Help with Debt please

CakeCrusader

Electricity............................. 61
Gas..................................... 61
These seem a bit high, do you have arrears, have you shopped around for a better rate?



Water rates............................. 49
This also seems high. Do you have a water meter?


Telephone (land line)................... 19
Mobile phone............................ 28
TV Licence.............................. 13
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 40
Internet Services....................... 25
Have you re-negotiated your contract recently? Seems high.


Groceries etc. ......................... 530
This seems huge. There's 2 adults in my house, I usually spend around £70 a week (depending on whether we need washing powder/loo rolls etc, I buy some basics food, it's mostly meat, fish, veg, fruit and bread, and I mostly cook from scratch). Are you meal planning? Eating a lot of convenience food?



Clothing................................ 60
You have a large debt to fashion world, are you sure this is what you're spending? £720 a year on clothes is a lot, it's a good idea if you cut this down by not buying any more clothes and wearing the clothes you already have.


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
This seems really high, £960 a year on gifts? If these are gifts for each other you really can't afford this. Gifts for family, they often don't care what something costs, especially children, a cheap DVD, some sweets, a mug and a tub of hot chocolate will cost you about a fiver.



Haircuts................................ 10
£120 a year on haircuts? You can cut this back (no pun intended).


Entertainment........................... 100
£1200 a year. Have a movie night in, go for a picnic, this is a lot of money just to have fun.


Holiday................................. 60
It may be worth putting this on hold for a bit, just until you've cleared some of your higher APR debts.


Emergency fund.......................... 0


There's a lot of savings that can be made from your SOA. I know paying off debts is dull, but all you're doing is paying off APR and you're making a tiny, tiny dent in the actual debt. It'll take years for you to pay these off like this. The quicker these are paid off the more spare cash you'll have.

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....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1350

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 96
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 66
Electricity............................. 30
Gas..................................... 31
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 25
Telephone (land line)................... 9
Mobile phone............................ 28
TV Licence.............................. 6
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 20
Internet Services....................... 12
Groceries etc. ......................... 215
Clothing................................ 30
Petrol/diesel........................... 30
Road tax................................ 8
Car Insurance........................... 22
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 25
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 15
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 6
Buildings insurance..................... 6
Contents insurance...................... 6
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 13
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 40
Haircuts................................ 5
Entertainment........................... 20
Holiday................................. 20
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 784


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....(96).......3.2
Total secured & HP debts...... 22000.....-.........-

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.................... 1,350
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 784
Available for debt repayments........... 566
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 742
Amount short for making debt repayments. -176

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 80,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -22,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -13,829
Net Assets.............................. 44,171

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

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....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1350

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 96
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 66
Electricity............................. 30
Gas..................................... 31
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 25
Telephone (land line)................... 9
Mobile phone............................ 22
TV Licence.............................. 6
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 20
Internet Services....................... 12
Groceries etc. ......................... 180
Clothing................................ 15
Petrol/diesel........................... 15
Road tax................................ 8
Car Insurance........................... 22
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 25
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 15
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 6
Buildings insurance..................... 6
Contents insurance...................... 6
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 13
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 40
Haircuts................................ 5
Entertainment........................... 20
Holiday................................. 20
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 713


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....(96).......3.2
Total secured & HP debts...... 22000.....-.........-

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
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..........9329......422.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,350
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 713
Available for debt repayments........... 637
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 422
Amount left after debt repayments....... 215

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 80,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -22,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -9,329
Net Assets.............................. 48,671

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

sourcrates

Best to stick to just the one thread, so I have merged them for you.
Having various threads on the same topic just confuses people.

Thanks.

CakeCrusader

I know that you've said these debts were yours from before you were married, but you're in a partnership with someone, they are supposed to support you. If you both cut back and make a dent on these it'll be better for you both in the long run. I don't think there's any need for you to struggle alone. A debt charity is also a very good idea (Stepchange or someone registered and with no fees), they are there to help.

getmore4less

One thing that stands out is the mortgage rate of 3.2%

£22k on £75k is very good LTV so rate should be a lot lower

Which lender and what is the deal?

getmore4less

jo.anne wrote: »

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

As you identified it is the interest causing the bulk of the debt cycle problem SO that is what needs dealing with.

There is definitely room to cut back on the SOA but I think this may need support from hubby to make that happen as there will be an imbalance if you can't do this as a team.

As he has debt as well this is something you could plan to deal with together

Can you go over your spends budget together and look for places to cut back. others have pointed you at some of the places that could see some savings.

A full DMP with all your debt interest frozen and a £600pm payment sees this clear in under 18 months.

Hubbies loan looks to be around the same period

Also your payments(£420) and his loan payment(£320) are not that far apart so you are kind of in this together.

That may be something to try to plan for, 18 months could see you both debt free able to move forward with a streamlined budget that gives you more option than you have now.

I think one of the debt charities could help with this but that will come with a hit on the credit files, that may not be a problem.

If lenders won't go for a DMP then other routes to getting the interest rates down will be needed.

PurpleFairy26

The good news is that between you, you can afford the repayments. I would suggest you need to sit down with him and review all you incomings and outgoings and devise a joint plan of how to pay off both your debts ASAP. Even if you want 'to pay' your debts it makes sense that you tackle it now from joint income to reduce the amount of interest and then you can 'pay hubby back' after if that's how you want it to work between you. But once the debts are gone you will both have decent disposable income to spend more on food, holiday etc...

First port of call is stopping using all lines of credit and putting money away for annual events such as car maintenance and a small amount to an emergency fund.

Good luck with it all.

Andyjflet

Dont forget to visit the Snowballing section, this helped me to understand how this can work really well. Once you have tackled the highest interest card / store debt first they will get quicker to clear as you arent paying so much in interest.

theoretica

Looking at your catalogue debts I wonder if you bought things which could be sold now to go towards repaying the debt.