Soa

dreambig19

Hi all,

I've posted a few threads recently and a couple of people have suggested posting an SOA so that people might be able to help with areas to shave things down. I've posted my SOA below but just wanted to note a few things (so as not to have to keep drip feeding info):

1. My partners income is currently £0 as we took shared parental leave. We chose to take the full 12 months due to ongoing health issues our son has from a difficult birth followed immediately by a stay in NICU over the Christmas period last year. I returned to work when SMP stopped, and my husband is taking the remaining time unpaid - we did this as I bring in a higher wage so we would therefore have more income. He will return to work mid Dec, so we will be back up to a 'full income' by the end of Jan
2. The 'additional income' is money I am planning/trying/so far succeeding in making through taking on extra work once home in the evenings.
3. Phone bills and tv/broadband bills etc I KNOW are high - I have tried reducing these with the providers already but we are tied in to contracts for at least the next six months on both. Will reduce these when I can
4. Groceries bill seems high - this is for 2 adults, 1 child (on a combination of formula and solid foods) and 3 pets.

Statement Of Affairs And Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number Of Adults In Household 2
Number Of Children In Household 1
Number Of Cars Owned 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly Income After Tax £1,745.00
Partners Monthly Income After Tax £0.00
Benefits £82.80
Other Income £310.00
Total Monthly Income £2,137.80

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage £500.00



£0.00
Council Tax £123.00
Electricity £45.00
Gas £45.00
Oil £0.00
Water Rates £50.00
Telephone (Land Line) £0.00
Mobile Phone £140.00
TV License £12.00
Satellite/Cable TV £95.00
Internet Services £0.00
Groceries Etc £350.00
Clothing £50.00
Petrol/Diesel £100.00
Road Tax £12.00
Car Insurance £56.00
Car Maintenance (Including MOT) £0.00

Other Travel £63.00
Childcare/Nursery £0.00
Other Child Related Expenses £0.00
Medical (Prescriptions, Dentist Etc) £18.50
Pet Insurance/Vet Bills £0.00
Buildings Insurance £0.00
Contents Insurance
Life Assurance
Other Insurance £0.00
Presents (Birthday, Christmas Etc) £25.00
Haircuts £30.00
Entertainment £45.00
Holiday £0.00
Emergency Fund £35.00
Professional Subscriptions £0.00
Total Monthly Expenses £1,794.50


Assets
Cash £0.00
House Value (Gross) £0.00
Shares And Bonds £0.00
Car(s) £600.00
Other Assets £0.00
Total Assets £600.00


Secured & HP Debts
Description Debt Monthly Apr
Mortgage £0.00 2.25
HP And Other Secured Debt £0.00 0.00%
Total Secured & HP Debts £0.00

Unsecured Debts
Description Debt Monthly Apr
Council Tax £334.11 £47.73 0.00%
HMCS Fine £370.00 £46.00 0.00%
Vanquis £381.71 £2.00 0.00%
ACI £575.00 £10.00 0.00%
Lending Stream £638.40 £10.00 0.00%
Welsh Water CCJ £860.00 £50.00 0.00%
On Stride £1,079.00 £0.00 0.00%
Cabot £7,440.00 £10.00 0.00%
Salary Finance £650.00 £84.00 7.90%
Total Unsecured Debts £12,328.22 £259.73


Monthly Budget Summary
Total Monthly Income £2,137.80
Expenses (Including Hp & Secured Debts) £1,794.50
Available For Debt Repayments £343.30
Monthly Unsecured Debt Repayments £259.73
Amount Surplus Or Short For Making Debt Repayments £83.57

