Desperate For Help, My SOA

Miss_Skint

Hi, I really am in need of some good friendly advice here. I am a single female who has recently come out of a long term relationship and am now shocked and horrified at the state of my finances.

Net Monthly Salary £ 1,026

Outgoings Amount
Mortgage (Repayment tied -in until Jan 08 @ 6.69%) £ 323 (16½ yrs left)
Council Tax £ 52
Electricity & Gas £ 47
Water Rates £ 12
Telephone £ 19
Mobile Phone £ 15
TV Licence £ 12
Internet £ 18
Buildings & Contents Insurance £ 16
Life Insurance £ 0
Groceries & Cat food £100
Clothing £ 20
Petrol £ 35
Car Tax, Insurance, MOT, Maintenance £ 65
Car Parking £ 0
Other Travel £ 0
Medical/Dental Expenses £ 8
Pets Insurance/Vets Bills £ 8
Birthdays/Christmas £ 25
Holidays & Leisure £ 40
TOTAL MONTHLY OUTGOINGS £814

NET MONTHLY SURPLUS £212


Debt Total Debt Min Payment
Northern Rock Loan (8.4% - 8½yrs left) £ 15,250 £ 227
A&L CC (15.9%) £ 6,014 £ 63
Halifax CC (10.9%) £ 5,250 £ 113
TOTAL DEBT £ 26,333


Asset Value
House Equity (approx) £ 25,000
Car(s) £ 1,000
TOTAL ASSETS £ 26,000

I have been browsing this site since the split and have been acting on advice offered to others in similar situations to myself. So far I have managed to successfully have the PPI removed from my loan, stop smoking, install a water meter, change household insurance provider halving my premium and cut back on spending in general but I am now finding myself up against a brick wall and don’t know what else to do.

I have never defaulted on payments but after recently trying to change credit cards in order to transfer to better rates and my applications being declined (from company’s that I have previously had accounts with) I realise that I am in serious trouble.

I have been contemplating a couple of options but this is where I definitely need some advice.

a) I can transfer the balances from both existing credit cards to my Lloyds TSB credit card (nil balance) at a lifetime balance transfer rate of 7.9% though there will be a 3% fee.
b) I can transfer my A&L balance to my Halifax credit card at a lifetime balance of 5.9% plus 3% fee. I am dubious about transferring balances as I am worried that the minimum payment may be too high for me to meet but I am currently paying my A&L card at some ridiculous minimum payment like £5 plus interest so this will never go down!
c) Try to hold out until I am able to remortgage in January (without penalties) and use it to swallow up some of my current outgoings.
d) Seek a Debt Management Plan now.


I keep a spending diary, do mystery shops when I can and have been trying to find a part time job to increase my income.

Any other advice would really be appreciated, thank you in advance and I apologise for the long post.

madmoney_2

hi there, have you thought of ebaying ur old junk? also have a look at the snowball calculator https://www.whatsthecost.com if u havent already done so, im looking at avons website atm to see if i can earn some extra cash. personally i would hang in there till jan, and try to pay off highest aprs first hth xxx

lunar

Im prob not the best person to give you advice as im still really new at this. I know you will get loads of support on here, good luck!

floss2

Bumpity bump!

ifstar

Hi Miss Skint,
Just checking your figures on your debts - you have the A&L CC down as min payment of £63 and the Halifax down as £113 but there is less balance and a smaller APR on the Halifax card. Are there figures correct? Ah just seen you said that the A&L let's you pay a very small amount.

You would have a fee of about £180 to transfer the A&L CC to TSB CC and a fee of about £157 to transfer your Halifax card to the TSB CC. You probably need to check what the min payment would be if you transferred both amounts here.

I would do the same check if you were to transfer the A&L to the Halifax card too. This will let you see what you can expect to pay and whether you feel you can manage this.

I presume if you are paying these then you must be down by about £191 every month as your surplus is £212 and your loan and 2 cc's are £403.

Waiting till you can re-morgage is an option but you want to at least cut the gap between now and that time and you can probably save a bit by looking at your SOA.

