Not sure which way to turn

fluffydukz

Hi I have debts of approximately £40k which have basically built up over the last 10 years or so. I have repeatedly consolidated to try and repay them, but have never managed to do so and have always ended up reconsolidating and so on. Now I have these debts and I dont know what to do or the best way to pay them. I have recently started a better paid job as a financial Advisor - please dont laugh!!! however because of this I cannot get a bad credit history or enter into any debt management program or IVA as it would cost me my job.
My salary and my husbands is enough to cover our monthly bills and repayments however I am really struggling to do a budget to enable me to repay any of the debts. I have credit cards which I am paying high interest on, but because of the amount of debt I have, I cannot change them to 0%. I get paid monthly, he gets paid weekly and this really throws me. He doesnt really get involved as he sees figures and panics and throws a wobbly so I tend to try and deal with it on my own. He always asks how our current account is doing which has an overdraft of approx £700 where as I am more worried about the loans and credit cards and would rather deal with these first. I feel really stupid considering my job, but if I could just get this debt down, we would be really well off but I cant see any end to it and am frightened to death that the only way out of it may affect my job as I am the main earner. I do have a mortgage and some equity in the property, but not enough to cover this debt and also our incomes would not be sufficient please can anyone tell me the best place to start

CLAPTON

start by writing down the details

details of your income (yours&OH plus any benefits)

details of all your spending (not just this months but all the yearly and one off stuff (divide by 12 to give a monthly figure)

then the full debt details, amount od debt, APRs, minimum monthly payments & number of payments left (for loans)

also how much is the house worth and how much the mortgage and general family situation, OH children etc.

fluffydukz

Thanks for that

I have just been onto snowball my debts and that was really good I have also listred my SOR below if anyone has any further ideas I would be really grateful

Incomings

me: £1487 (but £387 deductedfor staff rate loan)
OH £962 monthly (paid weekly £222)
Child benefit £119

total £2568

OUTGOINGS

Mortgage 665 interest only fixed 2 more years £157K
Council Tax 115
Gas 35
Electric 48
Water 37
Talk talk 37
Sky 33
My mobile 30 average bill contract still tied
OH Mobile 10
broadband 12 tried to get cheaper but cos of area live in not able
contact lenses 20
Car insurance 55 (fthi covers both cars)
Petrol 120 (this covers both cars)
Kids long term savings 25
food 250
home insurance 23
life insurance 46
ASU ins 10
TV Licence 11
union fees 6

Total £1563

debts

Staff rate loan £22500 £387 6.1% 68 months left
egg loan £9000 £159 7.9% 60 months left
car finance £8500 £219 7.9% 48 months left
egg cc £4900 £100 22% limit £5K
barclaycard £1550 £20 0% for 12 months (8 left) limit £1700
staff cc £780 £10 7.9% £800 limit
bank od £1000 9.9% nothing paid off at mo
Lloyds tsb od £3162 approx 20% I think not paying off at mo

Total £895

Total incomings £2568
Total outgoings £2458

disposable £110

GettingThingsDone

Hi fluffydukz, and welcome to DFW! It is a bit scary at first when you get it all down on 'paper' and see the figures, but it also helps to put you in control.

There will be some tweaks you can make to your SOA items (such as 'do you really need sky?') but in addition, do you have items you can ebay/carboot? Can you or your OH pick up any more work? Any bank or credit card charges over the last 6 years? Basically, anything that can start making a dent in your figures?

When you snowballed, did you make a note of your Debt Free Date? Maybe the way to get the OH on board and see the big picture is to show him your SOA and your DFD and see if he's up for the challenge of bringing that date closer.

I think the key is to get excited about what things you could do once DF. Then start a new snowball with your figures and adjust the amount you can pay each month and see that date move closer.

Good luck and keep posting!

gtd

GettingThingsDone

Whoops - double-post!

calleyw

The obvious ones to me are:

I assume that there are 4 of you. So food is a little high with a bit of planning you should be able to knock about £50 a month (if not more).

Council tax can be paid over 12 months and not just 10 months. See if you can do the same with the water as well.

