£45k debt - how?

boxofpaws

Hello all,

I have been regular poster on here in the past, and paid back quite a lot of debt. Today, I find myself in more debt than I have ever been. I am so embarrassed by my situation here that I have created a new username. I am not exactly sure how much debt we have (not all in my name), I just know that its a lot and I am frightened. More worryingly, I don't really know where it has all gone.

You guys have been brilliant in the past, I am hoping you can calm me down and help my refocus on clearing this debt. I have done an SOA, I need to pluck up the courage to post it.

Little_Miss_Winner

Hi.

If you have been a regular poster in the past - then you know the lovely people here wont judged you.

The first step is to post your soa - that way others can perhaps suggest ways of reducing your putgoings. Things you may not have thought of before?

Either way - good luck - you know you can do this!

Soa ????????

boxofpaws

Thank you for the reply Little Miss Winner. Ok here goes.


I'm ashamed to say this is all guess work. Apart from direct debits, I have no idea where our money goes. No idea what we spend on food or how we manage to spend so much. (I do cook from scratch already).


I will breakdown the credit cards later, they are NOT all on 0% any more. The amount I have put for the loans is what I calculate the current outstanding amount is



Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 0
Number of cars owned.................... 2
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 2100
Partners monthly income after tax....... 2100
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 100
Total monthly income.................... 4300
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 1165
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 161
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 169
Electricity............................. 50
Gas..................................... 63
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 30
Telephone (land line)................... 20
Mobile phone............................ 30
TV Licence.............................. 12.12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 35.6
Internet Services....................... 26
Groceries etc. ......................... 400
Clothing................................ 100
Petrol/diesel........................... 300
Road tax................................ 15
Car Insurance........................... 45
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 35
Buildings insurance..................... 10
Contents insurance...................... 5
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 100
Haircuts................................ 60
Entertainment........................... 100
Holiday................................. 100
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 3031.72

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 260000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 10000
Other assets............................ 9000
Total Assets............................ 279000

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 182000...(1165).....5
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 4600.....(161)......1.5
Total secured & HP debts...... 186600....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
My credit cards................22760.....246.......0
His credit card................6022......106.......0
His personal loan..............10000.....323.......6
Total unsecured debts..........38782.....675.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 4,300
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 3,031.72
Available for debt repayments........... 1,268.28
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 675
Amount left after debt repayments....... 593.28
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 279,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -186,600
Total Unsecured debt.................... -38,782
Net Assets.............................. 53,618

Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using other browser.

January2015

I haven't looked through your SOA - but just wanted to say don't ever feel you will be judged by anyone on this forum

CP2016

Hi boxofpaws I'm not good at the SOA stuff but I've subscribed and will cheer your progress from the sidelines.

enthusiasticsaver

Do you actually have a monthly surplus of £593?

MrsTinks

So long as your SOA is guesswork then it's going to be nearly pointless to pick it apart sadly... Can you go back through your statements and work out where the money has gone? Clearly you should have money left over each month unless either of you have a gambling or other addiction issue and the money vanishes on that.

You have run up nearly £40k of unsecured debts and you will know that it's critical you understand HOW this happened if you want to fix it...

This is fixable! You can do this!

Go through your statements and work out exactly where your money has been going each month. Or if that is too daunting then mark those on your statement that are accurate numbers and those that are guesses and we can start working on that

Welcome back!

redpete

I agree that useful advice is difficult without an accurate and realistic soa, but £100 a month on presents is a lot, especially as you don't have any children.

Ilona

Hi. £400 a month for food for two people is massive, could cut that by 50%. Clothing too high, stop buying for six months, wear what you already have. Stop buying presents, you can't afford them. Find some free entertainment. A lot for fuel, can you car share?
Ilona

enthusiasticsaver

You really need to keep a spending diary and see if that soa is anywhere near accurate. I suspect not. Clearing debt needs precise budgeting which is sadly a skill many parents do not pass on to their children and this leads to a debt spiral. Make changes now and you will see the benefits very quickly.

A £3 lunch deal on days you work does not seem a lot but multiply that by 5 for a week and then 52 for a year and you are looking at £780 over the year. Make lunches at home for a fraction of this. Same goes for coffees, magazines, other odds and ends which add up to vast amounts over the months and years. Think about every penny you spend and whether you need to spend it or want to.

boxofpaws

Hello, just a quick post to say thank you for your replies. I have some idea how we have doubled our debt this year, which I am not sure makes me feel better or worse. I will try to summarise our monthly spends from bank and credit card statements tonight. I would say December is not a typical month but I suspect if I looked at any month i would have some excuse of why it isn't typical either. I will log my spends. It is the money we unthinkingly and carelessly spend which is clearly the problem because no, we never have a surplus. Will post back tonight.