My SOA - Any help gratefully received.

doodledo_2

Ok here is my SOA. Apologies for it being so long but I wanted to make sure everything was included, no doubt I have still missed something.

Any advice/suggestions would be gratefully received as I WILL get out of debt and hopefully quicker than planned with all you lovely peeps helping me.


Incomings

Me - £1250
OH - £1350
Child allowance - £75
Child tax credit - £40

Total - £2615


Outgoings

Mortgage - £374.08
Secured loan - £435.29
Unsecured loan 1 - £157.59
Unsecured loan 2 - £130.25
Council tax - £114
Mobile - £70 ( 2 phones )
Mum - £50 ( repayment of money owed)
Car insurance - £44.11
Xmas savings - £40
Sky - £37.77
Home insurance - £36.12
Car insurance - £32.90
Gym (OH) - £36
Gym (me) - £20
Electric - £78 (inc arrears)
Gas - £58 (inc arrears )
TV Licence - £10.95
Barclays - £30 (overdraft repayment)
Specsavers - £10
BT - £12.50
Orange - £5
Road Angel - £3.99

Food shopping - £200
Petrol - £200
Misc - £50 – birthdays, car expenses, haircut, clothes for daughter

Total = £2236.53

Which leaves £378 ish for general spending and payment to debts.

Debts

CC 1 - £1253.73 – APR 14.88% - minimum payment £90
CC 2 - £958.80 – APR 24.9% - minimum payment £60
CC 3 - £120.28 – APR 22.44% - minimum payment £10
Catalogue 1 - £806.86 – 0% - minimum payment £30
Catalogue 2 - £115.00 – 0% - minimum payment £10
Overdraft 1 - £900 – 0%
Overdraft 2 - £1000 – 0%
Overdraft 3 - £500 – 0%
Parents - £1000 – 0% - currently paying £50 a month

Secured Loan - £TBA – need to find out balance
Unsecured Loan 1 – As above
Unsecured Loan 2 – As above

inmypocketnottheirs

OK, forgive me, but I need to be a little harsh here. You have a reasonable income, not too high mortgage, yet it would appear you have been drastically living beyond your means. How have you racked up so much debt in loans/credit cards/parental loans? Something pretty major must have caused this. What is going to change to stop this overspending?

Immediately, cancel gym/sky/road angel. Ask mum to suspend repayments for a while. That would immediately give almost £150 a month to knock off the highest APR debts.

doodledo_2

A harsh comment but one that is so true, most of us have at some point lived beyond our means hence why we are here.

Our debts are from many years ago when we were first married and we thought materials thing produced happiness.

We have buried our head in the sand hoping things will go away but we all know they only get worse.

Unsecured loans were for cars and the debt to my parent was due to a very expensive mechanical problem with one of our cars.

I have no excuse as yes we both earn ok money and have a very small mortgage but its the situation we are in and one I want to rectify.

We do not overspend anymore and are committed to clearing our debts.

millionaire_in_training

Doodledoo we are all the same. We have debt and we have reasons for having it which really are our own business. We have all been silly to allow ourselves to be where we are BUT the most important thing is we have now learned this. There are a few ways you can cut down and as you say live as you can afford not as you want others to think you can afford there is a huge difference. Hope that makes sense and others will give you the money advice. Welcome and well done for joining us . Good luck x

CLAPTON

can you add the minimum payments for each of the debts and explain what you mean by general spending that isn't included in the details?

Squirrel29

doodledo wrote: »

Ok here is my SOA. Apologies for it being so long but I wanted to make sure everything was included, no doubt I have still missed something.

Any advice/suggestions would be gratefully received as I WILL get out of debt and hopefully quicker than planned with all you lovely peeps helping me.


Incomings

Me - £1250
OH - £1350
Child allowance - £75
Child tax credit - £40

Total - £2615


Outgoings

Mortgage - £374.08
Secured loan - £435.29
Unsecured loan 1 - £157.59
Unsecured loan 2 - £130.25
Council tax - £114
Mobile - £70 ( 2 phones ) Could you change to PAYG?
Mum - £50 ( repayment of money owed) Could you reduce this or suspend for a while to tackle high APR debts
Car insurance - £44.11 Can you get this any cheaper (perhaps thru Quidco to earn cashback too?
Xmas savings - £40
Sky - £37.77 Either cancel or reduce to basic package?
Home insurance - £36.12 This seems very high, mine is just £21 for £70k mortgage + contents with accidental damage on both - again look at alternatives - use Quidco.
Car insurance - £32.90 Ditto
Gym (OH) - £36 Cancel - indulge in family walks/swims instead.
Gym (me) - £20
Electric - £78 (inc arrears)
Gas - £58 (inc arrears )
TV Licence - £10.95
Barclays - £30 (overdraft repayment)
Specsavers - £10
BT - £12.50
Orange - £5 What is this?
Road Angel - £3.99 def cancel

Food shopping - £200 Could you cut this down, even by £40 per month will make difference, do meal plans, go to Old Style board for ideas.
Petrol - £200 This high, is it for work commuting or could you could back on unnecessary journeys.
Misc - £50 – birthdays, car expenses, haircut, clothes for daughter

Total = £2236.53

Which leaves £378 ish for general spending and payment to debts.

