Help :-(

worried_witless

I'm at work so can't say much at the moment, but please see my SOA. I am behind on lots of payments too, so it's worse than it looks.

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 3
Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1200
Partners monthly income after tax....... 2200
Benefits................................ 192.4
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 3592.4

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 672
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 122
Electricity............................. 45
Gas..................................... 25
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 35
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 140
TV Licence.............................. 13
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 55
Internet Services....................... 32
Groceries etc. ......................... 400
Clothing................................ 100
Petrol/diesel........................... 120
Road tax................................ 16
Car Insurance........................... 28
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 50
Car parking............................. 10
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 60
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 10
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 20
Contents insurance...................... 16
Life assurance ......................... 35
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 100
Haircuts................................ 10
Entertainment........................... 50
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Endowment............................... 66.3
Gym x 2 ................................ 30
Brown bin collection.................... 3.5
Total monthly expenses.................. 2263.8


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 280000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 500
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 280500


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 180000...(672)......1.74
Total secured & HP debts...... 180000....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Lloyds CC......................3526......130.......25
Barclaycard ...................7317......190.......25
Sunny x 4......................0.........0.........49.9
Hitachi Finance................625.......125.......0
Natwest........................2449......80........25
Paypal.........................1510......120.......19.99
Next...........................2383.5....120.......22.9
Next...........................100.......5.........22.9
Likely loans x 2...............1900......212.......59.9
Wageday Advance PDL............319.95....106.......288
Lending Stream.................96.64.....48.32.....1333
Amigo..........................2288......104.......49.9
Total unsecured debts..........22515.09..1240.32...-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 3,592.4
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,263.8
Available for debt repayments........... 1,328.6
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 1,240.32
Amount left after debt repayments....... 88.28

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 280,500
Total HP & Secured debt................. -180,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -22,515.09
Net Assets.............................. 77,984.91

indesisiv

Its not terrible as at least you have more coming in than going out.
But a couple of really simple points.

Mobile phone bill is huge!!
TV and internet bill when combined is also huge and can be reduced.
Other than that if you really do have £88 left each month put the numbers in a snowball calculator and start overpaying. You need to be looking at reducing some of those interest rates fast it will make a big difference.

worried_witless

That's 4 mobile bills, I forgot to say, us both and 2 daughters. Going to threaten to leave Sky but in contract with Virgin for wi-fi.

enthusiasticsaver

I think on those interest rates and if you are behind on payments it will need to be a DMP.

Contact stepchange but I am sure this is what they will recommend. The interest rates are too high and some payday loans there which are a trap you will find it difficult to get out of. Paying £1240 a month towards unsecured debt on top of £740 for your mortgage (presumably the endowments are to pay off the mortgage?) is unsustainable when being charged interest at those rates.

There are a few things you could save on your soa but there is no emergency savings and if you are behind on payments I guess that you are overspending and this is the reason for the debt?

Things you could cut down on are satellite tv, clothing, mobiles as £140 a month is shocking.

Do you know how the debt occurred in the first place? Have you tried keeping a spending diary or checked your statement to see where you are overspending? Presumably going to payday loans you must have had this increase over quite a long period?

Now to the good news and there is some.

Your income is enough to cover your bills, just about. It may in fact be that stepchange will say you are not eligible for a DMP as your outgoings are less than your income even without making any savings. What you really need though is the interest frozen. That involves taking out a DMP, either through stepchange or self managed, writing to your creditors asking them to default you and freeze the interest and then the amount you pay monthly will pay off the debt in probably less than 2 years. This depends on them agreeing to freeze the interest and you will need to keep a tighter rein on your spending.

If you can manage to live within budget and decide not to do a DMP tackle the debts one at a time starting with the most expensive. Cut up credit cards and make any savings you can. You can sort this with better financial discipline but freezing the interest will be the biggest help. No more cards or loans as that will make things worse. If you do the DMP default on the unsecured debts asap, open a bank account with no overdrafts and save up an emergency savings account as you will have no access to credit.

Mnd

Mobiles is massive. .we pay 17.50 for 2 with tesco
Presents 100 a month is a lot as well

Willing2Learn

You might want to consider cancelling gym membership too...:)

tallyhoh

What is Sunny X 4?

sourcrates

Hi,


I notice there is an Amigo Guarantor loan listed, even to the casual outsider, its clear you are in trouble here.

As you are a homeowner, your options here are very limited, but you have a reasonable income, so you can tackle this, and you have two real choices on how you go about doing it.

Both options will require you to draw a line in the sand, so to speak, cancel all your non essential debt repayments, and then take a deep breath............you then write to each unsecured creditor, telling them you are in financial difficulty, and on receiving this, they will automatically put your account on hold, for 30 days min.

Its called breathing space and has been agreed between lenders and the FCA to allow you time to sort out a plan to tackle your debt, and to take advice.

Now you must continue to pay Amigo, as it is essentially a secured debt, who is the guarantor for this loan ?

But the rest are all non essential payments.

Now at this point you have a choice, you can either, work out a reasonable budget, that allows you to live without further access to credit, then whatever is left, you split between your creditors, and repay on a monthly basis (you must obviously ask them all to stop interest and charges first).

Or the other method is to, again, stop making regular payments, but tackle say a single debt per month with what you have left after your budget, for making debt repayments.

Pay the smallest first, and so on, debt collection takes a very long time, and you can put off any creditor that should want to get legal, by offering a payment or a settlement to them.

Both methods require a complete change of perception and attitude on your part though, you must learn to live within budget, and develop at thick skin to deal with creditors.

But it can easily be done if you apply yourselves correctly.

sourcrates

tallyhoh wrote: »

What is Sunny X 4?

Four payday loans with the lender Sunny.

0Credit

GULP

Sadly I can relate as I am/have been in the same boat to some extent. Those payday loans each month really add up as does NEXT.

It looks like you have a couple of the payday loans near to paying off but I am guessing you pay off then get back into them each month? Each costing £30-£100 a month in interest?

Looking through your outgoings this is my advice (and yes it sounds simple but can be tough but once done it's real money and it's helping)

1. Do a mortgage check. You may be able to switch providers and save £50 a month.
2. Mobile phones are horrific deals. Your kids can probably be on PAYG or even just you parents. You would be surprised how far £20 credit goes. From £140 a month you could easily run 4 people for £60.
3. TV: Sky, Virgin, BT. Can all knock at least £5 a month off your bill just by ringing up and threatening to leave. Some here will say to cancel completely but I understand you have kids to please and it may be a must.
4. GYM: It is a tough one but how often do you go and what exercises do you do? If you go little/can do exercises without a gym that is £360 a year straight into paying off debt.

Just these 4 things alone if you did it right could save you in the region of £150-£200 a month.

Other things you can do:

1. Sell unwanted items (kids must have loads of stuff they don't use)
2. Bulk cook foods/buy better. £400 a month is a fair bit and above the national average.
3. Re-order your debt. Speak to each lender and make sure each high interest lender is getting more than a lower interest lender.
4. Credit card swaps/debt reconciliation if you have good credit (but I doubt you do).

Hope that helps.

CakeCrusader

You've had some really good advice here. Do you really need to spend £100 a month on clothes and £100 a month on presents? That's £2,200 a year, it's an awful lot. You could do with looking to see where you can make savings, I'd start here (and with the Gym membership). You're spending way to much on mobile phones, are you paying for the devices too? £50 on entertainment when you're paying for internet/TV can be reduced. Have a few weekends where you chill out at home, make the pizza rather than order in, watch a movie together. You'll save the £50.



Remember that this won't last forever, and you can rejoin the Gym etc once you've got your finances up to date.