30k debt, help please!

Choofles

Hi all,
Very new here so please be gentle! Without going into too much detail, I have been through a rough few years and have been rather reckless with my spending and have frankly been avoiding the issue for a long time.
Things are looking up for me and I'm hoping to move house with my new partner and start afresh, however I know my finances are in a shocking state it worries me that I wont be able to get another mortgage.

I have heavy credit card debt and a loan from when I consolidated my credit cards a few years ago in a brief moment of madness trying to get straight. Good news is I've never defaulted on a payment and I do have reasonable chunk of equity in my home. However, if I can help it I would prefer to protect my equity in the house if possible (I don't know if that's a stupid idea). The problem is I'm paying masses of interest on my credit cards as they are out of their interest free periods and the monthly payments are taking up all of my income, but due to the size of my debt and available credit I can't get any other cards to shift the debt in order to get a bit of respite from the interest so that I can actually get repaying!

So I will bare all to you wise people (although it's terrifying, I feel very exposed:undecided!) in the hope that maybe you can help get me back on track and get rid of this constant weight on my shoulders!!

Here goes with my SOA.....

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 2148.4
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 400
Total monthly income.................... 2548.4

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 602
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 146
Electricity............................. 166
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 33
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 56
TV Licence.............................. 0
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 200
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 200
Road tax................................ 17.06
Car Insurance........................... 55
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 50
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 10.4
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 200
Buildings insurance..................... 34
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 40
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1809.46


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 172500
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 800
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 173300


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 132717...(602)......0
Total secured & HP debts...... 132717....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Halifax credit card............3270......56........19.45
MBNA credit card...............4901......67........19.19
Barclaycard....................2215......202.......19.2
Santander loan.................7935......273.......9.9
Halifax 2 credit card..........5150......100.......0
lloyds.........................5673......50........19.44
Total unsecured debts..........29144.....748.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,548.4
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,809.46
Available for debt repayments........... 738.94
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 748
Amount short for making debt repayments. -9.06

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 173,300
Total HP & Secured debt................. -132,717
Total Unsecured debt.................... -29,144
Net Assets.............................. 11,439

Willing2Learn

Hi and welcome to the forum

Just looking at your SOA really quickly, your car is costing you £320/month and your pets a frightening £200/month.

Questions

1. Are you able to do without the car and use public transport?
2. Is that really £200/month (£2,400 annually) for the pets or is that a typo?
3. Are you stuck in a contract for your mobile or could you go SIM only (much cheaper)?
4. Do you not have a gas supply in your home (or is the £166/month dual fuel price)? Have you checked to see if you can get this cheaper?
5. Do you not have a TV (and associated costs)?

System

You have a £800 car and you are putting away £600 per annum for repairs. Get yourself a better car.



Also, insurance is high at £600 per year. How many miles are you travelling?

Choofles

Thanks for your quick reply :-)

Unfortunately I need the car for work as I travel to meetings, plus I'm disabled so using public transport is difficult for me. I've just started a new job so hopefully will start getting some fuel back for expenses. The petrol costs are a bit of a guesstimate tbh, still trying to get a grip on exactly how much I spend on that and food atm.

The dogs will give you a heart attack - there is 6 of them! Plus I have to use kennels for them frequently whilst working or away so that's a rough average cost over 12 months. It can be more sometimes.

The phone contract is fairly new so stuck in that for 20 odd months.

No gas supply in the house, we have no central heating etc (I was without hot water for a year) which is one of the reasons I want to move.

My boyfriend pays for TV/internet etc from his account. The £400 additional income I have is his share of "rent" and bills as he moved into the property I own fairly recently.

Hope that makes sense.

Choofles

andydownes123 wrote: »

You have a £800 car and you are putting away £600 per annum for repairs. Get yourself a better car.



Also, insurance is high at £600 per year. How many miles are you travelling?

Oops not sure if my reply posted.

Yeah the car is a shed! not sure I have worked out costs right - counted MOT and it failed the last one which cost me £500 to fix. I would love a better car but not sure how to get one without up front cash or credit to get one. I'd like to lease one via work so I don't have the stress of fixing it when it breaks down but can't afford the monthly payments, so at the minute in a cycle of sticking with the crappy old one and fixing it when it breaks. If there is a better way I am definitely up for it!

tallyhoh

Have you tried claiming PIP for your disability? if not you should

Choofles

tallyhoh wrote: »

Have you tried claiming PIP for your disability? if not you should

Yes, they failed me at the first stage and scored me a perfect 0 despite using a disabled badge and being bed bound some days. The CAB have helped me draft an appeal but I don't expect it will be an easy process, from what I have heard it's a long drawn out fight. It's half the reason I am in as much trouble as I am as I was sick for quite a long time and living alone not really able to take care of myself. I'm in the tricky area of not well enough to be back at work full time but not what the DWP deem disabled enough to qualify for support.

Tropically

With respect to the dog kennels, I don't know how remote you are but there are services such as Borrow my Doggie, and other websites which you might be able to use. There has been a lot of market disruption so the cost has gone down a lot. When I had someone come to my house to look at my cat, it only cost 12 quid a day.

enthusiasticsaver

Are you still spending on cards so is the debt still rising?

Your biggest issues are obviously your debt repayments and the cost of your dogs and car. Getting another mortgage on that income with that amount of unsecured debt will not be easy so you either need to cut outgoings or bring in more income, sell the house pay off the debt and start again or go on some sort of DMP. That will definitely put paid to you getting another mortgage in the next 6 years though.

This will be a really unpopular suggestion and I can understand most pet owners would resist this but is rehoming the dogs or some of them at least a possibility not only from a cost point of view but it can't be easy looking after that many if you are disabled? Feel free to ignore that but it is the most obvious solution to your financial woes beyond repaying the debt by selling your house.

Willing2Learn

I think the most obvious solution is to start a DMP. You could reduce the debt payments to a manageable level and free up resources so that you can build up an Emergency Fund. That way you could also have small budget for presents, haircuts (for you and not the dogs) and entertainment. The downside is that you would have to default on your accounts and your credit file would be severely damaged for six years.

Grumpelstiltskin

You say your boyfriend gives you £400 per month, looks like he has a good deal with that, can he give you more?

I am afraid I have to agree that if you are disabled and working 6 dogs is too many, surely less dogs would have a better life as you would be able to give each one more time etc.