Talk talk 37
Sky 33
My mobile 30 average bill contract still tied
OH Mobile 10
broadband 12 tried to get cheaper but cos of area live in not able

For mobiles and sky and broad band you are spending a whopping £122 a month. Talk to your mobile provider and get them to drop it to the lowest tariff they have.

Don't sky have a package where you can get phone, sky and broad band for about £26 a month.

I reckon you could cut that amount in half (if not more) freeing up another £60 a month. Giving you an extra £110 a month to pay off your debts.

Life insurance seems high unless you have pre existing condition. Also I would bin the children savings account for the time being as you are paying more interest on your debts then it is earning the bank. You can re-instate at a later date.

Have you checked to see if you can get a Child tax credits check here https://www.entitledto.com

All the best.


Yours


Calley

lunar

Hi, I wanted to wish you good luck and say well done for facing up to the problem. I am still really new to this but found the hardest thing was writing out my SOA. there are loads of really hepfull people on here and plenty of them seem to have had difficulty getting there OH's to face things. you have made a really positive start coming here, ill be keeping up with your diary so keep posting

CLAPTON

well done for a good start of the budget.
However, at the moment its not really possible to see if you are actually spending more than you earn or spending less.

so

Start keeping a spending diary and write down everything you spend... at the moment you have nothing down for kids activities, clothes, haircuts etc. etc... its really worth the effort of finding out where the money really goes.

Also add into the budget all the yearly and one off spend (divide by 12 to get a monthly figure)... so you have cars but nothing is showing for car tax/mot/servicing/breakdown fund/RAC, likewise you have a house..you need an emergency fund..you must spend something on it each year, also you show nothing for xmas, birthdays, outtings, school costs etc...

Only when you have done that can you really see if you are spending less than income (relative happiness) or more than income (crisis). If its worse than you think then consider calleyw excellent point about spending 122 per month on mobiles/sky /broadband etc.. just think 10 years ago no normal person had any of those 'essentials' ..how did we all survive then.


Also consider stop using CC at all ... if you need them it shows your are exceeding your income.

Finally can you increase your family income.. overtime or parttime work... even a modest increase can make a big impact on the debts.

fluffydukz

Thank you all so much for your help and advice I will certainly look into the joint package for sky phone and mobile etc. Cant come off my contract on my mobile cos of high charge, but my oh doesnt have to pay line rental so he has agreed to stop using his phone and is going to use my free minutes.(he only ever uses it to phone me from work as he works nights and I dont see him so we can share.
Am also going to try and see about single provider for gas & elec again. tried to do this before but they messed it up so I gave up - this time will persevere.

At mo I do get tax credits but these are going to stop as my salary has increased and my husband has changed shifts so he can look after kids rather than pay childminder, which is why I havent included them in my SOA. Also have resolved to do one big shop online rather than lots of little bits which is why I think we spend so much, My youngest son is starting to toilet train too so this should reduce the bills soon not having to buy nappies.
As far as emergency fund is concerned or any of the other bits, I am sure that if I added it up I would be over my incomings, so I will buy a diary tomorrow and start!!!
Does anyone know anything about these jobs you see advertised "earn more money from home" and if they are worth looking into? I am a bit tied as when I am not at work, I have the kids with me so any extra work I could do would have to be from home
I am really positive and excited now and adamant that I am gonna get this sorted Thanks loads guys and will speak to you soon to let you know how I am going XX:T

RAS

Hi

Avoid work from home ads, they are nearly all scams.

Things you can do

Find anything that you no longer use and sell it on e-bay or get it ready for a car boot sale.

Join www.freecycle.org, which is where people give stuff away free. Good for kid's stff in particular but you can get electrical goods and all sorts on there.

Do a search for chevalier on here and check the excellent list of survey and mystery shoping site, plus some of the pay per click sites.

Do you have any craft interests? Is there a WI market near you?

claireabelle_2

re your contact lenses, do you wear daily disposables?
If so, if you have an up-to-date prescription, www.postoptics.co.uk works out cheaper for me... I have started wearing glasses to work (makes me look clever, too!), and save my lenses for weekends/socialising/exercising, so I only use 10 pairs a month instead of 30.