Debts

CC 1 - £1253.73 – APR 14.88%
CC 2 - £958.80 – APR 24.9%
CC 3 - £120.28 – APR 22.44%
Catalogue 1 - £806.86 – 0%
Catalogue 2 - £115.00 – 0%
Overdraft 1 - £900 – 0%
Overdraft 2 - £1000 – 0%
Overdraft 3 - £500 – 0%
Parents - £1000 – 0%

Secured Loan - £TBA – need to find out balance
Unsecured Loan 1 – As above
Unsecured Loan 2 – As above

Have you used snowball on https://www.whatsthecost.com - it's really good to focus you. I really think you can trim down on these expenses.

doodledo_2

millionaire_in_training wrote: »

Doodledoo we are all the same. We have debt and we have reasons for having it which really are our own business. We have all been silly to allow ourselves to be where we are BUT the most important thing is we have now learned this. There are a few ways you can cut down and as you say live as you can afford not as you want others to think you can afford there is a huge difference. Hope that makes sense and others will give you the money advice. Welcome and well done for joining us . Good luck x

Thank you for that comment it sums up how I feel about this situation.

To answer other questions -

General spending I meant as in one off things that crop up - today I have paid £80 for my daughters preschool for the term. Maybe this would come under the £50 misc a month.

Car insurance is high as we both have high performance cars same for petrol - this is an area we are currently discussing. They are our one luxury in life neither of us drink/smoke/ or go to pubs/clubs etc but we realise it may be something that we need to give up.

Gym - definately will lose mine as with a full time job and a 2 year old I don't go much and will discuss hubbies with him

£5 to orange per month is for my broadband/wireless.

lindsaygalaxy

We have all made mistakes and when money is thrown at us it can be hard to resist, and that 6 months, year or 3 years loan never seems that long when you take it out. I think most people on here have got caught in the dreaded cycle whats important is trying to sort it out.

What are the outstanding balances of your secured and unsecured loans?

Do you have any equity in your house? Could you increase your mortgage at all to pay off all your debt. Usually I wouldnt recommend this, and im sure many others wouldnt, but you have a very small mortage in comparison to the debt amounts amonth you are paying. If you could do this, then use the extra money you would be saving to pay off more of your mortage, this would be good.

If not, pay off those high APR CCs first, and no more spending on them.How much do you have saved for christmas? If you have enough now, use the money you have been bugeting to put towards the CCs.

Do you have anything you can sell on ebay?

You seem to have 2 cars, do you need both or could you downgrade one? (hard I know but doesnt have to be forever)

Could yoy get cheaper insurances, go through quico to earn your cashback, and use this again on those high APR CCs)

Where do you shop? If its Tesco, be saving up your clubcard vouchers to convert them for your car services, MOTs, and treats out i.e. meal out or trip to alton towers for the kids birthdays.

lindsaygalaxy

doodledo wrote: »

Thank you for that comment it sums up how I feel about this situation.

Car insurance is high as we both have high performance cars same for petrol - this is an area we are currently discussing. They are our one luxury in life neither of us drink/smoke/ or go to pubs/clubs etc but we realise it may be something that we need to give up.
.

This may souund harsh,but if you want to cleat this debt, you cannot afford to have hugh performance cars, no matter how hard you may find it. The costs of petrol and insurance ontop of the actual car do not outweigh the relief of clearing debt, and you would probably find the odd bottle of wine cheaper.

Even if it means selling one of the cars, and buying a cheaper standard one, the differeence may pay off a big debt, think of all the money you would be saving in interest!

doodledo_2

I don't know my o/s amounts on the loans at the moment so will update this once I find out that information.

Not sure if my bank would agree to extending my mortgage and in all honesty I would like to pay the debts out of our monthly wages rather than adding to our outgoings. Although I can see your thinking behind this, as a newbie just a bit cautious at adding to loans if that makes sense.

Yes I do have a small mortgage but if you add on my secured loan (taken out for renovations to our house) then my total outgoing in respect of the house is fairly average.

We do need two cars ideally as hubby is a copper working shifts, I work full time and we have a 2 year old. Although certainly it is an option to consider as is downgrading our cars.

I mainly shop at Tescos and use the clubcard vouchers for trips out in the summer with my little girl.

doodledo_2

Yes O/D are all interest free have this agreed with the bank.

I incurr charges if I go over the agreed OD limit which we do not do.

Credit cards are all cut up and not used.