Shared ownership - refusal again

AliceBanned

Also my employer has changed leave and pay year from April to Jan so we should get a slight pay rise in Jan.. only about 2-3% but I am keeping my fingers crossed as it will help my morale. They have got rid of our performance-related pay for now and the long-term future there won't be as rosy as it has been because I have been getting about 4-5% increases since 2008 which is better than some. I fear it is about to end though..just some of the communications recently show they are not really equitable and in particular longer serving staff are being penalised and starting salaries which were way too low have been put up.


Those of us on better salaries now who are being penalised actually worked our way up from low salaries.


in any case I got an interview for a job paying more recently so need to focus on that. I didn't get the job because they gave it to someone who had worked in the sector for 30 years. :mad:. Job paid £36-40k and that would solve a lot of my problems, with cheaper transport costs as well.

AliceBanned

ACG wrote: »

Can you wrap the credit cards up in to a loan or has been suggested some 0% credit cards?

Have you tried a broker to help with staircasing? I do not do shared ownership mortgages so I do not really know how it all works but one lender saying no, does not mean they all will.

Have Halifax said no based on affordability or something else?

Sorry forgot to answer the last bit. They said 'no' based on my monthly outgoings and level of debt. Mainly monthly outgoings, which includes £500 in rent and service charge which would obviously reduce a lot if I bought a bigger share. Halifax advisor did say they took that into account. She said I was doing the right thing in trying to repay the debts.


Incidentally the same share in a flat below mine sold recently for £83k and the housing assoc had set the minimum salary at £34k plus I think 5% deposit. When I bought 3 year ago min salary was £26k and I was just above that, and it has been hard. I wonder whether they have changed it as it was too tight or whether just the rise in value, or both. It basically means if I wanted the same property now I would be priced out even of 40%. So hard in the south east.

AliceBanned

I thought I would just feed back that I have still been plodding on and have now paid off £4k in debt in just over a year. I only just realised this by looking at an old SOA I did with StepChange when I was considering a DMP (I didn't go ahead).


It has spurred me on a bit as I sometimes feel nothing is happening. Realistically I pay off around £300 pm as I end up having to spend on my cards to keep a life going - a simple one really but with some treats definitely, as this helps me keep going and reduces stress in my life. I think I have found my realistic level of debt-busting and can stick to it long term but it does mean putting the increase of my share of the property on hold.


At least I have switched to better deals so most are now on 0% apart from 2 loans totally £2000.


I need to remortgage in about 2 months' time as my fixed rate comes to an end. I am thinking of fixing again with still only 40% ownership as my LTV will be under 50%, and then at the end of 2017 applying to borrow more so that my ownership is 70% of the property. This may be feasible if I keep the debt busting at the current level. I suppose as long as I don't have to pay huge fees to fix or think I might need to change lender, it is worth doing this? Or maybe it will leave me stuck when I want to borrow more? In which case I will stay on SVR until my debts are below £10k and then try borrowing more.


Just really posting for moral support/feedback/to remind myself to keep going.


I realise my tendency is to try too hard to pay off debt too quickly and this can be counter productive.

AliceBanned

Hi


Just re-did my SOA as I'm really struggling this month. Hardly any money left and 2 weeks to payday. :eek:


Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 1
Number of children in household......... 0
Number of cars owned.................... 1
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1994
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1994
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 278
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 388
Management charge (leasehold property).. 100
Council tax............................. 88
Electricity............................. 20
Gas..................................... 30
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 15
Telephone (land line)................... 25
Mobile phone............................ 29
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 5
Groceries etc. ......................... 90
Clothing................................ 20
Petrol/diesel........................... 30
Road tax................................ 23
Car Insurance........................... 25
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 20
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 140
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 40
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 10
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 15
Haircuts................................ 20
Entertainment........................... 60
Holiday................................. 25
Emergency fund.......................... 20
Total monthly expenses.................. 1528

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 92000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 1200
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 93200

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 46000....(278)......1.99
Total secured & HP debts...... 46000.....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
HSBC...........................5200......130.......0
FD.............................1250......40........0
Aqua...........................220.......6.........34
Ratesetter.....................2000......154.......12.9
LMCU...........................1350......121.......12.9
Coop...........................2500......50........6.9
Tesco..........................1800......40........0
Halifax........................1900......10........19
Total unsecured debts..........16220.....551.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,994
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,528
Available for debt repayments........... 466
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 551
Amount short for making debt repayments. -85
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 93,200
Total HP & Secured debt................. -46,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -16,220
Net Assets.............................. 30,980
Created using the SOA calculator at www.stoozing.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using other browser.

