Looking for debt advice

lolls89

Hello,

I have just posted my SOA on another thread and have been advised to post it here as well.

Me annd my partner are struggling to get by every month, and any advice would be great. Thank you.

(This was done by my partner so the income is his)
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.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 2177
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 161.5
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2338.5

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 346.5
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 125
Electricity............................. 62
Gas..................................... 53
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 35.26
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 76
TV Licence.............................. 12.18
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 50
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 260
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 87
Road tax................................ 19.17
Car Insurance........................... 66
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 30
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 13.46
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 12.62
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
NI repayments........................... 68
NI...................................... 10.6
Total monthly expenses.................. 1326.79


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 90000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 1995
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 91995


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 70828.4..(346.5)....0
Total secured & HP debts...... 70828.4...-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Barclaycard....................4500......25........0
Home shopping..................12000.....20........0
Nationwide.....................7000......20........0
Overdraft......................2000......20........0
Overdraft......................3000......25........0
Money Shop.....................350.......80........0
Water..........................352.42....25........0
Mum............................3000......200.......0
Gas and Electric...............942.88....100.......0
Debt recovery..................350.......216.7.....0
Car Loan.......................3000......390.......0
Wescot Credit..................1800......200.......0
Total unsecured debts..........38295.3...1321.7....-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,338.5
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,326.79
Available for debt repayments........... 1,011.71
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 1,321.7
Amount short for making debt repayments. -309.99

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 91,995
Total HP & Secured debt................. -70,828.4
Total Unsecured debt.................... -38,295.3
Net Assets.............................. -17,128.7

Created using the SOA calculator at
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using other browser.

Tixy

Hi Lolls

So at first sight you appear to be £300 short a month - does that feel about right? Are you slipping further in to debt, or having to reuse credit each month?

Have you had a change in circumstances that has meant you have this shortfall? You say the income is your OHs - are you not working currently?

Your expenses generally don't look particularly high, and in fact it looks like you have costs missing, with nothing for clothing, car maintenance/servicing/tax and nothing for things like haircuts/presents/entertainment, which is hard to maintain long term.
That said I would try to reduce your spend on mobiles and satellite tv.

The killer for yourselves is the high level of debt and repayments. Some of the debts seem to have low repayments - is one of your in a DMP? or have you arranged repayment plans with some creditors? You've not put APRs in, have any creditors frozen interest?

Unless you can increase the household income then I would consider speaking to one of the debt advice charities, and talking through your options with them, perhaps putting all your debts in to a DMP may be a way forward for you.

lazer

lolls89 wrote: »

Hello,

I have just posted my SOA on another thread and have been advised to post it here as well.

Me annd my partner are struggling to get by every month, and any advice would be great. Thank you.

(This was done by my partner so the income is his)
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.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 2177
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 161.5
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2338.5

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 346.5
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 125
Electricity............................. 62
Gas..................................... 53
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 35.26
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 76
TV Licence.............................. 12.18
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 50
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 260
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 87
Road tax................................ 19.17
Car Insurance........................... 66
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 30
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 13.46
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 12.62
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
NI repayments........................... 68
NI...................................... 10.6
Total monthly expenses.................. 1326.79


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 90000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 1995
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 91995


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 70828.4..(346.5)....0
Total secured & HP debts...... 70828.4...-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Barclaycard....................4500......25........0
Home shopping..................12000.....20........0
Nationwide.....................7000......20........0
Overdraft......................2000......20........0
Overdraft......................3000......25........0
Money Shop.....................350.......80........0
Water..........................352.42....25........0
Mum............................3000......200.......0
Gas and Electric...............942.88....100.......0
Debt recovery..................350.......216.7.....0
Car Loan.......................3000......390.......0
Wescot Credit..................1800......200.......0
Total unsecured debts..........38295.3...1321.7....-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,338.5
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,326.79
Available for debt repayments........... 1,011.71
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 1,321.7
Amount short for making debt repayments. -309.99

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 91,995
Total HP & Secured debt................. -70,828.4
Total Unsecured debt.................... -38,295.3
Net Assets.............................. -17,128.7

Created using the SOA calculator at
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using other browser.

To get this to balance you need to save £304, or earn £304 more a month.


I have read your other thread and know you have health issues making it difficult for you to get a job, but could maybe start doing some work from home, even doing surveys, selling stuff on ebay etc - "every little helps".


Your car insurance is £792 a year and tax is £230 a year - that seems very high, over £1k a month. what sort of car do you have, perhaps considering to a car in a much lower insurance and tax band - some cars are £30 a year to tax, and band a cars can generally be insured for under £300 a year (depending on no claims, driving history age etc). This could save you between £50 & £60 a month. (Possibly more as you could also save on fuel potentially if you get one with high mpg).