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total Assets (Things You Own) £600.00
Total Hp & Secured Debt £0.00
Total Unsecured Debt £12,328.22
Net Assets £600.00



~~~~~~~~~~

Once my husband is back in work the difference will be:
Partners income £1340
Total income £3477.80

Amount surplus for making debt repayments: £1,423.57

Obviously once we get to the end of January we will be in a much better position for both paying off debts and putting money into savings.

Thanks in advance for any help anyone can offer.

R

Willing2Learn

Hi,

How come you Satellite/Cable TV is £95? You must subscribe to a lot of services and could reduce this amount to pay more toward your debts.


The same question applies to your mobile phone @ £140/month. That is ginormous!! I have a SIM only contract @ just £8/month.

dreambig19

Willing2Learn wrote: »

Hi,

How come you Satellite/Cable TV is £95? You must subscribe to a lot of services and could reduce this amount to pay more toward your debts.


The same question applies to your mobile phone @ £140/month. That is ginormous!! I have a SIM only contract @ just £8/month.

Hi, as I said I know these are both very high but can't reduce them at the moment due to being in contract (have already tried)

TV is phone, broadband and virgin media package - I need high speed reliable internet due to working from home a bit and the type of work I do, so even if we reduced our tv and phone packages to much smaller ones I wouldn't save that much - but will review and revisit when contract period ends.

Mobile - again high, but again locked into contract. This covers my mobile, and mobile, sim card for ipad, and an apple watch for husband. All taken out before we knew we were expecting our son and therefore before we knew pay would drop (husband also has a tendancy for wanting the latest and best gadgets - another issue entirely).

EssexHebridean

Comments in red as usual

dreambig19 wrote: »

Statement Of Affairs And Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number Of Adults In Household 2
Number Of Children In Household 1
Number Of Cars Owned 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly Income After Tax £1,745.00
Partners Monthly Income After Tax £0.00
Benefits £82.80
Other Income £310.00
Total Monthly Income £2,137.80

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage £500.00



£0.00
Council Tax £123.00
Electricity £45.00
Gas £45.00
Oil £0.00
Water Rates £50.00
Telephone (Land Line) £0.00
Mobile Phone £140.00 ouchy - yes, definitely note to revisit this one - make a diary note for three months ahead of contract finish dates, then riung up and tell them that you will be leaving at the end of the contract unless they are wiling to match "X SIM-only deal from Y supplier" - choose a cracking deal regardless of network - they have no idea if you would actually switch or not. There is a half chance that they may not only agree to match, or nearly match, but also to let you terminate the contract early - EE certainly have form for doing that.
TV License £12.00
Satellite/Cable TV £95.00 Keep your eye on the weekly email nearer the time for good deals that our out there on fast broadband - and don't be afraid to make a point of switching -0 or threatening to - each time the contract finishes!
Internet Services £0.00
Groceries Etc £350.00 You're right - this is quite high. Assume you (or currently OH as he is at home all the time) are cooking everything from scratch and shopping around for good deals on things you use regularly? Also have you done the brand-drop - where you switch branded to store brand, and store brand to "saver" level to see whether you can tell the difference?
Clothing £50.00
Petrol/Diesel £100.00
Road Tax £12.00
Car Insurance £56.00
Car Maintenance (Including MOT) £0.00 Need to start saving something here!

Other Travel £63.00
Childcare/Nursery £0.00
Other Child Related Expenses £0.00 Do you need to start considering this ready for both of you to be back at work? If so a second SOA giving the picture then might be a plan.
Medical (Prescriptions, Dentist Etc) £18.50 Anything here that can be saved on? If there are prescriptions in here that can be cheaper by buying a pre-paid certificate.
Pet Insurance/Vet Bills £0.00
Buildings Insurance £0.00
Contents Insurance I hope it is an oversight that there is nothing in here or the Buildings insurance?
Life Assurance
Other Insurance £0.00
Presents (Birthday, Christmas Etc) £25.00 Where are you saving this - you're not showing any cash assets and at this time of year I'd expect to see a cushion there built up?
Haircuts £30.00 This is high. that's over £300 per year on haircuts - that surely can't be right? Also where is it being saved - nothing in cash assets.
Entertainment £45.00
Holiday £0.00
Emergency Fund £35.00 same question - where is this being saved?
Professional Subscriptions £0.00
Total Monthly Expenses £1,794.50


Assets
Cash £0.00
House Value (Gross) £0.00 You're paying a mortgage but there is no value in your home?
Shares And Bonds £0.00
Car(s) £600.00
Other Assets £0.00
Total Assets £600.00


Secured & HP Debts
Description Debt Monthly Apr
Mortgage £0.00 2.25
HP And Other Secured Debt £0.00 0.00%
Total Secured & HP Debts £0.00

Unsecured Debts
Description Debt Monthly Apr
Council Tax £334.11 £47.73 0.00%
HMCS Fine £370.00 £46.00 0.00%
Vanquis £381.71 £2.00 0.00%
ACI £575.00 £10.00 0.00%
Lending Stream £638.40 £10.00 0.00%
Welsh Water CCJ £860.00 £50.00 0.00%
On Stride £1,079.00 £0.00 0.00%
Cabot £7,440.00 £10.00 0.00%
Salary Finance £650.00 £84.00 7.90%
Total Unsecured Debts £12,328.22 £259.73


Monthly Budget Summary
Total Monthly Income £2,137.80
Expenses (Including Hp & Secured Debts) £1,794.50
Available For Debt Repayments £343.30
Monthly Unsecured Debt Repayments £259.73
Amount Surplus Or Short For Making Debt Repayments £83.57 Dp you have this left over each month?

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total Assets (Things You Own) £600.00
Total Hp & Secured Debt £0.00
Total Unsecured Debt £12,328.22
Net Assets £600.00



~~~~~~~~~~

Once my husband is back in work the difference will be:
Partners income £1340
Total income £3477.80

Amount surplus for making debt repayments: £1,423.57

Obviously once we get to the end of January we will be in a much better position for both paying off debts and putting money into savings.

