Deep breath, pulls head out of sand....

wanttosortthisout

Thanks for the heads up on the abbreviations

foxgloves

I think completing an SOA will be a great start. You are on a good monthly income. We managed to pay off around 30K of debt on a lot less than that, but I do appreciate that everyone's circumstances are different. There are lots of people on here who have become dab hands at spotting where cutbacks can be made, so if you can bear to share it, that's probably a good 2nd step.....the first one is that you have stopped being an ostrich!! It certainly never solved any financial problems. I say that as someone who years ago, used to open bank statements, try to peer at them without actually opening my eyes, then shove them in my desk drawer! So well done for being brave.....now it's time to follow through on that & get some practical plans in place.
f

happy_bunny_2

wanttosortthisout wrote: »

This goes back to the head in the sand thing, I don't know. At the time of the 'challenge' they put it up to 35%, I actually only realised it was at 50% today when I finally looked at the statement- my paper work is in a real mess, in boxes and folders stuffed all over the place- at least Ive actually opened all the envelopes today....

Your statements will help figure out when it got jacked.

Might be worth a subject access request to the card provider. See if it turns up anything.

Worth taking a look when you get a bit if time and things are more in order.

Good luck

HB

Levi-

Hello, I just wanted to say welcome and congrats on making your first step.. you are on the right path now and things can only get better The people and site of resources here are second to none so keep coming back to keep your focus going and get excellent tips and advice or just a friendly place to vent - good luck

bambos

Hi and welcome to the DFW board. You will find lots of people on here that can offer lots of support and guidance. You have made the first steps towards becoming debt free so well done.

Here's a link to the SOA. It's useful if you post one as it gives people the opportunity to offer you lots of advice on areas which you can cut back

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

No matter what your level of debt there is always a way out and the key is to keep positive. It can be done!

Time_to_face_the_music

wanttosortthisout wrote: »

Hi there,

So today I have decided I need to sort everything out, I have sat down and done a spread sheet of all our monthly outgoings, a list of debt and added them up (cried for a bit) and applied for mine and hubbies experian.

I've had a look at the forums and the details regarding 0% cards etc and am really stumped, here is the situation...

We are in £85672 worth of debt, £50K is on credit cards!

We have never been great with money, either of us, but obviously this is beyond out of control.

The 'good' news is that we both earn good salaries and our monthly income after tax is £5000. At the moment paying minimum payments on cc's and agreed loan repayments we are spending £2800 of that. Mortgage/ Council tax etc is £1110. Which leaves just over £1000 for food/ car/ school stuff, well you know.

My credit rating is on the floor mainly because of the level of debt, I have one default on my experian which was for a stupid catalogue that didn't do DD's and just didn't get paid..... everything else is satisfactory. I believe my husbands is slightly better but they are sending a pin through for him to log on as we used the same computer to register and it didn't like it!

We do 'own' our house and there is approx £30K equity in it. But we already have a secured loan....

I should also say that about 5 years ago we had a challenge and had a period of several months were we could not make the minimum payments- we paid everything up to date and have never missed a payment since. At the time several of the credit card companies decided to up our interest rates, several are at 35% but one, with a balance of £12600 is at 50%!

I've used the tool on here to tell me what I would be approved for and basically only the Capital One card with 6 months interest free came up with a max balance of £1200. Better then nothing though but I have been declined...

Hubbies has a couple of 50% chances but we haven't done anything yet as we would like to see the experian first.

Sorry this is long, any advise would be welcome.

Hi and welcome wanttosortthisout :hello:

Well done on getting your head out the sand, that always takes some doing and we often leave it too long.

You've had some great advice already and I just wanted to add to it by sharing with you that 3 years ago, we were in a pretty much identical debt situation to you and with a salary level around £400 less. In that time, we have managed to pay off over £77,400 of debt via a self managed debt management plan. If your credit rating was in a good state at the moment, I would hesitate to suggest you do the same but as it stands you don't really have anything to lose.

If you want to know any more about debt management plans, please come and have a read on the DMP & Mutual Support Thread and then ask any questions you have. It's full of advice, experience, help and support by the bucketload:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4988866

TTFTM x

wanttosortthisout

[tt]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................ 2300
Partners monthly income after tax....... 2700
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 5000

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 237
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 370
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 82
Electricity............................. 132
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 35
Water rates............................. 57
Telephone (land line)................... 30
Mobile phone............................ 0
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 40
Internet Services....................... 20
Groceries etc. ......................... 500
Clothing................................ 50
Petrol/diesel........................... 50
Road tax................................ 22
Car Insurance........................... 35
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 15
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 50
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 16
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 35
Buildings insurance..................... 10
Contents insurance...................... 26
Life assurance ......................... 36
Other insurance......................... 2
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 100
Haircuts................................ 30
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1992


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 145000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 15000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 160000


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 114000...(237)......0
Secured Debt.................. 1600.....(370)......0
Total secured & HP debts...... 115600....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
MBNA...........................6800......260.......30
OPUS...........................12600.....550.......50
Barclay Card...................11300.....260.......21
DFS............................850.......70........0
Currys.........................1600......41........0
Very...........................5400......160.......0
Other Loan.....................13000.....290.......0
Halifax Loan...................7600......270.......0
Tesco Loan.....................4200......210.......0
Secured Loan...................2100......370.......0
Halifax........................9300......220.......0
Homebase.......................1200......40........0
American Express...............700.......17........0
Tesco..........................4200......70........0
MBNA...........................4400......120.......0
Total unsecured debts..........85250.....2948......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 5,000
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,992
Available for debt repayments........... 3,008
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 2,948
Amount left after debt repayments....... 60

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 160,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -115,600
Total Unsecured debt.................... -85,250
Net Assets.............................. -40,850

Obviously, the cc's and loans aren't 0% I just am not sure at this point...

PinkPoppies

The main thing that stands out to me is the £500pm on groceries.

There are two adults and two children in our house; we have managed to get our monthly bill down to about £200-250 now mainly by planning our meals and shopping at Lidl. We still eat really well too!

If you get rid of cable TV (we cancelled ours a few years ago and really don't miss it, which surprised me) that's another £40 a month to throw at your debts.

I'd also consider reducing the amount you spend on presents, £1200 a year is a lot of money.

PinkPoppies

The other thing I meant to say earlier was that the other 'good news' is that once you hammer down one of your cards by a few £k you are likely be offered a 0% deal by one of your existing credit card providers anyway.

I see 2 of your highest APRs are with companies that wrote to us and offered us 0% balance transfer deals once we had made a dent of a few grand.

rockm87

Hi


You're going to get a lot of good and helpful advice here! It's the place to be.

I agree with bringing down your grocery bills, maybe join the Grocery challenge on the other board. Pick up some tips on meal planning too.

I switched to Lidl a year or so ago, and can honestly say it has saved us! we eat like kings for half what we were spending at T#sco and its better stuff. Give it a try! (btw my husband is a very fussy eater too!)