Remortgage, Loan or leave it as it is !

JayRitchie

Just a quick query - you mention that your car is 20 years old. Will that need replacing anytime soon? If so how much would it cost?

smallzoo2

I have a classic car which has been sat in someone garage for 3 years , only worth about £1000 which I have just about to sell and split the money between my son and I ( I promised him I would and he doesn't have a job yet after university ). I will use that money and my own car ( worth about £400 ) to purchase another 2nd hand car..cheers

EssexHebridean

I'll use green to respond to any of these where needed to keep things simple...

smallzoo2 wrote: »

Number of adults in household........... 3
Comment
Could do with some form of contribution from the 3rd adult here...
Answer
We bought both our other kids used cars so feel guilty anyway about her having to pay for her own. I absolutely understand that, but you don't have the money to cover those bills at the moment - you're paying for her car with money you don't have. Read on though, I may have a suggestion...
She does pay £30 a month towards her shopping ( she is Vegan so shopping is more expensive ) Does that £30 actually cover the extra cost of her food? if she's buying specific "vegan" foods rather than cooking everything for herself from scratch then I wouldn't think it would...


Number of cars owned.................... 1
Comment
is this the daughter's car?
AnswerAnswer
Should be 2 , my 20yr old estate car and her corsa


Monthly Income Details
Comment
Partners monthly income after tax....... 900 Can this be increased at all?
Answer
She already tries to work extra hours Anything extra she earns needs to go straight to the debts


Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 1340
Comment
This is an ouchily high proportion of your earnings.
Answer
so is 4.24% high ?.Catch 22 here. I am self employed through a limited company so not as many mortgages open to me Yes, that interest rate is pretty high. Might be worth visiting a broker if you're not locked in to any sort of deal to see what they can come up with - pretty sure that we took out our final mortgage deal at a point I was SE and we weren't that far off a "normal" sort of rate.

Council tax............................. 170
Comment
Are you paying this over 10 months or 12? If 10 then get it switched to 12 ASAP
Answer
Actualy £176.. yes I will contact them Good plan - and perhaps also check through the SOA for any other figures that may be a bit out, as £6 here and there will make a big difference to the overall picture...


Electricity/ Gas............................. 200
Comment
Read the guide to cutting down on use on the main site ..
Answer
Actually £170 but I thought I was getting a good deal with Avro Energy as we were paying £350 with EON last year but I will do further research Sounds like it may be your usage that needs some attention then


Telephone (land line)................... 40
Comment
Quite high - if you're not in contract shop around for a better deal
Answer
This includes broadband... Yep....still high...we pay less than that for Telephone, BB & TV from Sky...

TV Licence.............................. 5
Comment
How come so low? Should be £12.83 I think it is per month?
Answer
Correct We pay £150 in October BUT... just found out that as my Mum who is 95 is living with us we maybe should not have been paying this No point in paying a TV license annually as there's no extra cost to pay it monthly. (And it's £154.50 - not £150, too... )

Groceries etc. ......................... 450
Comment
Waaaaay too high for a family of 3. You can hammer that down easily!
Answer
I dont understand how we can. We dont buy ready meals, we buy lots of veg and fruit( which is expensive) No, SOME fruit and veg is expensive, but most isn't.
Think about what you're buying, make sure you waste NOTHING, switch fresh for frozen where frozen is cheaper, explore Aldi & Lidl Super 6 & Pick of the week deals and make those things your main fruit and veg for the week, don't pay extra for "premium" of things where dropping a brand level will do as well...
I actually thought we were doing well ? We spend under £175 per month for 2 of us so you can scale that up accordingly, BUT that's for a household with no debt - if we were still paying off debt I'd be looking at bringing that down a lot


Car Insurance........................... 110
Comment
Not quite sure whether this is one or two cars?
Answer
Both Cars..I'm 60 so mines not a lot Your daughter needs to at least be contributing towards this - I'm going to guess that yours is probably around £250 a year, which means that you're paying in the region of £1000 a year for your daughter's insurance - is that about right? If so it's not going to take you long to be spending MORE on her car than on the ones you bought for your other children.


Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 10
Comment
And this is too low for a single car, and far too low for 2 -
Answer
Guess I have been lucky..my car has never cost me more that the odd service and mot but fair enough need to increase that £120 a year would be lucky to cover the cost of that service & MoT test though - then you need to include tyres, other depreciation, wiper blades, screenwash...


Buildings & Contents insurance..................... 30
Comment
Have you checked whether a combined buildings/contents policy can be got any cheaper?
Answer
Checked again..it is £24


Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Comment
I'm very doubtful that you spend nothing in this category!
Answer
Correct ...usually panic time or credit card at christmas And that panic is one of the things you need to prevent by forward planning and scaling down your expectations in this area


Haircuts................................ 30
Comment
And this is quite high for 2 people (please tell me you're not paying for your daughter's haircuts too?)
Answer
Mine is about £8 but my wife has hers coloured etc once in a while so I dont thinks its far off "used to" have it coloured once in a while, I'd suggest. Your SOA currently shows a big enough deficit that hopefully your wife will be able to see that, again, she needs to scale her expectations down here.


