Advice need on SOA

debtfreedave

Decided to create a new username just for this topic to keep things confidential as my regular username on here I use everywhere.

Through a combination of my own stupidity and trying to keep my business going when I should probably have wrapped it up I have nearly 30K in credit card debts I need to do something about.

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household............ 2
Number of children in household......... 0
Number of cars owned....................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax.................... 1835.04
Partners contribution.......................... 550
Total monthly income......................... 2385.04

These are my outgoings, not including any card payments
Mortgage...........................................255.2
Mortgage protection............................21.28
Income protection...............................42.38
Gas / elec..........................................81
Water supply.....................................29.12
Water sewage...................................12.57
Council tax........................................92
Home insurance ................................13.45
Boiler cover.......................................13.4
Car loan............................................317.66
Loan protection..................................14.87
Car service plan.................................18.3
Car tax.............................................9.58
Phone..............................................15.4
Broadband........................................20
Sky..................................................67.25
TV licence.........................................12.12
O2...................................................27.73
Barclays loan.....................................92.92
Daycare............................................216.67
Pet plan............................................34.31
Groceries..........................................325
Dogs trust.........................................4.34
RSPCA..............................................3
Lottery..............................................20
Specsavers........................................9
Total monthly outgoings......................1768.55

Assets
Cash / Savings...................................0
House value.......................................162000
Car...................................................8000
Total assets.......................................170000

Debts
Mortgage..........................................121500 (2.5%)
Barclaycard.......................................9365.92 (most on 0% some on 18.9% min 230)
Virgin...............................................2162.32 (0% min 60)
Lloyds..............................................12071.58 (17.9% min 265)
First.................................................6196.22 (0% min 200)
Total credit card debt.........................29796.04
Total debt.........................................151296.04

That gives me 616.49 to juggle card payments. I've identified a further 55.25 in savings I can make but any savings seem so small against what I am trying to pay off.

Mortgage is interest only (long story!), it's for 121500 with LTV of 75%. My initial plan was to change it to repayment but that might have to wait a while. My parents are of the opinion not to bother changing it as at some point I will inherit more than enough to pay it off - not the most cheerful of conversations I've ever had with them!

Broadband, which is fibre hence the price, is under contract so can't be changed for around 18 months.

Will be phoning Sky to remove movies and sport which brings that down to 32.

O2 contract runs until September when I can move to a lower tariff.

Will be cancelling my online lottery account today so no more payments to that.

Past that, other than cancelling my charity payments which I would feel guilty about and is only 7.24 a month I'm struggling to see much in the way of savings I can make. Utilities, insurance etc have all been checked through MSE and are the lowest I can get them.

Is it worth looking into remortgaging? The house was worth 162000 when purchased in Nov 2009. I keep seeing articles saying prices are going up but I haven't really seen much evidence of that local to us. If I remortgaged up to 90% LTV, assuming an application was accepted, that would give me nearly 25K to pay off the cards and bring them down to a manageable level, in fact I could juggle that so the remaining 5K was on long term interest free. A quick check on MSM shows that over 25 years that could be as low as 650 on a repayment mortgage.

Or is it worth looking at something like the Sainburys 25K personal loan, that's showing as 370.13 a month on a representative 6.6%.

I considered a second job but I work strange and variable hours (even when they're stable I will be leaving the house before 8am and not getting back until after 8pm regularly) and theres nothing I can think of that would fit around that. Already done a fire sale of pretty much everything in the house I can get rid of.

Any advice greatly appreciated!

19lottie82

Do you really need the mortgage, income AND loan protection? They seem very expensive. If I were you I'd cut out the mortgage and the loan ones. You have income protection, and a partner, who works.

What's daycare? You don't have any kids listed in your SOA?

Whats' the car service plan? Is this really cost effective? If it's with a main dealer, most likely not.
Why nothing for car insurance / maintenance?

Your groceries budget seems high for 2 people. Do you meal plan? This could be reduced to £200 imo.

Also, you have nothing in there for entertainment, haircuts, or presents?

Skinnylatte

I was where you were not that long ago, with over 20k of debt, I thought consolidation was the only way to go, but I was turned down (luckily) several times. Do not put this debt on your mortgage it'll cost you £1000's

What I did do was drastically cut down on my spending, and paid every spare penny I had towards the debts, sold stuff, sold shares, worked extra where I could. When I had a bit of slack on the credit cards I gradually moved the remaining debt to 0% and I firmly believe this is the best method for paying it off.

Well done on your realization and good luck

Tixy

It would be easier if all your debts were listed at the bottom along with the payments/minmum payments and APRs etc. It is not clear if the £614 is more or less than your minimums, or not clear how long it will take to clear your cards at that repayment rate.

Is what your partner contributes the max they could afford? and is it a fair split of costs (depending on your relative situations/costs etc).

What is the daycare cost? you don't mention any children - is that for pets? or something else? is there any way you can reduce this cost?

£325 for groceries for 2 people is quite high and you could perhaps work on trying to reduce that to free up more towards your debts.

Have you looked at your mortgage protection/income protection/loan protection/boiler cover to see if they are good rates for the cover they give you (and also checked what cover you do have).