Electricity & Gas £ 47 - How big is your place? We have a 2 bedroom flat and pay slightly less than that.
Water Rates £ 12
Telephone £ 19 - Any way you can cut this down, maybe move to a better phone package that gives you free or reduced evening calls or free for the first hour etc?
Mobile Phone £ 15 - How many mins/texts is this for and do you make use of it enough? Could you switch to PAYG?
TV Licence £ 12
Internet £ 18 - Any chance of dropping this a little? Maybe go to a slightly slower speed?
Buildings & Contents Insurance £ 16
Life Insurance £ 0
Groceries & Cat food £100 - I know this isn't a huge amount for 1 person and a cat but you should be able to shave £10/20 off this. Check the old style money saving board for ideas.
Clothing £ 20 - Any chance you can reduce of stop this, or only do it once every couple of months?
Petrol £ 35
Car Tax, Insurance, MOT, Maintenance £ 65
Car Parking £ 0
Other Travel £ 0
Medical/Dental Expenses £ 8 - Do you get much use from this? What is it for? If it is dental insurance then how much would you spend a year?
Pets Insurance/Vets Bills £ 8
Birthdays/Christmas £ 25 - Any chance you could drop this by £5/10
Holidays & Leisure £ 40 - Any chance you could drop this by £5/10

Hope this helps a bit, no doubt some others will be along soon to help out

floss2

If no NHS dentist, dental insurance covers check-ups and minor treatments such as fillings, extractions etc + emergencies. I know because we have to pay as no NHS dentist here will accept new patients!

jue

Just a thought, at the moment do you need a car to get to work?
If you were able to sell the car you would be £100 per month better off and have some cash to throw at your debt, it would be a difficult choice but it would be better than a dmp.

Would it be possible for you to get a 2nd job maybe working in a bar on evenings? Even one night a week may help to bring in a little more money.

Wishing you all the best.

CCCS_Matthew

Hi there,

There are a number of ways that you may choose to deal with your current situation. As a general rule they all need to include a financial statement as the foundation from which to begin (which you have already done).

Whist we cannot advise you fully on your financial situation via this forum we do have an online advice facility called Debt Remedy where 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. Debt Remedy would then look at all the options to deal with the situation, including the possibility of a DMP

Hope this helps
CCCS

RAS

Do you have a second room that you can let to a lodger? You wouls not have to pay tax?

If not are you claiming the single person rebate on council tax and have you asked to pay over 12 months to help you budget?

Miss_Skint

madmoney wrote: »

hi there, have you thought of ebaying ur old junk? also have a look at the snowball calculator www.whatsthecost.com if u havent already done so, im looking at avons website atm to see if i can earn some extra cash. personally i would hang in there till jan, and try to pay off highest aprs first hth xxx

First of all, I would like to thank you all for your replies, I really appreciate it.

Madmoney, I have been going through my old junk and putting things aside for a carboot or Ebay but to be honest most of my junk is just used clothing which I feel probably won't make anything. I haven't really come across anything which I think has any value, but I suppose that is the whole point of it so I am going to give Ebay a go and will probably find the time to detail everything over this bank holiday weekend.

Someone at work is already selling Avon and household goods. There's also someone in my area putting catalogues through letterboxes.

I have also tried the snowball calculator but at the moment I can only afford minimum payments so I aren't able to do anything about it, but I will hopefully keep reviewing my situation and keep going back to What's The Cost.

Thanks for your suggestions.

Miss_Skint

Ifstar

The money that I have allowed for some of the things (ie dentist, clothing, birthdays and xmas etc) in my SOA were guidelines taken from one of the debt management websites. I don't actually put any money away for such things and have in the past relied on the bad old credit card, but I am still down every month and am forced to use my cards occasionally.

I am in the process of changing my utility provider. I have been with Powergen for about 3 years and was paying £52pm. £47 is the monthly figure quoted by my new supplier. I live in a tiny, terraced house, am out at work during the day so I don't know how my bills are so high but I am hoping that I will be better off with the new supplier.

I live in Hull and we have our own communications provider so am unable to get the cheaper phone and internet packages that are around, my internet tariff is the lowest available. The £19pm phone cost is mainly for rental charges as I hardly use the landline and have thought about getting rid of it. I am on PAYG and some months I have managed to keep it to £10.

As you suggested, I will try to get some tips from the Old Style Board so thanks for your advice.