

£30k is not an insurmountable amount. Mine was £27k at its worst and I've halved it in 3 years. Took a lot of hard work, but then it was just me on my own, so with two of you it will hopefully be quicker.

GOOD LUCK!