Our SOA

catmiaow

Best way is to visit a mortgage adviser - mine was free and they just got paid if you took out a mortgage or product.

lincs1205

Thank-you. DH did ring them the other month and they said we had to go in the month before to have a word with them. Going to concentrate on getting some of our debts down between now and then.

Jon_B_2

I don't usually comment on SOA's as everyone prioritises different things, but you are close to 35k in debt and your spending is frivolous.

Cut the haircuts right back, cancel Sky, do everything you can to cut the mobile bills down, water rates are extortionate for 2 people - are you on a meter? Once back from holiday cancel any plans for anymore a few years yet. Present budget is huge for someone in your predicament.

I'm on my mobile, but am I reading right that your mortgage rate is 6.4%? That's hugely uncompetitive if so. Although I'm not sure another lender would touch you with your level of debt to income ratio - does your lender off any retention deals you could move to quickly?

lincs1205

Jon B : Many thanks for your comments.

lee111s

You can easily find out your interest rate of the mortgage, how much you owe and how many years are left on the mortgage by calling Halifax or logging into online banking if you have an account set up.


Find out when in December your fixed rate ends as you can apply for a remortgage with another lender around 3 months before you want it to actually complete. Nationwide for example have a 90 day expiry on their mortgage offers - with the whispers of rates possibly increasing, get in a new fix ASAP.

lincs1205

Hi

Lee 11112012 - we're going to go in when we come back off holiday and go in then I've spoken to dh about this and he was already way ahead of me. Thankyou

redpete

lincs1205 wrote: »

Water rates............................. 74 Look at getting a meter fitted, could halve this
Mobile phone............................ 80 Should be half this at least
TV Licence.............................. 37.62 Separate from Satellite TV cost

Car Insurance........................... 27.14 - This is mine, hubby paid his for a year in advance Should still include his costs averaged over a year
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 150 - This is hubbys, as i have a careplan which is included in the HP agreement Per month?!
Other insurance......................... 66.16 What are these?
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 50 Cut this
Haircuts................................ 72 - This is every 8 - 10 weeks Include the amount averaged per month (e.g. should it be £30-36 per month?)

ideas above

Tabatha_Kitten

Was the £50 per month in your budget enough to cover the cost of your holiday & spending money ?

The annual holiday was my big weakness before my own LBM.


I too put down £50 per month in my SOA for my holiday once upon a time.


a) I didn't actually save that money separately in my budget.
b) the cost of the holiday went on the credit card in the first place adding to my already horrendous credit card debt.
C) I didn't actually have any saved for spending money so I added to my overdraft because I couldn't possibly cancel the holiday as it was already paid for and actually, I really deserve a holiday because Ive worked sooooo hard all year for it.
d) I also thought that the answer was to "just tighten my belt more when I get back" everything will be fine.


Biggest favour I ever did myself was realising I was kidding myself.


Can you really afford your holiday too ?

DandelionPatrol

At 35000 you are about 9 months take home in debt which is about 50% more than the alarm level. On the detail, the Barclay Ptnr entry for the boiler should have its own entry in the unsecured debt, so you must be even deeper in in reality.

And you are in that dangerous place with a comfortable £1000/month surplus which you have spent on credit. You have omitted the interesting bit at the tail of your SoA which shows how much you have available to clear credit. I have not done the sums, but it looks like there is precious little. If this runs negative after any savings, then you will be on the wrong side of the event horizon and just heading for the black hole of bankruptcy

You do need to look at all of the suggestions for reducing your outgoings. The question is what to do with the savings you find and any surplus. I suggest you eliminate the overdrafts to start off with - yours first then the joint account. This should liberate about £200/month surplus which you should then use to snowball the rest of your debts. By eliminating your overdrafts, you will prevent your banks recalling the overdraft which could push you over the edge financially. And if you keep the discipline of always keeping your accounts in credit, and not taking on more debt, you will draw a line under the debt and only ever be dealing with a historic problem.

lincs1205

Many thanks for your comments :
re the £150 per month no it isn't it's probably 6--8 monthly.
Going to ring the water company and look at potentially getting a water meter fitted will make us think more hoe much water we are using.
We don't use £50 per month for presents more like every 3 to 4 months. Haircut is going down to potentially £35 per 8 weeks as going to go to the college across the road,
not sure if I can cut my mobile phone tariff as I'm in contract til next November at least.

Tabithakitten : Unfortunately it is to close to the departure date to cancel without severe penalty I will be paying for spending money out of my own account. I'm expecting my wages to fluctuate substantially due to doing a rolling rota. Once again thankyou for all your comments.