Thanks in advance for any help anyone can offer.

R

You will be in a better position then but do you also have childcare to factor in? If so the difference will not be as good as you're thinking.

When you come to revisit the mobile costs if you have high levels of data on the phone think about tethering the iPad to that rather than paying for the data contract for it. Otherwise at the least switch it to a dirt cheap SIM only deal. The phones, also, can go across to SIM only.

There are a few bits missing on the SOA but equally some areas where small savings will probably cover what's missing - you could save on groceries to fill the gap on the insurances that are missed off at the moment, for example.

Are you certain that everything you owe is at 0%? if not then that would potentially give quite a different picture. have you also addressed the issues that have left you with the debts, is another question that probably needs addressing?

If you can overpay the Salary finance then it makes sense to start throwing anything you can free up at that as that is charging interest.

dreambig19

EssexHebridean wrote: »

Comments in red as usual



You will be in a better position then but do you also have childcare to factor in? If so the difference will not be as good as you're thinking.

When you come to revisit the mobile costs if you have high levels of data on the phone think about tethering the iPad to that rather than paying for the data contract for it. Otherwise at the least switch it to a dirt cheap SIM only deal. The phones, also, can go across to SIM only.

There are a few bits missing on the SOA but equally some areas where small savings will probably cover what's missing - you could save on groceries to fill the gap on the insurances that are missed off at the moment, for example.

Are you certain that everything you owe is at 0%? if not then that would potentially give quite a different picture. have you also addressed the issues that have left you with the debts, is another question that probably needs addressing?

If you can overpay the Salary finance then it makes sense to start throwing anything you can free up at that as that is charging interest.

Hi Essex,

Thanks for such a comprehensive reply!! I'll try to address your questions below:

Mobile phone and broadband - agreed these will be revisited
Groceries - this is made up of £200 food, £67.50 baby formula and £82.50 pet food. The baby formula can't be changed to a different brand but will reduce over time now as he eats more food and drinks less formula. Plus once he hits 1 in a few months that will change as he can drink cows milk - need to look into this. Pet food - have switched this month from branded to store brand and will see how that goes, but should save money. Same for our groceries - switched from tesco to lidls and can already see the difference in cost.

Car maintenance - on the list of priorities to save for. As is contents insurance etc - we have no insurance of any kind at the moment.

Childcare expenses - luckily my mother will be looking after my son once we are both back in work. We will be paying her but she will only accept a nominal amount - but you're right, will need to factor this in to the Jan budget.

The medical costs - prob doesn't belong here but wasn't sure where to put it. It's flea and worming treatment for the 3 pets.

Presents - I pay £25 a month to a 'Christmas club' and will receive vouchers in November - so although it's 'saved' I don't have access to it if that makes sense? Current saved total (though not available to me) is £225

Emergency fund - I have put an amount of £35 on there but that was a decision to start saving this much from this month - so do not currently have any saved IYSWIM

Haircuts - I'm budgeting £10 a month for husband and £20 a month for me. In reality though we could get our hair cut every 2 months, so £15 a month put to one side for this. As with the emergency fund, it's a decision to put this aside so nothing saved for this at present, therefore no 'assets'

Assets - house value - we rent (forgot to change mortgage to rent)

Surplus amounts - we don't at the moment. But that's because we're not responsible with our spending. Now that the income for my husband has reduced to 0 and it's basically all on me to cover the bills, I've made the decision to make myself fully aware of our finances and financial situation to ensure we don't get ourselves deeper into debt - and also figure out what we are wasting out money on every month!

The debts (apart from salary finance) are all definiately 0% because they are historic - most have defaults and so have had fees and interest frozen. I've been in touch with all creditors in recent weeks who have confirmed this. The debts are historic from a time when I was much more reckless and irresponsible - I know a lot of people say 'I've changed' - but... well I've changed. Plus my credit history/report/score etc is so shocking that no-one will lend to me, so the chances of me making the situation worse with more debt in the near future is slim to none!

