Help with Debt please

jo.anne

Can someone pleas advice on my options. I have been burying my head in the sand and repaying credit cards, catalogs etc. I have recently decided to address these and after close inspection I am almost £9000 in debt between, Fashion World, Studio, Capitol one, Very Credit Card, Virgin credit card, freeman's and Very. I am repaying the minimum amounts and sometimes slightly more. I have worked out that I am repaying on average of £350 a month and approx £215 is the interest, only just realized Fashion World is 69.9%. I am aware I went into these and owe the money and I am making payments each month, but I am on a repayment plan with Very and as a result cannot get a loan to consolidate these debts. I have called a few of them to see if they could freeze interest so that I can try and settle these debts but they have told me they are credit accounts and I signed for these. The problem is I can afford the repayments and do so each month but I have nothing left and realize at this rate I am going to be repaying for years and it is affecting my life. I married four years ago and my husband was unaware of my debt and I have come clean and this has now effected our marriage as he rightly believes I have lied to him. I am at my wits end and unsure how I can get off this dreadful cycle. Any advice greatly appreciated.

Willing2Learn

Hi jo.anne,

It may well be, that a DMP would be an effective solution. You could send all your creditors a holding letter to freeze your accounts whilst you seek advice. If you asked them to hold your accounts for six months, so that you can save some money into an emergency fund (EF), then that would be good too. It would mean that your creditors would likely default all your accounts, which is good news, as it freezes interest and charges. All your repayments would then be going straight toward the debt instead of interest. I recommend you post on the main DFW forum with your SOA (Statement of Affairs).

sourcrates

Moved to a shiny new thread.

Karonher

As you already in a payment plan you probably know that putting all your debts into a DMP will freeze interest but if the accounts are defaulted it will affect your credit file for 6 years from the date of the last default.

Can you cut down on any current expenditure and put the extra towards the debt?

jo.anne

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 0
Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1350
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1400
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2750

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 191
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 55
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 131
Electricity............................. 61
Gas..................................... 61
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 49
Telephone (land line)................... 19
Mobile phone............................ 28
TV Licence.............................. 13
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 40
Internet Services....................... 25
Groceries etc. ......................... 530
Clothing................................ 60
Petrol/diesel........................... 70
Road tax................................ 15
Car Insurance........................... 45
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 50
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 20
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 12
Buildings insurance..................... 12
Contents insurance...................... 12
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 13
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 80
Haircuts................................ 10
Entertainment........................... 100
Holiday................................. 60
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1762


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 75000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 5000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 80000


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 22000....(191)......3.2
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 4000.....(55).......0
Total secured & HP debts...... 26000.....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Credit card - Capital..........795.......55........26.4
Credit Card - Very.............1476......50........30
Credit card - Virgin...........1074......26........17.4
Loan...........................4500......320.......NaN
Debt manager...................340.......11........0
Cabot..........................544.......5.........0
LPF............................0.........6.........0
Catalogue - Very...............979.......67........0
Catalogue - Studio.............839.......55........49.9
Catalogue - Freemans...........551.......27........34.94
Catalogue - Fashion W..........2731......120.......69.9
Total unsecured debts..........13829.....742.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,750
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,762
Available for debt repayments........... 988
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 742
Amount left after debt repayments....... 246

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 80,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -26,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -13,829
Net Assets.............................. 40,171

Created using the SOA calculator at https://www.stoozing.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using other browser.

jo.anne

have posted this on another thread which I believe was incorrect. Below is the original post and my SOA


Can someone pleas advice on my options. I have been burying my head in the sand and repaying credit cards, catalogs etc. I have recently decided to address these and after close inspection I am almost £9000 in debt between, Fashion World, Studio, Capitol one, Very Credit Card, Virgin credit card, freeman's and Very. I am repaying the minimum amounts and sometimes slightly more. I have worked out that I am repaying on average of £350 a month and approx £215 is the interest, only just realized Fashion World is 69.9%. I am aware I went into these and owe the money and I am making payments each month, but I am on a repayment plan with Very and as a result cannot get a loan to consolidate these debts. I have called a few of them to see if they could freeze interest so that I can try and settle these debts but they have told me they are credit accounts and I signed for these. The problem is I can afford the repayments and do so each month but I have nothing left and realize at this rate I am going to be repaying for years and it is affecting my life. I married four years ago and my husband was unaware of my debt and I have come clean and this has now effected our marriage as he rightly believes I have lied to him. I am at my wits end and unsure how I can get off this dreadful cycle. Any advice greatly appreciated.
Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 0
Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1350
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1400
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2750