Groceries can easily be cut - should be able to feed 3 people for about £150 a month - check the old style board for ideas. That's £110 saved.


Whats the other travel at £30 a month?


Mobile phones - crazy amount, plenty of £10 a month contracts about, for unlimited stuff for partners work, could get one for £20 maybe? That's another £40 saved.


Satelitte TV - cancel, don't need. Phone & Internet can be got for £20 a month some places. Another £30 saved.


This all adds up to £230, so you would still need to find a way to cut the utilities, insurance etc or increase your income by £80 a month.


You have your husbands income as £2,177 is this averaged out over the year to reflect the fact that the company closes over Christmas etc - as you need to save money to cover these periods?


Also as your husband is in the building industry - could he do some odd jobs in the evenings after work to increase income, advertise in local paper, gumtree etc.


There is also stuff missing from your budget:
Contents insurance (Included with building?)
Presents - need at least something here - I'm sure your child gets presents at Christmas
Emergency fund - need something to stop you getting further into debt if some household item breaks or something.


Another thing is the debt - the 2 overdrafts, is the monthly payment on these interest or fees? possibly consider moving to another bank.


The car loan is £3000, and repayments are £390 - this suggests that there is not long to go on these, should be paid with in year, do you know the end date for these?


Perhaps ask for a settlement figure on these, and see if you get the money together to pay this off - if you can get rid of this debt, you will have a surplus each month.


Good luck OP

lolls89

Tixy wrote: »

Hi Lolls

So at first sight you appear to be £300 short a month - does that feel about right? Are you slipping further in to debt, or having to reuse credit each month?

We're getting ore and more into debt every month because we can't pay everything and are ending u with charges which then makes it even harder to pay the next month.

Have you had a change in circumstances that has meant you have this shortfall? You say the income is your OHs - are you not working currently?

I'm not working due to injury. At the oment we're on the most money we have been, but most of these debts were built up when my partner was on a lower income and have kind of just caught up with us recently.

Your expenses generally don't look particularly high, and in fact it looks like you have costs missing, with nothing for clothing, car maintenance/servicing/tax and nothing for things like haircuts/presents/entertainment, which is hard to maintain long term.
That said I would try to reduce your spend on mobiles and satellite tv.

Yeah, we don't put any money to one side for those things as we don't have the spare cash.

I am going to try and reduce the mobile and TV, do you know if that would be possible as we are in contracts?

The killer for yourselves is the high level of debt and repayments. Some of the debts seem to have low repayments - is one of your in a DMP? or have you arranged repayment plans with some creditors? You've not put APRs in, have any creditors frozen interest?

They are all my partners and the bigger loans have CCJs.
As far as I am aware the bigger ones have frozen APR but I don't know about the others.

Unless you can increase the household income then I would consider speaking to one of the debt advice charities, and talking through your options with them, perhaps putting all your debts in to a DMP may be a way forward for you.

My partner has spoken to Step Change and he said that they advised making token payments to creditors and they are going to post him some information.

Monkeyballs

Hi,

Some great advice received already but I noticed that one of your debts is going to be cleared soon which will account for two thirds of the shortfall...

Debt recovery..................350.......216.7.....0

That, coupled with a reduction in your food shop and looking into reducing mobile, TV and 'other travel' and you're in a much better place basically, I'm saying don't stress as in a few months you could be in a much better place...

While SC are great and all that (I have a DMP) I'd personally do a little more work on what you can be doing to improve your situation (which you've started to do by posting here btw) before doing anything which could trash your credit file.

MB

lolls89

lazer wrote: »

To get this to balance you need to save £304, or earn £304 more a month.


I have read your other thread and know you have health issues making it difficult for you to get a job, but could maybe start doing some work from home, even doing surveys, selling stuff on ebay etc - "every little helps".

I have already sold all my decent stuff on eBay. I have looked at doing surveys but I am unsure which are legitimate.

Your car insurance is £792 a year and tax is £230 a year - that seems very high, over £1k a month. what sort of car do you have, perhaps considering to a car in a much lower insurance and tax band - some cars are £30 a year to tax, and band a cars can generally be insured for under £300 a year (depending on no claims, driving history age etc). This could save you between £50 & £60 a month. (Possibly more as you could also save on fuel potentially if you get one with high mpg).

We have a BMW, my partner is considering selling it but it needs some work doing to it to be able to sell it for what it would be worth.
But that is something we are definitely considering.

Groceries can easily be cut - should be able to feed 3 people for about £150 a month - check the old style board for ideas. That's £110 saved.