My goal is to get myself back on an even keel. To try and repair some of the damage I've done, to clear down my debts and then save towards a deposit for our own home. I appreciate this is a long way - many years - off, due to defaults etc, but if I don't start now, I never will.

Thanks again for the time you took to reply.

EssexHebridean

DO NOT wait to "save for contents insurance - get that sorted right now for goodness sake - what on EARTH would you do if the worst happened?

Do you buy the flea/worming stuff online? Usually cheaper than via the vets...Remember that you also need to budget for the injections etc with three pets in the house - not cheap. The other obvious thing on that is the insurance question for them - are you comfortable with the fact that if one of the pets was ill/injured you might have to take a painful decision because you couldn't afford the treatment? If not then you need to insure or in the longer term self-insure by saving a pot of money against the worst happening. Similarly if any of the pets are dogs you MUST have at least third party insurance - check out the Dogs Trust for a good option for this though.

OK - your comments make more sense if that is to an extent an aspirational SOA.

I suspect you can reduce your gas/electric a bit too as time goes on - but that might be one for the future as we are now into the colder months.

Willing2Learn

dreambig19 wrote: »

The debts (apart from salary finance) are all definiately 0% because they are historic - most have defaults and so have had fees and interest frozen. I've been in touch with all creditors in recent weeks who have confirmed this. The debts are historic from a time when I was much more reckless and irresponsible - I know a lot of people say 'I've changed' - but... well I've changed. Plus my credit history/report/score etc is so shocking that no-one will lend to me, so the chances of me making the situation worse with more debt in the near future is slim to none!

I was just thinking about the debts. Apart from council tax arrears, HMCS and the Welsh water CCJ, I would be tempted to freeze your payments on all the other unsecured debts for a few months. This would provide you with a window of opportunity to settle the council tax arrears, HMCS and welsh water CCJ, whilst at the same time building a nice little Emergency Fund (EF).

Just to add, that an EF is an essential category of all successful monthly budgets. You just don't know what the future holds. But you can guarantee something expensive will need fixing. With an EF saved you will be able to fix whatever it is while remaining within your budget.

dreambig19

Willing2learn thank you - definitely worth seeing if they will allow me to freeze payments! Although I have only just initiated payment plans with them so not sure how willing they would be. I will certainly ask though!

I'm also making the EF a priority - I need to get something saved up like you said. Over the last few years we have always said just as we feel we are going to get a bit of leeway (big bill paid off, stuff for the baby finally paid for etc) something would happen (washing machine broke, car repair bill) and it felt like we would never catch a break. An EF would help alleviate that for sure

Willing2Learn

Okay. I think that you may have to change your mindset.

As far as I am aware, and after briefly skimming/scanning through all your posts, it appears that you are just starting to take control of your finances. It also appears as though you will be entering into some form of self-managed DMP.


If you are self-managing then you don't ask whether you can freeze payments. Instead, you write to all the creditors, advising them that you will be SM your DMP and that you need to freeze payments for 3 or 6months. You can state in your letter that the delay is due to expensive and essential car maintenance or boiler repairs. You could also put in your letter your scheduled monthly repayment start date DD/MM/2020. Add a sentence to say that you only consent to written correspondence via Royal Mail and that you do not consent to phone calls. You will then be fully taking control of your finances. It is scary I know. But it would take a lot of weight off of your shoulders knowing that you have a scheduled repayment plan starting in the new year.

It is possible that some of your creditors will write back saying that this is unacceptable. If this happens, then you just need to stand your ground and write to them again confirming your repayment schedule. Just don't enter into correspondence by phone. Do it all in writing. The letters will then become legal documents setting out the DMP payment plan.

Just thought I would give you something to think about.

monetxchange

Couple of things - have you checked whether you can get out of any of your mobile phone contracts by paying off the phone loan? I know O2 offer this. Then you're out of contract and free to move to a SIM only tariff. From the high amount you're paying, I'm guessing you have top of the range phones. You could sell these on eBay, pay off the contract, and buy a cheap phone online. I recently got a £100 Android and am really chuffed with it, find it much more usable than the iPhone. You could potentially be saving over £100 a month here, and that's huge.

EDIT to say - do you really need an iPad with a data SIM when you both have a phone when out and about? I've never had one for mine, just download stuff at home and use wifi when out if absolutely necessary. Same goes for the Apple Watch - are you paying this off monthly? If so, think about selling it to get out of this. You don't need separate data plans for them.