Entertainment........................... 0
Comment
Suspect there is a spend here too, you just haven't realised it.
Answer
Correct ...usually find some cash from somewhere ..but we hardly ever go out Problem is, you don't *have* any cash to find...sorry to be brutal but it';s another thing you need to budget for each month - a small entertainment spend is reasonable even in debt - and if it doesn't get spent one month then great - transfer it across to one of the credit cards!


Holiday................................. 80
Comment
Right now I'm afraid I don;t think you can afford this.
Answer
I wish I could agree with you but as you will see from my comment later I really do need 2 separate weeks and we only go in a caravan or cottage in cornwall Again, I think you need to establish the difference between "want" and "need" here - holidays are great, but not if they are pushing you towards the edge of a financial precipice... If you must go, then make it a week and choose somewhere cheaper than Cornwall too perhaps - I have my doubts that you're getting 2 separate weeks self catering for under £1000 by the time everything is taken into account - additional food while there, travel, things to do while there etc.


Unsecured Debts
Moved catalogue here
Description....................Debt......Monthly.. .APR
catalogue( wife )............. 1600......130 Is this interest free - Buy now pay later type thing? If not this needs an APR in here. If BNPL you need to get a handle on when that ends

Total unsecured debts..........54895.....1367......-



I also found 2 other monthly payments

Life Insurance £18
Charity WWA £10.00 Charity really needs to begin at home.
Stop this and start again when you are solvent.


I am going to look at MSE club and see what they can help me with

Finally, as I hinted before but I forgot to mention in the original email. After my Dad died we moved my Mum who is 96 now in with us. This means that I not only have to do my own job but I also look after her. She has slight memory problems so its quite a strain on us both BUT we wont see her in a home. Absolutely understand this - dementia is horrible, you have my sincere sympathies on this one.

This is the reason we need the holiday as my 2 brothers ( both wealthy ) do not want to look after her so her brother and his wife who are 92 and 90 look after her for a week while we go away. I know you don't want to see her moved into full time residential care BUT you do need to investigate professional respite care for a few weeks a year - failing that she could still go to your brothers and you just don't go away - maybe compromise on a long weekend somewhere then some quiet time at home?

I get £300 a month allowance for her care but all that is spent on food, toiletries, clothing, washing , petrol( I only use my car for getting her around ), taking her out etc This should be under benefits in the SOA, and the relevant costs added in, She also needs to be listed as part of the household

Thanks again so much for everyones help

I hate to break it to you on the car front but you're probably not going to get £400 for your car - finding anyone to actually TAKE a car of that age now is a huge issue, my 11 year old Clio recently had to go to WeBuyAnyCar for less than you estimate your 20 year old one is worth...

Another thought on the car front - can you drop to a single car and continue to pay the costs you do on your daughter's one on the basis that in return you use that one for driving your Mum about as needed which is the only thing you say you use yours for? It may be a way of justifying the whole 2 cars and you paying for both situation? I take it you are already a named driver on the daughter's insurance anyway?

What's your wife's take on the situation you are in currently? I take it she is fully aware of how bad things are?

I'm going to suggest that you might want to completely re-do your SOA with the full figures - while doing that also go through your current bank and card statements for the past 6 - 12 months to pick up on anything else you might have missed and also perhaps get a better picture of what you really spent for presents etc.

smallzoo2

First and very importantly ...a MASSIVE thank you for the help and advice people have given so far to my situation. It has made me focus what actually is right and wrong and what my wife and I need rather than want..

So..I will certainly be reviewing over the next week all the outgoings for the last two months from our accounts and analyse exactly what we are spending on and how we can reduce the unnecessary items and make some savings !

But..it has also made me realise that I may be coming at this from a different direction to others. Both my wife and I have always looked after our parents and grandparents for the last 30 years from visiting to caring right through to being with them at the end. Its just our nature...this will not change and I guess its our path in life to do the same with my Mum. It has meant I am working and caring 7 days a week usually from 7:30am until 10pm. It has meant my salary has dropped at least 40% from what I could earn but I wont change it and we will get through this somehow with a positive attitude.

I dont believe we are at a precipice , I always believe a bottle is half full rather than half empty.

I value all people have told me and I will definitely be making an effort to see what we can do to reverse any shortfall

thanks again

strongboes

I think your wealthy brothers should be contributing to the costs of looking after your mum, including the loss of your earnings.

enmanuel.jeffren

You'll should be able to smash your current interest rates with that LTV. You will pay the debt of much quicker

EssexHebridean

Any update on your situation Smallzoo?

smallzoo2

Sorry..been away for a few days..caring is energy sapping.

My initial plan is as follows

1. Remortage current mortgage debt £55k on lower rate probably save about £200 per month
2. Call/Write to all currentcredit card providers to see if they can help with a different rate etc
3. Go on MSE group to see if anyone can help with rates

Cheers

theoretica

Would it work out financially -and personally - if your wife and daughter did more of the caring while you earned more? It might be a way for your daughter to pay her keep and maybe earn her car insurance, but not if she is off to university in a couple of months.

smallzoo2

Unfortunately not.. I currently work a 40-50 hour week on top off my caring, my daughter is moving to Spain in August and my wife works as many hours as she can...thanks for the thought tho...