Help with Debt please

Mnd

Nothing to add to all the above comments. I wouldn't be able to spend that amount on groceries. We shop at Aldi/lids and if it comes to £50 a week we think it's high

Do stop buying clothes..I speak from experience here, my wife could stock a medium size shop with the amount of clothes/shoes she has. It's ridiculous and a waste of money

EssexHebridean

I think you also need to be realistic about what you have really been spending on clothing items - not sure how long the debt to Fashion World has been building, but that amount needs to be divided out over the number of months (along with any more of the catalogue debt that is attributed to clothing items too) to give a more accurate picture of exactly where things have gone wrong.

Also agree with the person who said that as you & your OH both have debt it may well make sense to accept that you are in this situation together and to work together to sort it.

As for the SOA - comments in red as usual.

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....... 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 Assuming that this & the gas are 50% of the total then it may be worth a comparison on these to see if you are o the best deal for you - remember to look at splitting them to two providers as well as the dual fuel options.
Gas..................................... 31
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 25
Telephone (land line)................... 9
Mobile phone............................ 22
TV Licence.............................. 6
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 20 If you both have debt I'd question whether this is a good use of your disposable income?
Internet Services....................... 12
Groceries etc. ......................... 180 Again if this is 50% of your spend this is extortionate for 2 people!
Clothing................................ 15 If you currently have the level of debt from buying clothing that it would appear you have, I'm unsure why you'd be needing to buy anything more than vital essentials (socks & pants, basically!) for the forseeable future?
Petrol/diesel........................... 15
Road tax................................ 8 Are you paying this monthly? If so look to work towards changing that as I believe there is a premium for monthly payments.
Car Insurance........................... 22
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 25 Are you really saving this? Nothing showing in cash assets?
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 What's this for? Is it actually essential?
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 40 While in debt I'd personally strip this down to buying "token" presents only
Haircuts................................ 5
Entertainment........................... 20
Holiday................................. 20 Again, is this really being saved? And do you keep any holiday you might take to within this budget as it's very low?
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 This is great - so where is it?

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.

On the face of it - great, you have £215 surplus each month. I practise those, do you have that? Or are some of those figures on the SOA optimistic, aspirational or just plain wrong? You need to track that down though as currently that is over £2500 a year going....somewhere.

That Fashionworld APR is a killer and that MUST be the main focus of your drive to pay stuff off first - although Studio is not that far behind, is it. Have you told all of these companies that they are under no circumtances to accept any further orders from you? Ideally you would ask them to close the accounts but they may well say they can;'t do this without the balances being cleared.

jo.anne

Thank you for all your advice. I went with Payplan and the ball has started rolling to address my debts. I already feel a huge weight lifted.

Willing2Learn

jo.anne wrote: »

Thank you for all your advice. I went with Payplan and the ball has started rolling to address my debts. I already feel a huge weight lifted.

Congratulations on the commencement of your debt-busting journey

Are you putting the accounts on hold for a few months to allow you a bit of time to build an Emergency Fund before the repayment schedule starts?

jo.anne

On hold for 28 days then entering into a DMP starting in October so September`s usual payments are going into the Emergency Fund. I am determined to do it and will Payplans help I will be clear of the debt in 2.5 years.

findingthisdifficult

Well done for facing the problem head on, good luck with your debt busting journey!
Keep posting in here, it helps keep you on the straight and narrow. I'm often wandering off and finding I'm spending too much, but when I read my diary and add to it, it helps get me back on the straight and narrow.

jo.anne

12 months in on a debt repayment plan. Majority of the creditors have been great and frozen the interest. Already paid £3500 off my debts in one year. Quite disappointed with Fashion World and Virgin Credit Card had they will not freeze the interest. Is it worth me stopping their payments through the payment plan and having the debts defaulted and sent to a debt company has I am already aware my credit record is shot so wouldn't make a difference, or would the payplan plus the debt company I am with advise against this?