another desperate lurking newbie...

System

Might be worth posting a Statement of Affairs (SOA) so people can help you with getting your budget right.

rae2820

ramblehan wrote: »

Might be worth posting a Statement of Affairs (SOA) so people can help you with getting your budget right.

Thanks , Ill get onto that !

sourcrates

rae2820 wrote: »

Another thing I'm worried about....
If after paying all my priority bills I'm only left with a surplus of £212 a month is this enough to do DMP on debt of £41000 ?
Could i be forced down a Bankruptcy or IVA route if they laugh in my face and say its not enough ?!

As i have said to another poster just a few mins ago, whose in a similar situation to yourself, on those figures it would only be a temporary arrangement, as you will never repay £41.000 @ £200 a month.


Maybe once the car is paid off, you can increase what you pay, but generally any debt solution should be a viable one, and not take longer than 6 years, if it does, then other options need to be looked at.

rae2820

I have applied for the Nation-wide flex account today online as some of my debts are with Natwest , who I currently back with and am going the DMP route with the wonderful help and support of all you lovely people,
I opted to not use the switching for my direct debits , as I thought it would give me more control, Is that the recommended way ?

rae2820

sourcrates wrote: »

As i have said to another poster just a few mins ago, whose in a similar situation to yourself, on those figures it would only be a temporary arrangement, as you will never repay £41.000 @ £200 a month.


Maybe once the car is paid off, you can increase what you pay, but generally any debt solution should be a viable one, and not take longer than 6 years, if it does, then other options need to be looked at.

That makes it all seem so much clearer, thanks....so i've fiddled about a bit and I'm coming to a surplus of £388 per month to pay off that £41000 ish...so that makes DMP feasablie- if I use extra moneys to throw at debts once car payments end

rae2820

So this is my Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
I've included my eldest sons contribution but as another user inter out -he may move out...

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 3
Number of children in household.........
Number of cars owned.................... 1- Eldest son has his own car which he pays for ]
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 2200- this includes my expenses for parking , milage allowance etc that I claim back as an average
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 250 - eldest sons current contribution- but may move out at some point
Total monthly income.................... 2450

Monthly Expense Details[/b]
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 460
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 148
Electricity............................. 90
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 52
Telephone (land line)................... 19
Mobile phone............................ 40-x 2 on contract but will go to sims only October
TV Licence.............................. 13
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 26
Internet Services....................... 30- have had to get cable to the home as rural o cannot get cheaper
Groceries etc. ......................... 400 - includes 6 cats
Clothing................................ 30
Petrol/diesel........................... 180- lots of milage as community nurse + commute
Road tax................................ 5
Car Insurance........................... 50
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 40 -tyres, servicing etc
Car parking............................. 40- for work then claim back see above income
Other travel............................ 30- youngest son bus fares
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 93- college fees for next year
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 35
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 70 = insurance , worming, fleaing etc
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 8
Life assurance ......................... 8
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 50
Haircuts................................ 30
Entertainment........................... 20
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 30
Total monthly expenses.................. 1993
Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 0
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 0

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Natwest Joint Loan.............10094.....365.......7.9
Barclaycard CC.................15500.....355.......16.4
Halifax........................10500.....200.......9.9
Car PCP........................10994.....248.......3.9
Very...........................2800......120.......0
Lloyds.........................1750......61........27.7
Natwest overdraft= £1000
Total unsecured debts..........52638.....1399......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,450
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,993
Available for debt repayments........... 457
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 1,349
Amount short for making debt repayments. -942

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 0
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -52,638
Net Assets.............................. -52638

If anyone can see where I can make changes or offer advice that would be great thanks !

KxMx

Are you actually saving £30 monthly for an emergency fund?

£50pm means £600 annually for presents which is a lot when you have so much debt.

A water meter may work out cheaper.

What do the medical expenses of £35pm cover? Prescriptions (unlimited) can be had for £2 a week when buying an annual Pre-Payment card and paying via Direct Debit over 10 months. Also is this expense just for you? Youngest as a student would get much free and oldest is working so can fund his own.

£53 for internet and TV is too much although I appreciate you have a higher cost due to location. Would it be possible to cancel cable TV and go for Netflix or Now TV. If there is a service "needed" by one of the boys they can fund it.

How do you get cat food, flea/worm drops now? There could be cheaper ways like bulk buying food online or getting a Vets prescription and ordering meds online. Sometimes the latter works out cheaper.
I'm wondering if £70pm is actually the true cost of insurance and drops for 6. My admittedly older cat of 13yo costs approx £26pm for insurance a vet plan which covers flea, worming and injections. Which brings me to my next point.

Begin asap a spending diary, noting down every penny spent. Where we think money is going and where money is actually going can be two different things!

When you've 4-6 weeks of data you can begin to choose what is reasonable spending, and what isn't, and change accordingly.