I am going to take a look at that board. I have been really struggling with budget shopping lately as I am finding it hard to coo from scratch, but hopefully that board should have some useful tips.

Whats the other travel at £30 a month?

That's mine for taxis/buses as I have around 2 hospital appointments a week at my local hospital and one every two weeks at a hospital out of town.

Mobile phones - crazy amount, plenty of £10 a month contracts about, for unlimited stuff for partners work, could get one for £20 maybe? That's another £40 saved.

I am going to look at changing that, but as we are both in contracts would we be able to lower our tariff?

Satelitte TV - cancel, don't need. Phone & Internet can be got for £20 a month some places. Another £30 saved.

I will get my partner to ring sky up and see what they say, but we're still in contract with them.

This all adds up to £230, so you would still need to find a way to cut the utilities, insurance etc or increase your income by £80 a month.


You have your husbands income as £2,177 is this averaged out over the year to reflect the fact that the company closes over Christmas etc - as you need to save money to cover these periods?

No it doesn't. We alsways say that we'll keep the tax rebate to cover Xmas and quiet times when the company lays him down but that never happens, it always ends up paying debts.

Also as your husband is in the building industry - could he do some odd jobs in the evenings after work to increase income, advertise in local paper, gumtree etc.

I will suggest that to him.

He started doing deliverys in the evening fr a takeaway but because he doesn't have a set time to finish work on an evening he was missing the start of delivery service.

There is also stuff missing from your budget:
Contents insurance (Included with building?)
Presents - need at least something here - I'm sure your child gets presents at Christmas
Emergency fund - need something to stop you getting further into debt if some household item breaks or something.

Yeah the building and contents are together.
She does, but it's not something we put away monthly as we don't have the extra. The car loan is from last Xmas to pay for her presents and for my partner to have a few drinks.
Again we don't have any spare cash to put away for that

Another thing is the debt - the 2 overdrafts, is the monthly payment on these interest or fees? possibly consider moving to another bank.

We have swiched banks, I believe it's interest on the O/D? There is account fees on that bank which we have just stopped paying and switched banks.

The car loan is £3000, and repayments are £390 - this suggests that there is not long to go on these, should be paid with in year, do you know the end date for these?

I don't. My partners at work now but I'll find out when he gets home.

Perhaps ask for a settlement figure on these, and see if you get the money together to pay this off - if you can get rid of this debt, you will have a surplus each month.


Good luck OP

Thank you so much for all your help

lolls89

Monkeyballs wrote: »

Hi,

Some great advice received already but I noticed that one of your debts is going to be cleared soon which will account for two thirds of the shortfall...

Debt recovery..................350.......216.7.....0

Yeah, that should be cleared soon but I missed the first payment this week.

That, coupled with a reduction in your food shop and looking into reducing mobile, TV and 'other travel' and you're in a much better place basically, I'm saying don't stress as in a few months you could be in a much better place...

I'm going to take a look at those things today.

While SC are great and all that (I have a DMP) I'd personally do a little more work on what you can be doing to improve your situation (which you've started to do by posting here btw) before doing anything which could trash your credit file.

I don't think there's any hope for our credit file anymore. Is the DMP were they have suggested paying token payments?

I'm going to try my best to get us out of this because we can't live like this anymore.


MB

Thank you for your reply.

[Deleted User]

lolls89 wrote: »

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.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 2177
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0 - Could you get a job? Even part time would help a lot.
Benefits................................ 161.5
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2338.5

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 346.5
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 125 - If this is over 10 months, switching to 12 months would reduce it to £104-16.
Electricity............................. 62 - This seems a bit high. Check comparison sites.
Gas..................................... 53 - This seems a bit high. Check comparison sites.
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 35.26
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 76 - This is a lot, even if it's for 3 phones. Go PAYG/sim only (about £10 per phone) ASAP.
TV Licence.............................. 12.18
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 50 - You can't afford this. Cancel and go Freeview/Freesat.
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 260 - This is high for 3 people. You should be able to knock about £100 off this.
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 87
Road tax................................ 19.17 - Any chance of changing the car, to one in a lower tax brand.
Car Insurance........................... 66 - This is nearly £800 per year, which seems high. Is there a reason (eg. new driver, poor claims record, convictions, high performance car) for it being so high?
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0 - Nothing :huh:
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 30
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0 - Never?
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 13.46
Contents insurance...................... 0 - You need this. Costs about £10.
Life assurance ......................... 12.62
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0 - Nothing?
Haircuts................................ 0 - Never?
Entertainment........................... 0 - Not even the occasional takeaway, DVD rental, or pint in the pub?
Holiday................................. 0 - Not even days out?
Emergency fund.......................... 0 - You need something in here, especially as you are a home owner.
NI repayments........................... 68
NI...................................... 10.6
Total monthly expenses.................. 1326.79


