Need to do something now

FKIW99

I wrote on this forum a few years ago when I was feeling stressed and out of control with our debt, nothing has really happened since, the debt hasn't gone down or gone up, just stayed the same. But we need to get a handle on this now its ridiculous. I have just asked our mortgage company if we could remortgage to consolidate but they said no.
I have done an SOA:


Household Information[/b]
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 1
Number of cars owned.................... 2

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1200
Partners monthly income after tax....... 2800
Benefits................................ 82
Other income............................ 50
Total monthly income.................... 4132

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 698
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 341
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 146
Electricity............................. 89
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 70
Water rates............................. 54.5
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 100
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 40.5
Internet Services....................... 27
Groceries etc. ......................... 400
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 200
Road tax................................ 24
Car Insurance........................... 75
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 20
Car parking............................. 4.5
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 400
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 30
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 70
Buildings insurance..................... 10.35
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 120
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 14.99
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 2946.84


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 250000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 700
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 250700


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 171231...(698)......2
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 17818....(341)......5
Total secured & HP debts...... 189049....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Natwest CC part 1..............2658.46...57........17.43
Natwest CC part 2..............3344.5....57........4.896
Barclaycard F..................14725.....330.......17.68
Tesco Loan.....................8998......272.......4
Virgin.........................6160......62.22.....0
MBNA C2........................1536.7....25........0
MBNA C1........................11427.....147.2.....17
Barclaycard C..................1860.41...49.28.....17.68
MBNA F.........................6041.9....0.........0
Total unsecured debts..........56751.97..999.7.....-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 4,132
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,946.84
Available for debt repayments........... 1,185.16
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 999.7
Amount left after debt repayments....... 185.46

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 250,700
Total HP & Secured debt................. -189,049
Total Unsecured debt.................... -56,751.97
Net Assets.............................. 4,899.03



Any suggestions?! We want to have another baby, I know this is potentially not sensible but there isn't a quick fix for this debt and if I wait till we've sorted it then my children would have a massive age gap and I don't want that. From April next year my daughter will get the 30 hours free childcare so that will be extra money we can then use to pay off stuff.

Help!!

RecentPost

Have you considered a DMP?

The only way you will ever start to reduce debts of that level is for the interest to be frozen.

tallyhoh

couple of things jump out - £400 for groceries, head over to the old style money saving board for ideas and menu's. meal planning is essential.

What does the life insurance cover? mine is £8.25 a month. Check if you already have cover at work

FKIW99

RecentPost wrote: »

Have you considered a DMP?

The only way you will ever start to reduce debts of that level is for the interest to be frozen.

I haven't properly considered it as it just sounds scary! Which is silly I know. i will look into it properly.

FKIW99

tallyhoh wrote: »

couple of things jump out - £400 for groceries, head over to the old style money saving board for ideas and menu's. meal planning is essential.

What does the life insurance cover? mine is £8.25 a month. Check if you already have cover at work

Yes we are def over spending on groceries, that is something we are trying to work on - thank you I will have a look at that thread it should definitely help!

Life insurance also covers critical illness cover for us both - we felt that it was important as particularly if my husband fell seriously ill i would have no chance of paying for everything myself!

RecentPost

I am in one in the moment with PayPlan.

I have been in major a twice. it was really hard doing it by myself the 1st time and getting clear.

It has been a real easy process with PayPlan. They did it all online, required no documents and resolved everything with my creditors. I am really glad I did it all I have to do is pay the direct debit each month.

FKIW99

RecentPost wrote: »

I am in one in the moment with PayPlan.

I have been in major a twice. it was really hard doing it by myself the 1st time and getting clear.

It has been a real easy process with PayPlan. They did it all online, required no documents and resolved everything with my creditors. I am really glad I did it all I have to do is pay the direct debit each month.

Thanks that's interesting.

I am self employed so Im not sure if that makes a difference to our circumstances. I need to investigate.

Willing2Learn

RecentPost wrote: »

Have you considered a DMP?

The only way you will ever start to reduce debts of that level is for the interest to be frozen.

FKIW99 wrote: »

I haven't properly considered it as it just sounds scary! Which is silly I know. i will look into it properly.

Have a read of the NEDCAB DMP guide. It just about covers everything.
https://nedcab.cabmoney.org.uk/dmp.asp

Mnd

Get rid of sky, ASAP get on PAY on mobiles. Car insurance seems massive, don't just auto renew negotiate when renewal is due

dan958

Groceries and the mobile phones are where you could make some large savings.

Get a sim only contract for around £5 each, and look at /r/eatcheapandhealthy to get your grocery bills down.

Tropically

I think if you don't start doing something about the debt now, and instead have another child, you will never be able to break the debt cycle. The best time to start was yesterday, the second best time to start is now.

There is no space for swimming lessons, holidays, no space for clothes for 2 kids, not even a family cinema trip. Don't you want your kids to enjoy those?

If I were you, I would hammer through the debts as much as possible in one year. You have good salaries and a low mortgage. You could make so much progress in one year and then think about having another kid when some of the debts are paid off. If cleared £24,000 over the next year, then you'd have nearly £600 a month extra with your highest APR debts gone. A year of devoted focus would make your lives much easier.