AliceBanned

Somehow my debts have increased over a couple of months! I also underestimated how much I really owed (denial). Although my overdraft with Halifax gets 'paid off' each month on payday. I think I paid off more and they have crept back up because my car packed up and I bought one for £1350. It does make my travel to work much cheaper though and I couldn't stand it after 6 months without one.


It's quite depressing, but I'm still determined.


I'm doing 2 job applications this weekend and one of them I was interviewed for once before (same organisation) and they encouraged me to try again if another came up, and it would mean a £5k pay rise which would help.


Still occasionally want to sell my flat, jack everything in but then what?!


Somehow things just don't seem to work for me, not sure what the problem is or whether I have just hit another low period. I'm not sure how much longer I can keep trying if things don't get better soon.

PasturesNew

If you can't spend less ... you have to earn more. Can you think of "really easy peasy jobs" that you can do close to your home in the evenings/weekends where you get money + extras?

e.g. babysitting/childminding ... get some money, they sometimes leave snacks.
e.g. a simple quiet bar/cafe/shop job ... preferably where you get a free meal and the potential for tips and the potential for taking home a doggy bag?
e.g. an evening shift or two doing call centre work, where you might get a commission if they make a sale? It's typically local small companies that hire "on the spot" for these, although it's tough going, if you switch off to it and just do the job you can earn quick cash for not doing a lot, sitting on your bum.

Nothing "too hard or demanding" ....

All the time you're sitting staring at your four walls it's just a reminder and constant nag about the situation .... so getting out more would help with that.... and money to boot, which helps solve the problem!

Don't take on anything hard ... or many hours .... or too much commitment. Just simple jobs. Do you like dogs? I'd be useless, but a spot of dog walking could be found maybe. Or plant watering/house sitting .... stuff, easy, local, no real "commitment" longer than the current week or two.

AliceBanned

Thank PasturesNew. Are you talking about immediately? Or asap?


It's an idea. I am usually too tired but that has eased since the spring - or rather end of winter. I'm terrible in winter, can hardly get out of bed.


I am lacking confidence a bit so really have to push myself. Just having a mega low day I think.

xyz123

I genuinely don't know how feasible it is. Maybe better to do after ur remortgage in September but maybe taking a payment holiday (if (big one) allowed by ur lander) from mortgage. That allows you to pay off 19% card first as that's very expensive.

Good luck.

AliceBanned

Thanks xyz. It is actually my overdraft. I didn't know how else to reflect it on the SOA so it is an estimate at 19%. It costs me between £20-40 per month at the moment depending on whether I go over £2000 which I have the past. It is £2 a day over £2000 and £1 a day under £2000. I should focus on it as it is the highest or perhaps I could get a credit union loan to cover some of it. I'm less keen on credit union loans than I was as they are still loans at around 12-15% depending on what I am offered.

triple_choc_chip

Hi Alicebanned
I just wanted to offer some positivity because I've been in your position and lived frugally for 5 yrs to get rid of my debts; it's boring, anti-social and depressing but I promise when you get to the end it's fantastic. It's getting you down but it all seems very 'doable' (Is that a word or did I just make it up?)
You have enough income to live comfortably once you are debt free, so please don't give up now; this time WILL pass.
Have you tried the snowball calculator? Once you have a debt free date you can challenge yourself to beat it by chucking any extra at the most expensive debt.
Your situation is improving by £300 each month which is great! You have a couple of debts that look as if they will be gone in 12 months at which point you can snowball and get rid of a couple more very quickly. By getting rid of the ones with the highest interest you will soon be paying off more than £300 and repaying will really speed up. I truly think in five years time you will be in a really good position. Buying in the South East must surely be a good investment in the long term.