SOA - new user would appreciate ideas/tips

4littleone

Hi,

a couple of members of this forum have very kindly directed me to do a SOA to get any hints or tips from you guys. So.... here it is, warts and all.
Ideally i'd like to get myself debt free within three yrs and also get my credit rating improved over the short ish term.

Income;

salary £1750 month
child benefit £72 ish per month

Outgoings;

share of mortgage £500
council tax £100
childcare £525 ave month
food £200
phone and broadband £70 (virgin media)
clothing (daughter and me) £40 month
going out/ general mucking about £50 per month
smoking £20 month
house ins £15 month
tv licence £9 month
gas £75 month
elec £75 month
water £30 month

DEBTS;

black horse £50 month total debt is said to be £5002 but i am disputing this. apr 29% although this has gone to a ccj now so i assume the interest is frozen and i have to pay the total stated.
welcome finance total debt is 1200 but at the moment they won't accept a payment until i sign up to a new loan agreement with an apr of 39%.

If anyone has any ideas i would be so very grateful. I'm fed up of feeling caught in a downward spiral even though i have a good salary. I just want to be back in the black with a better credit rating.

OliveOyl_2

Hi and welcome,

I'm not one of the boards experts but one thing did stick out for me:

Virgin do a 1 for £10, 2 for £20 etc. We successfully reduced our TV/telephone/broadband for £30 per month. (Had to threaten to move, but we ended up with a faster broadband for £15 less than we were paying!)

4littleone

Brilliant! Thanks oliveoyl, love the name by the way.

Will give virgin a call and see what happens.

nickiboop

Hello!

just a thought. do you get tax credits ? we get approx £40 per month for our LO and are on decent wages so you should be entitled to some

Scarlett.1974

Hi and welcome!

Just a quick one from me because I'm just popping out, but your gas and electric is shocking! How big is your house?!!

Check out u-switch.com and then quidco.com for some lovely free cashback

misspoppy

hi I'm not sure i understand your circumstances, you only pay a share to the mortgage yet you pay a lot for your utilities, can you clear that up please.
Also your utilities are very high, check on uswitch if you can get a better deal and go via www.quidco.co.uk for free money for switching

4littleone

Hi scarlett,
the gas and electricity is because......
i live with my partner, the mortgage is in his name as i have a really crap credit rating due to the ccj.
"we" bought the house in oct 06 (i paid all the legal fees, other half paid deposit and mortgage is in his name), it was a repossesion, so although we got a fab deal on the price (well below value), there was a lot of sorting out to do as the previous owners had not paid any of the utilities etc for over 18 months previously.
When we moved in, british gas (who is our provider), were continually billing us for the previous owners charges (over £700). It got sorted eventually, but by the time we got the correct bill, there was nearly £300 arrears on the account.
Just to clarify, i pay the utilities as the other half pays a larger stake of the mortgage, which is why at the moment i'm stuck with the massive monthly bill.
I know it's my fault, i should have been putting money aside monthly in readyness.

Hi nickyboo, i didn't think i would be entitled to tax credits?
How much does the household income have to be before you can't get anything?

slowlyfading

if you're really serious, then you need to stop going out/socialising for the time being and stop spending money on clothes. Also, the smoking is another one that could go. you could shave off another £50 off your food bill - pop over to the OS board and have a look around.
Good luck, you're in the right place.
sf x

Scarlett.1974

Have a look here www.entitledto.com it will tell you if you're entitled to tax credits. I think the "cut off" amount is around the £50k mark

So, your gas and electric are so high to clear the arrears? How long will it take you to clear them? I guess the payments will be a lot lower once they're gone?

Jacks_xxx

:wave: Hiya honeybun and welcome to the DFW gang! :wave:

Are you household expenses divided fairly do you think?

It's just that I notice you pay "a share" of the mortage but what I assume is the whole of most of (if not all) the other bills.

Many people on these boards got into debt through taking financial responsibilty for someone else, so I was just wondering if whoever pays some of the mortgage could also take on some of the other bills as well?

Massive apologies if it's a touchy subject- the last thing I would want to do is upset you, but it would help to make the solutions clearer if we knew the whole situation

Also whatever you do don't sign that evil new 39% agreement! :eek: Blimmin' swindlers!

Have you spoken to CCCS or Payplan or the CAB?. They can usually help with getting your creditors to behave like human beings and not complete @r$eholes.

There'll be a solution to all this, you'll see.

Love Jacks xxx

PS Doh! I've just seen that you've already answered this. Sorry chick.

4littleone

hi jacks and all others,
thank you for you lovely warm welcome!

Yes, i am paying the lions share of the bills for various complicated reasons

Although, he is waking up to reality slowly.....

I agree the smoking has to go, i managed 2 weeks last month and then had very stressy time with partner (unfortunately soon to be ex) and work blah blah.
The going out can be cut down massively as well i agree.
I think, i can probably cut the shopping bill as well. Clothing is already primark or second hand so not much more to be saved there really (higher for last couple of months as new uniform for daughter, school shoes etc).

Can anyone explain what this clicks thing is on quidpro?