Onebrokelady

Hi,my advice is to try not to panic and make good use of these forums,I especially find it inspiring to read the Debt Free Dairies and have found it really helpful to set my own up as well,I don't just post about paying off debt but use it as a way to offload or just as a general diary,also the Debt Free Roll Of Honour is very inspiring ,it shows you you aren't the only one and others have managed to get out of the mess that is Debt
I felt quite emotional reading your first post as you sounded so upset and I remember how I felt when I first posted here,I have to say I am five payments into my DMP and it's the best thing I have done in a long time,I've finally taken control of my finances and I also have enough money to live on every month,I have done my DMP through Stepchange though because I wasn't brave enough to go self managed,I might look at that in future though
As for then situation with your ex,is there a pressing reason to hurry the divorce along or could you just wait for a couple of years and then divorce him anyway,I think he needs to be held accountable for the Debt too as it's not all yours

rae2820

thank yo so much for taking the time to look at this Not sure if I've done this right as some of it is anticipatory in prep to present to step change although theirs is a slightly different format [

QUOTE=KxMx;74559005]Are you actually saving £30 monthly for an emergency fund?I used to save emergency bit of around £30 but in all honesty this has not happened for a long time !£50pm means £600 annually for presents which is a lot when you have so much debt.The £50 is what I would have put by for Christmas and birthdays but I could reduce this
A water meter may work out cheaper.We have a water meter already- I[COLOR="Blue"]'m not really sure how we could reduce this
[/COLOR]
What do the medical expenses of £35pm cover? Prescriptions (unlimited) can be had for £2 a week when buying an annual Pre-Payment card and paying via Direct Debit over 10 months. Also is this expense just for you? Youngest as a student would get much free and oldest is working so can fund his own. I have two inhalers & buy antihistamines and eczema cream off px- will look into prepayment.

£53 for internet and TV is too much although I appreciate you have a higher cost due to location. Would it be possible to cancel cable TV and go for Netflix or Now TV. If there is a service "needed" by one of the boys they can fund it.[/COLOR]Internet is the cheapest I can get for our area as rural at the mo but haggled BT down by £8 this week. Im more than happy to do without TV if we can get freeview through existing satellite ?

How do you get cat food, flea/worm drops now? There could be cheaper ways like bulk buying food online or getting a Vets prescription and ordering meds online. Sometimes the latter works out cheaper. I get Broadline for cats with a px via petmeds online as well as other meds that 2 cats are on. Only 3 of the cats are insured.This money also includes annual vaccination for all 6 worked out pro rata. I don't think I could get cheaper but 4 of the cats are over 16 and 2 not in good health so I suspect I will be down to my 2 young ones before much longer, sad but cheaper. I also buy all their food from Zooplus once a month.
I'm wondering if £70pm is actually the true cost of insurance and drops for 6. My admittedly older cat of 13yo costs approx £26pm for insurance a vet plan which covers flea, worming and injections. Which brings me to my next point.

Begin asap a spending diary, noting down every penny spent. Where we think money is going and where money is actually going can be two different things!

When you've 4-6 weeks of data you can begin to choose what is reasonable spending, and what isn't, and change accordingly.[/QUOTE]
A spending diary is a great idea
thanks !

rae2820

Onebrokelady wrote: »

Hi,my advice is to try not to panic and make good use of these forums,I especially find it inspiring to read the Debt Free Dairies and have found it really helpful to set my own up as well,I don't just post about paying off debt but use it as a way to offload or just as a general diary,also the Debt Free Roll Of Honour is very inspiring ,it shows you you aren't the only one and others have managed to get out of the mess that is Debt
I felt quite emotional reading your first post as you sounded so upset and I remember how I felt when I first posted here,I have to say I am five payments into my DMP and it's the best thing I have done in a long time,I've finally taken control of my finances and I also have enough money to live on every month,I have done my DMP through Stepchange though because I wasn't brave enough to go self managed,I might look at that in future though
As for then situation with your ex,is there a pressing reason to hurry the divorce along or could you just wait for a couple of years and then divorce him anyway,I think he needs to be held accountable for the Debt too as it's not all yours

Thank you so much for your kindness and encouragement
As regard my ex I am leaving the divorce as I have no more money to throw at that, but I don't think he can't object at the 5 year point, which is next year ,so that will be easier if I can save up another £500+! ?
I have started to feel quite differently about him taking some responsibility in recent days , whereas before I was just SOOOOO glad to be shot of him.....he is liable for the joint debt, has never paid a penny , so far Ive paid £11000 of an original £22000 loan but I spoke to several solicitors ( for free ! ) who said I have no recourse to the money £££££'s he spent on the credit cards without my knowing as they are in my name unless I was prepared to spend money through solicitors/courts .
I think facing up to the mess you're in and pre-contemplation ( i.e what the heck to I do ...:() stage is the worst part you are all right about that.
Once you start to acquire the knowledge,make a plan dispel the myths you start to feel so much better quite quickly .....Thank goodness for you ( all) because I know I'm not alone