My SOA - help please!

lollyc_2

I've been lurking here far too long and not doing anything about my debts, so i've finally got up the courage to post my SOA (below).

I got a letter from the bank on Sat, charging me £30 for going over my OD limit so I've had to increase my OD limit again, and its now got to the point where i'm struggling to meet just the min. payments on my Credit Cards each month.

Any help and advice appreciated. I applied for a £15,000 loan a couple of months ago (in a way i'm glad that was refused as it would have tied me in for 7 years at horrendous repayment per month). There must be a better way - but I just don't know where to start to meet all my repayments each month.




Monthly Income (take home):

£1481.19

Monthly Outgoings:

• Mortgage £355
• Ferry £200 (have to take a ferry & bus to get to work)
• Bus £36
• Mobile £20
• Car Insurance £31
• DVD Club £15
• House Bills £125
• Sub-total: £782.00

Loans/Credit Cards

• Nationwide Loan £166.82 (Total £8300, 7.9%APR, £1880/13 months remaining)
• Halifax One CC £198.51 (Balance £9,926, 6%APR lifetime)
• HSBC CC £146.00 (Balance £4,886, 0%APR til Apr 08)
• Capital One CC £23.26 (Balance £775, 14%APR)
• Virgin CC £5.00 (Balance £126, 24.9%APR)
• M&S CC £13.60 (Balance £453, 0%APR til Nov 07)
• Sub-total: £553.19 (Total Debts = £18,046)

Total Outgoings (excluding food and personal stuff): £1335.19

Which leaves £146 for food budget and other bits and pieces like toiletries, etc.

A few things to note:

1. I know the Car needs to go up for sale. It sits on the drive most of the week as I am a commuter, so it is a complete waste of money!
2. I am only paying the Minimum payments on the Credit Cards.
3. There is still a balance of £126 on the 24.9% Virgin card as Customer Service at HSBC messed up the amount I'd requested to balance transfer to them, which should have cleared the Virgin card. I do not have any extra money to throw at this to clear it!
4. I have not provided a detailed Food and other spends budget, but in the past I have allocated £135 for Food/Groceries and £150 for myself (toiletries, medicines, gifts, clothes, shoes, going out, holiday savings etc). If these were included in the figures above, this would leave me -£144 short each month!! (hence going over my OD limit recently just to buy food).
5. Please don't ask me to cancel the DVD club. I hardly go out in the evenings anymore, and this is my one little thing that keeps me sane..
6. I have bad gums for someone my age (33!) and have spent £2500 over the last year on specialist treatment trying to save my teeth (which went on c card!). I have been asked to go back for more, but just can't afford it at the moment so that is stressing me also.
7. My other half pays all the bills for the house and I contribute £125 towards that each month.
8. I have not told my other half the extent of my debt :sad: and don't know where to start!

I'd really appreciate some help and advice ...
thanks
lollyc

irishemma

Well done for posting! It is the first step to admit you need to change.

Have you tried speaking to the cccs. I am in DMP with them and they have been fab.

trying-very-trying

You've come to the right place for help. I'm sure someone more knowledgeable than myself will be along shortly with good advice, but recognising your problem is a good start.

trying-very-trying

I've just had a look at your spending and notice you haven't included road tax, a TV licence or council tax, did you forget to add these?

lollyc_2

Council Tax, Tv Licence and all other bills are paid by my other half each month. I contribute £125 to him towards those bills (which probably is nowhere near half of everything but I can't afford more at the mo). Road Tax, I'm embarrassed to say, went on the Credit card last time it was due....

lollyc_2

Forgot to say that I sell on ebay when I can but it is very sporadic, and I have just started a spending diary to work out some kind of budget for food and other bits.

trying-very-trying

I've just reread your post and notice that your £125.00 is part payment for all the household bills. I think that you should tell your oh the extent of your problem, hopefully he will support you in whatever course of action you decide to take. I know my dh wouldn't believe the position I was in until I put it all down on paper in front of him. Fortunately he agreed with me to go with the DMP, but it has made him much more conscious about what he is spending, where as before he would always ask me to get things for him and I would just put it all on the cc. It may be in my name but it is our debt.

trying-very-trying

That's a good start. The spending diary is a good idea. It will let you see where your moneys going and I've found I think really hard before spending if it goes in the diary.

CCCS_Emily

Hello lollyc,

I would suggest that you have a look at our online advice facility called Debt Remedy. You can complete a financial statement and be provided with advice on the best way to deal with your situation. If you go to our website www.cccs.co.uk and click on Debt Remedy you can access our virtual counselling service.

Let us know how you get on.

chevalier

Hi there
You mention about not cutting your dvd club. Fair enough but you have to shop smarter so to speak. If you sign up to www.quidco.com, you can get various free dvd trials (and get cash back too). If you did one trial per month and then cancelled before the end of the free period, it would free up that £15 to spend on credit card repayment, plus you would have the quidco money, and still the dvd's.

Could you do mystery shopping in your lunch hour or anything like that. There is a big thread at the top of the board for this. It doesn't pay great BUT the good thing is you can get restaurant mystery shops, so you could go out for nothing!

best of luck sorting your debt
chev

lollyc_2

Thanks to everyone thats posted tips and help so far - my only regret is I didn't have to guts to post on here sooner.

Thanks to CCCS_Emily. I have had a look on the site and it recommends a Debt Management Plan based on what I can afford each month. I will have to look more into this as I (naively!) have not heard of such companies before! Thats half the reason i've come here, because I didn't know these solutions existed.

I am feeling a little calmer now and will try to sit down with OH tonight. I've been burying my head in the sand too long. I even plucked up the courage to phone my local library and tell them i'd lost one of their books. They were very nice about it (although I do still have to pay for a replacement). I was really dreading that they'd be so angry with me. Its amazing what you convince yourself of when you're hiding away from problems...