Not fully sure how Virgin works, but are there any packages you have on there that can be removed now? I'm thinking in terms of add ons like sports and movie bundles. If not, I'd have a think about what you need when the contract is up. Do you really need super high speed fibre optic etc broadband? I worked for a long time using Plusnet's standard package, and found it very fast and reliable and more than the average worker would need. Could you move to a provider that offers internet only without a home phone? You don't seem to need one in addition, considering you have a large spend on mobiles too. Now TV also do great, much cheaper TV packages these days too. Might be worth considering doing when your contract is up, if even for a few months while you get afloat.

Good luck!

dreambig19

EssexHebridean wrote: »

DO NOT wait to "save for contents insurance - get that sorted right now for goodness sake - what on EARTH would you do if the worst happened?

Do you buy the flea/worming stuff online? Usually cheaper than via the vets...Remember that you also need to budget for the injections etc with three pets in the house - not cheap. The other obvious thing on that is the insurance question for them - are you comfortable with the fact that if one of the pets was ill/injured you might have to take a painful decision because you couldn't afford the treatment? If not then you need to insure or in the longer term self-insure by saving a pot of money against the worst happening. Similarly if any of the pets are dogs you MUST have at least third party insurance - check out the Dogs Trust for a good option for this though.

OK - your comments make more sense if that is to an extent an aspirational SOA.

I suspect you can reduce your gas/electric a bit too as time goes on - but that might be one for the future as we are now into the colder months.

Willing2Learn wrote: »

Okay. I think that you may have to change your mindset.

As far as I am aware, and after briefly skimming/scanning through all your posts, it appears that you are just starting to take control of your finances. It also appears as though you will be entering into some form of self-managed DMP.


If you are self-managing then you don't ask whether you can freeze payments. Instead, you write to all the creditors, advising them that you will be SM your DMP and that you need to freeze payments for 3 or 6months. You can state in your letter that the delay is due to expensive and essential car maintenance or boiler repairs. You could also put in your letter your scheduled monthly repayment start date DD/MM/2020. Add a sentence to say that you only consent to written correspondence via Royal Mail and that you do not consent to phone calls. You will then be fully taking control of your finances. It is scary I know. But it would take a lot of weight off of your shoulders knowing that you have a scheduled repayment plan starting in the new year.

It is possible that some of your creditors will write back saying that this is unacceptable. If this happens, then you just need to stand your ground and write to them again confirming your repayment schedule. Just don't enter into correspondence by phone. Do it all in writing. The letters will then become legal documents setting out the DMP payment plan.

Just thought I would give you something to think about.

monetxchange wrote: »

Couple of things - have you checked whether you can get out of any of your mobile phone contracts by paying off the phone loan? I know O2 offer this. Then you're out of contract and free to move to a SIM only tariff. From the high amount you're paying, I'm guessing you have top of the range phones. You could sell these on eBay, pay off the contract, and buy a cheap phone online. I recently got a £100 Android and am really chuffed with it, find it much more usable than the iPhone. You could potentially be saving over £100 a month here, and that's huge.

EDIT to say - do you really need an iPad with a data SIM when you both have a phone when out and about? I've never had one for mine, just download stuff at home and use wifi when out if absolutely necessary. Same goes for the Apple Watch - are you paying this off monthly? If so, think about selling it to get out of this. You don't need separate data plans for them.

Not fully sure how Virgin works, but are there any packages you have on there that can be removed now? I'm thinking in terms of add ons like sports and movie bundles. If not, I'd have a think about what you need when the contract is up. Do you really need super high speed fibre optic etc broadband? I worked for a long time using Plusnet's standard package, and found it very fast and reliable and more than the average worker would need. Could you move to a provider that offers internet only without a home phone? You don't seem to need one in addition, considering you have a large spend on mobiles too. Now TV also do great, much cheaper TV packages these days too. Might be worth considering doing when your contract is up, if even for a few months while you get afloat.

Good luck!

Hi all

Thanks for the continued advice! Mobiles and Virgin are definitely the top priorities for me to reduce outgoings. I'll make some calls over the weekend and see if there is *anything* they can budge on.

Essex - you're right regarding insurance - I've sorted us out with pet and contents insurance last night. Approx £35 a month all in, so I'll make it a goal to reduce the grocery bill by that each month to offset. Seems a good place to start! I should also be getting approx £30 back through a cashback site for the purchases, so that can go to paying a bit off one of the debts. Every little helps!

I do really appreciate the advice everyone has given.
R