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 90000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 1995
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 91995


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 70828.4..(346.5)....0
Total secured & HP debts...... 70828.4...-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Barclaycard....................4500......25........0
Home shopping..................12000.....20........0
Nationwide.....................7000......20........0
Overdraft......................2000......20........0
Overdraft......................3000......25........0
Money Shop.....................350.......80........0
Water..........................352.42....25........0
Mum............................3000......200.......0
Gas and Electric...............942.88....100.......0
Debt recovery..................350.......216.7.....0
Car Loan.......................3000......390.......0
Wescot Credit..................1800......200.......0
Total unsecured debts..........38295.3...1321.7....-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,338.5
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,326.79
Available for debt repayments........... 1,011.71
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 1,321.7
Amount short for making debt repayments. -309.99

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 91,995
Total HP & Secured debt................. -70,828.4
Total Unsecured debt.................... -38,295.3
Net Assets.............................. -17,128.7

Created using the SOA calculator at
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using other browser.

So, after just a cursory glance, there's nearly £200 (£100 groceries, £50 Pay TV, and at least £46 on Mobiles) to be saved.

Are all your unsecured dents really on 0%?

lolls89

Bedsit_Bob wrote: »

So, after just a cursory glance, there's nearly £200 (£100 groceries, £50 Pay TV, and at least £46 on Mobiles) to be saved.

Are all your unsecured dents really on 0%?

No, they're my partners debts and I can't find the original paperwork for them. But the biggest ones are CCJ and the interest has been frozen.

I'm going to take a look at the sky, mobile and shopping.

I'm struggling gaining employment due to an injury.

Our council tax is paid weekly.

We've compared our electricity and found a better deal but we were unable to switch to it due to our credit and the fact we owe nearly £1k to EON.

It's on a BMW my partners been driving since he was 17 (now 30) and has no claims bonus. We have no cash to put aside for maintenance, his dad paid his latest MOT.

Medications will end up being about £9 a month. But we haven't had to pay that yet as we have just lost our NHS exemption.

I'm sure we have building and contents together?

The other things we don't pay for/buy. Before my accident I was a hairdresser so we never had to pay for haircuts, my partner does it himself now.
Part of the car loan paid for last Xmas. We just don't have the cash to pay for any of that.

National_Debtline

lolls89 wrote: »

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Barclaycard....................4500......25........0
Home shopping..................12000.....20........0
Nationwide.....................7000......20........0
Overdraft......................2000......20........0
Overdraft......................3000......25........0
Money Shop.....................350.......80........0
Water..........................352.42....25........0
Mum............................3000......200.......0
Gas and Electric...............942.88....100.......0
Debt recovery..................350.......216.7.....0
Car Loan.......................3000......390.......0
Wescot Credit..................1800......200.......0
Total unsecured debts..........38295.3...1321.7....-

Hi lolls89

Thanks for sharing your SoA, it's very useful.

One thing about it looks odd to me though so I'd be grateful if you could confirm:

The "home shopping" debt that I've highlighted above - is this really £12K? If this is effectively a catalogue, it would be extremely unusual for it to have such a large credit facility. Is there perhaps a rogue extra 0 in there??

Another question: is the "gas and electric" debt owed to your current supplier or a previous one?

If some of the creditors are still adding interest, it might be possible to persuade them to freeze it by redistributing payments on more of a "pro-rata" basis than is currently the case.

Regards

Dennis
Twitter: @natdebtline

lolls89

National_Debtline wrote: »

Hi lolls89

Thanks for sharing your SoA, it's very useful.

One thing about it looks odd to me though so I'd be grateful if you could confirm:

The "home shopping" debt that I've highlighted above - is this really £12K? If this is effectively a catalogue, it would be extremely unusual for it to have such a large credit facility. Is there perhaps a rogue extra 0 in there??

Another question: is the "gas and electric" debt owed to your current supplier or a previous one?

If some of the creditors are still adding interest, it might be possible to persuade them to freeze it by redistributing payments on more of a "pro-rata" basis than is currently the case.

Regards

Dennis
Twitter: @natdebtline

Hiya thanks for you reply.

That's the correct amount. It's not a catalogue it was a personal loan. Going though some letter I found it was home shopping personal finance i think. (hspf) Then we started receiving letters from the bank of Scotland regarding the loan.

It is owed to our current supplier.

The biggest loans have frozen the interest as my partner has a CCJ against him.