What interest rate are you paying currently on the mortgage? I wouldn't be looking to put any more debt on the mortgge, but I would be looking to see whether your deal is competitive and how it would compare to the cheapest repayment mortgages on the market.

debtfreedave

Thanks for the reply and the excellent questions.

19lottie82 wrote: »

Do you really need the mortgage, income AND loan protection? They seem very expensive. If I were you I'd cut out the mortgage and the loan ones. You have income protection, and a partner, who works.

I had thought about getting rid of some or all of these. My worry is that at the moment the company I work for doesn't seem to be in the greatest of health and while I'm looking elsewhere there's not a lot around, especially without taking a sizable paycut which won't help things. If and when I get a new job I would look to get rid of these but in the meantime I am hesitant as the last thing I need is to cancel them after so many years of paying and then find I need them! They were the best rates I could find at the time (done through this site) but if anyone knows of better options then I have no problem with changing.
Although my wife has income she is actually at university with just over 2 years to go. She recieves some funding hence her contribution but wouldn't really be in a position to take on any more of the financial burden.

19lottie82 wrote: »

What's daycare? You don't have any kids listed in your SOA?

I have a dog who, having got used to me working at home, really doesn't cope with being left. We tried it for a while and it just wasn't working. The house can be empty for up to 12 hours a day so we can't leave him, daycare worked out to be cheaper than having someone pop round and walk him or let him out every day.

19lottie82 wrote: »

Whats' the car service plan? Is this really cost effective? If it's with a main dealer, most likely not.
Why nothing for car insurance / maintenance?

The car service plan covers all maintenance and has so far worked out very much in my favour. Its 219.60 a year and covers up to 2 full services (my wife does a lot of miles), MOT, tyres, brakes etc.

I forgot car insurance as I don't pay it monthly, that was 317 last year.

19lottie82 wrote: »

Your groceries budget seems high for 2 people. Do you meal plan? This could be reduced to £200 imo.

We do meal plan. My wife does a lot of sport to a decent level and that dictates some of the meal plan and that pushes the price up. This was one of the first areas we looked at cutting back on and have already moved from around 125 a week to 75 a week. It includes all other household items (cleaning etc).

19lottie82 wrote: »

Also, you have nothing in there for entertainment, haircuts, or presents?

haircuts aren't an issue for me
entertainmant has gone out the window in an attempt to save money so it's either things we can do for free or not doing anything!
as for presents there's only my wife and my parents to buy for and we've, or rather my wife, has been going down the homemade route.

Skinnylatte wrote: »

I was where you were not that long ago, with over 20k of debt, I thought consolidation was the only way to go, but I was turned down (luckily) several times. Do not put this debt on your mortgage it'll cost you £1000's

That's good to know. It did seem like the 'easiest solution' as it would make the problem go away fairly quickly but as you say will cost more in the long run.

debtfreedave

Tixy wrote: »

It would be easier if all your debts were listed at the bottom along with the payments/minmum payments and APRs etc.

Good idea, I've added that now.

Tixy wrote: »

Is what your partner contributes the max they could afford? and is it a fair split of costs (depending on your relative situations/costs etc).

This is a bit of a minefield. Long story short she paid the deposit on the house from inheritance and I agreed to pay the mortgage.

The bills are now split but I still pay the mortgage and car loan (when I got the car I was the only driver, now she drives it way more than I do!).

Bottom line is she probably can't, or won't, pay more so that is what it is.

Tixy wrote: »

Have you looked at your mortgage protection/income protection/loan protection/boiler cover to see if they are good rates for the cover they give you (and also checked what cover you do have).

The boiler cover is fairly new as the boiler is getting old and was the cheapest I could find through MSE. Same with the other cover. If the company I am working for was a bit more secure I would ditch the cover for most things but with the worry of not having a job I don't really want to do that.

[Deleted User]

debtfreedave wrote: »

Will be phoning Sky to remove movies and sport which brings that down to 32.

Why not dump completely, at least for the time being?

That would save you over £800 pa.

O2 contract runs until September when I can move to a lower tariff.

You could go PAYG/sim only for a tenner, saving you £212 pa.

That'd be over £1,000 pa, which is about £85 pm.

tallyhoh

You have an awful lot of protection cover etc. I cancelled mine & put it in a separate pot for any emergency. I can now pay for stuff when it happens without being at the mercy of insurance companies

debtfreedave

Bedsit_Bob wrote: »

Why not dump completely, at least for the time being?

That would save you over £800 pa.

You could go PAYG/sim only for a tenner, saving you £212 pa.

That'd be over £1,000 pa, which is about £85 pm.

Think you're right, Sky might have to go.

Don't think I can change anything on O2 until September but then I certainly will move to the cheapest PAYG I can find.

FBaby

I think you might have left quite a bit out. How about clothing prescriptions, travel for the one who doesn't have the car, parking, diy, gardening, car tires etc...

lazer

Lottery seems unnessecary

Cancel Sky Completely

Review Mortgage protections etc, to make sure you are getting the right protection and good value.

Phone/Broadband - are you in contract for both of these - if not phone up and get them combined with the same company and see what deal you can get, or see if your currrent companies can give lower rates.

Car loan - at £317 this is significant, could you sell the car and by something cheaper?