Debt Free Wanabee

khiller1988

i could do with some moral support! starting to get everything sorted, as we are hoping to start a family in the near future. me and my oh have just got married and we have some debt between us that we have both accumulated over the last few years. im focusing on mine at the moment as its a bit higher!

barclaycard 3,209.94
tesco 880.25
littlewoods 343.8 interest free until end of the year
Very 296.58 interest free until end of the year
Loan 9488.73
Overdraft 1000

i have a little bit together this month that im going to pay off something, but would seriously do with some extra help! I'm aiming to have the tesco, littlewoods and very paid off by the ed of the year, and ideally be able t reduce my overdraft down! may be dreaming a little!

I work full time and there isn't a lot of scope to pick up any extra, so will be looking at making a little extra from home, cutting down here and there

fatbelly

That's about 15k of debt. Any of it defaulted? How much are you paying per month on contractual monthly payments (loan) and minimum payments (cards and catalogues)? How much can you pay over and above this?

andyfromotley

Hi,

fill this in and post it on here and then we can give you some advise having the whole picture.

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

khiller1988

yes it is a lot! had a few issues in the past and had to pay some medical bills hence the loan. Credit cards were used for car insurance mainly, idea was it was an interest free lump sum, but with the wedding they never got paid off in time! None defaulted, Loan payments come out monthly at £231, happy for this to continue ticking along, especially for the moment.

Catalogues are interest free and am hoping to pay these off in one lump, no min payments at the moment.

My main focus is the cards at the mo, the tescos is a £25 min payment and am planing on increasing this to £75 a month minimum, and putting any extra one off payments i can on this. I have just paid £300 off this, so its a start! Have just been given a little bit extra a month at work so once i know how much this ill work out monthly i plan on putting this straight as extra to come off the tescos card.
barclays is 72 a month, some of this is interest free so focusing first on the tescos one!

khiller1988

andyfromotley wrote: »

Hi,

fill this in and post it on here and then we can give you some advise having the whole picture.

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

Thanks for this!

khiller1988

Statement of Affairs & Personal Balance Sheet

Summary

Monthly Budget Summary Amount(£)
Total monthly income 1,344
Monthly expenses (incl. HP & secured loans) 1,172.3
Available for debt repayments 171.7
UNsecured debt repayments 97
Amount left after debt repayments 74.7
Personal Balance Sheet Summary Amount(£)
Total Assets (things you own) 13,000
Total Secured & HP Debt -25,488.73
Total Unsecured Debt -4,185
Net Assets -16,673.73
Household Information

Number of adults in household 2
Number of children in household
Number of cars owned 2
Income, Expense, Debt & Asset Details

Income Amount(£)
Monthly income after tax 1344
Partners monthly income 0
Benefits 0
Other income 0
Total monthly income 1344
Expenses Amount(£)
Mortgage 0
Secured/HP loan payments 511.29999999999995
Rent 250
Management charge (leasehold property) 0
Council tax 118
Electricity 10
Gas 10
Oil 0
Water Rates 3
Telephone (land line) 0
Mobile phone 30
TV Licence 6
Satellite/Cable TV 0
Internet services 0
Groceries etc. 50
Clothing 20
Petrol/diesel 100
Road tax 3
Car Insurance 0
Car maintenance (including MOT) 0
Car Parking 0
Other travel 0
Childcare/nursery 0
Other child related expenses 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentists, opticians etc.) 0
Pet Insurance/Vet bills 0
Buildings Insurance 0
Contents Insurance 6
Life Assurance 0
Other Insurance 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc.) 15
Haircuts 40
Entertainment 0
Holiday 0
Emergency Fund 0
Total monthly expenses 1172.3
Secured & HP Debt Description Debt(£) Monthly(£) APR(%)
Mortgage 0 (0) 0
Secured Debt 9488.73 (231.4) 14
Hire Purchase (HP) Debt 16000 (279.9) 0
Secured & HP Debt totals 25488.73 - -
Unsecured Debt Description Debt(£) Monthly(£) APR(%)
tescp 885 25 14
barclays 3300 72 9
Unsecured Debt totals 4185 97 -
Asset Description Value (£)
Cash 0
House Value (Gross) 0
Shares and bonds 0
Car(s) 13000
Other assets (e.g. endowments, jewellery etc) 0
Total Assets 13000
Comments on the results