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 191
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 55
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 131
Electricity............................. 61
Gas..................................... 61
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 49
Telephone (land line)................... 19
Mobile phone............................ 28
TV Licence.............................. 13
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 40
Internet Services....................... 25
Groceries etc. ......................... 530
Clothing................................ 60
Petrol/diesel........................... 70
Road tax................................ 15
Car Insurance........................... 45
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 50
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 20
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 12
Buildings insurance..................... 12
Contents insurance...................... 12
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 13
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 80
Haircuts................................ 10
Entertainment........................... 100
Holiday................................. 60
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1762


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 75000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 5000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 80000


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 22000....(191)......3.2
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 4000.....(55).......0
Total secured & HP debts...... 26000.....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Credit card - Capital..........795.......55........26.4
Credit Card - Very.............1476......50........30
Credit card - Virgin...........1074......26........17.4
Loan...........................4500......320.......NaN
Debt manager...................340.......11........0
Cabot..........................544.......5.........0
LPF............................0.........6.........0
Catalogue - Very...............979.......67........0
Catalogue - Studio.............839.......55........49.9
Catalogue - Freemans...........551.......27........34.94
Catalogue - Fashion W..........2731......120.......69.9
Total unsecured debts..........13829.....742.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,750
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,762
Available for debt repayments........... 988
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 742
Amount left after debt repayments....... 246

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 80,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -26,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -13,829
Net Assets.............................. 40,171

Created using the SOA calculator at https://www.stoozing.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using other browser.

[Deleted User]

The good news is that there's lot of savings you can make from your current spending.

£100 a month on entertainment, £80 on presents and £520 on groceries for just two of you and £40 on TV are all very high. You could very easily save a couple of hundred a month at least on those.

That would enable you to pay back much faster.

findingthisdifficult

jo.anne wrote: »

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 0
Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1350
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1400
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2750

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 191
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 55
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 131
Electricity............................. 61 Is it really £61 equally split between Electric and Gas?
Gas..................................... 61
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 49
Telephone (land line)................... 19
Mobile phone............................ 28
TV Licence.............................. 13
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 40Do you really need this, could you downgrade the package?
Internet Services....................... 25
Groceries etc. ......................... 530This is a lot of money for 2 people especially if you're struggling with debt repayments, I also spend a similar amount roughly for 2 people but I'm not struggling my repayments
Clothing................................ 60You should cut this right back to a smaller amount for essentials, although if you're really spending £60 a month on clothing, you must have plenty
Petrol/diesel........................... 70
Road tax................................ 15
Car Insurance........................... 45
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 50 Where are you saving this as you say you have no cash in your assets list
Car parking............................. 0you never ever pay to park?
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 20 could a pre-payment certificate reduce this cost for you?
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 12
Buildings insurance..................... 12
Contents insurance...................... 12
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 13
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 80 Again this seems excessive, could be cut back and put in to the non existent emergency fund?
Haircuts................................ 10
Entertainment........................... 100
Holiday................................. 60Is this holiday affordable?
Emergency fund.......................... 0you definitely need something here, there looks to be plenty that you can cut back on to build this up
Total monthly expenses.................. 1762


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 75000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 5000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 80000


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 22000....(191)......3.2
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 4000.....(55).......0
Total secured & HP debts...... 26000.....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Credit card - Capital..........795.......55........26.4
Credit Card - Very.............1476......50........30
Credit card - Virgin...........1074......26........17.4
Loan...........................4500......320.......NaN
Debt manager...................340.......11........0
Cabot..........................544.......5.........0
LPF............................0.........6.........0
Catalogue - Very...............979.......67........0
Catalogue - Studio.............839.......55........49.9
Catalogue - Freemans...........551.......27........34.94
Catalogue - Fashion W..........2731......120.......69.9
Total unsecured debts..........13829.....742.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,750
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,762
Available for debt repayments........... 988
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 742
Amount left after debt repayments....... 246do you really have this left every month?

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 80,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -26,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -13,829
Net Assets.............................. 40,171

Created using the SOA calculator at https://www.stoozing.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using other browser.

I've added some comments where I think you may be able to cut back, I would seriously review your expenditure as it looks like there is plenty that can be cut to help make a dent in the debt repayments.

jo.anne

Hi

The amounts I put where worked out for the year then averaged. I definitely know I need to cut back, but the main problem is my husbands income is not used to repay these debts as these where my debts before we got together. He as his own debts mainly a loan that I have included. I just realized the extent I was paying on interest and realized it would take me years to make a dent. Like most people in debt I just want the companies to help me settle these accounts

klew356

totally agree, who needs cable tv etc, and groceries you can slash, take packed lunch to work etc etc

findingthisdifficult

Ok that changes things as your SOA includes your husband's income so makes it looks like the payments should be more than affordable. I would maybe redo the SOA taking out his income and loan, then put in your contribution to the expenditure as well as your debt payments, that will give a clearer idea of what you're dealing with.
I'm not 100% sure what your options are but if you're definitely planning to tackle your debts with only your income then it may be worth talking to a debt charity for further advice. Just remember, no matter how bad this is, there's nothing that can't be fixed.