You have sufficient monthly income to meet your expenses and your minimum monthly debt repayments with £74.7 left over. You can use this to pay off your debts more quickly or to build/top-up an emergency fund. Your total secured debt is greater than the value of your house. Is this correct? Whatever your results show, it always pays to seek advice or comments from others. Why not post your SOA details on our Debt Management discussion board or on your preferred discussion forum elsewhere. Thankyou for using the SOA Calculator at https://www.stoozing.com.

rockm87

Hi!
I'd start by paying off your very and littlewood debts, I know theyre not accruing interest, but they are smallish and they can be killer if not dealt with. I'd just get rid of them first!

andyfromotley

Hi Khiller.

A couple of things, What is the £16000 hp for? A car? If so that is ways too expensive on that income. You need to check to see if you can get out of this deal that is financially crippling you.

Secondly you need an emergency fund. Otherwise you will constantly find things popping up that you can't pay for so actually increase your debt to pay for them!!! £500 - £1000 is plenty.

Be EXTREMELY careful about Very and little woods. Their interests rates tend to be horrific and i seem to recall that if they are not cleared within the interest free period the lump ALL of the interest on in one go?!!! Clear these before this happens.

WantToBeSE

My advice would be

-save £1000 towards an emergency fund FIRST. This means, as mentioned above, than if anything like your oven, fridge freezer, car etc, breaks down, you can get it repaired without getting into more debt.

-Pay off the Littlewoods and Very debts first. This generally goes against most advice, which says to pay off the highest APR debt first. BUT these 2 debts are smallest and it will give you a boost to see 2 debts gone.

-Then pay off the rest according to the APR %.

-Each time you pay a debt off, use that amount to pay towards the next debt.

God luck

MrJester

Similar to what others have said, as your Very & LW cards are 0% till end of year it gives you a good goal to get these paid off within that timeframe.

I think what others have said about 500-1000 emergency fund isnt very realistic. If the monthly leftover is only £70 odd then 5 months isn't very long to save up a grand is it!

Obviously there are going to be likely lots of things/changes you can do to make more money, and spend less. Such as selling things you do not absolutely need. As has been mentioned you should seriously consider what kind of vehicle you absolutely need, at the end of the day it is transport from A to B first and foremost. You can get a Corsa that will last a fair few years for 2 grand! for example.

Work on identifying what you can get rid of.

Because lets say you have 5 more paycheques before the end of the year, in those 5 paycheques can you pay off £650 of those store cards? Make this a goal first, and then you will be able to brainstorm ways to find money.
My inkling is that you should look at your assets and consider what can be changed there to free up some easy cash for these debts.

I have found creating a Debt Free Diary in the forums is very helpful to keep on track.

bexster1975

Hi

Your SOA is confusing, but that may be because there are two of you and I know this is only your SOA. The things I'm thinking of are:

£3 per month water rates - even if that's half that's very impressive. I pay a little under £20 per month on meter

£6 for TV licence -do you actually half this and pay half each every month? You are 6p short if you do by the way

Literally no entertainment budget but you need £20 per month on clothes? What do you need to buy if you never do anything?!

I couldn't agree more with Andy, I'm certain the £16000 is a car, otherwise you are missing car insurance ( illegal) and maintenance costs. This is a luxury you absolutely cannot afford on top of £15000 debt.

I'm assuming other half pays for Internet?

You need to look at this with fresh eyes. You spend over £750 per month on rent and servicing debt of one sort or another ( approx 60% of your income). If we were friends and I told you that, what would you tell me? If we were real life friends I would tell you I was worried and if you wanted me to help you sort things out I would do.

Also, £30 for a mobile phone is too much. Check when your contract ends.

I'm sorry if this seems a bit brutal, but honestly I would say the same to a friend in real life.

Can be fixed. Needs a change of plan. Hope your OH debt is more manageable

Bexster