Advice - move credit cards to secured

springfieldpark

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

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

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 3200
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 3200

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 804
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 317
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 158
Electricity............................. 65
Gas..................................... 65
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 20
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 80
TV Licence.............................. 15
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 80
Internet Services....................... 20
Groceries etc. ......................... 200
Clothing................................ 30
Petrol/diesel........................... 180
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 80
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 20
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 90
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 10
Contents insurance...................... 10
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 25
Haircuts................................ 30
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 50
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 2349


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 208000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 14000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 222000


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 153000...(804)......2.99
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 17896....(317)......5
Total secured & HP debts...... 170896....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Barclays.......................8500......230.......22.9
Virgin.........................7800......200.......23.9
Tesco..........................5700......120.......19.9
Wren...........................7600......158.......6
Natwest2.......................1350......30........16.9
Natwest1.......................1900......40........16.9
Total unsecured debts..........32850.....778.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 3,200
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,349
Available for debt repayments........... 851
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 778
Amount left after debt repayments....... 73

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 222,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -170,896
Total Unsecured debt.................... -32,850
Net Assets.............................. 18,254

springfieldpark

Thanks for the replies all, really appreciatte and am willing to take the advice on board.
I just couldn't see any other way other than struggling each money with my current available cash which is really hard to do.
The credit cards will be cancelled due to not spending and then plan was to bring the secured load into my mortgae when my current term is up in 2023.
I didn't really see the difference with this secured loan to additional borrowing on my mortgage.

Thanks

Willing2Learn

Okay...your SOA looks better than I thought it would...There are a few budget categories where you can make savings.

Is the HP for the car or something else?

Is the holiday already paid for? Or is it something that you can cancel, to release funds back into your budget? Can you honestly afford a holiday right now?

Is the council tax paid for across 12 months or is that for 10 monthly payments? Or you getting a 25% single-persons discount?

Your electricity and gas bills are high? Have you tried putting the numbers into the MSE Cheap Energy Club to see if you can reduce your bills and save money?

@ £80/month your mobile is costing way too much. Are you stuck in a contract or can you terminate it? I have a SIM-only deal for just £8/month

Your TV license should be £13/month

Your TV/Cable/Internet is way high @ £100/month. You can subscribe to a lot less and still have entertaining shows.

Your building and contents insurance is quite high @ £20/month.


Are you able to cut back on your haircuts @ £30/month? Maybe you could explore getting students stylists for your monthly grooming?


And finally, you need to budget something monthly as an Emergency Fund. This will mean you having something put away for when the car breaks down or the boiler needs repairing. Means you won't have to use credit when these things crop up.

Are you paying for child support @ £90/month?

fatbelly

That doesn't look too bad. You can afford the contractual payments though things are a bit tight. When your HP completes (or if you voluntarily terminate it) you will have more to play with.

You could also look at some of those expenditure items. Are you getting a single adult discount and paying over 12 months on your council tax? Can you pay less than £80 on your mobile, less than £80 on your TV?

A debt management plan would remove your interest but at a cost of many defaults on your file. You don't really need a debt management plan if you can reduce your interest rates.

Have you tried a pre-eligibility checker on

balance transfer cards

money transfer cards

cheap loans

What's Wren?

springfieldpark

Is the HP for the car or something else?
My car yes

Is the holiday already paid for? Or is it something that you can cancel, to release funds back into your budget? Can you honestly afford a holiday right now?
Yes its already paid for, this is spending money

Is the council tax paid for across 12 months or is that for 10 monthly payments? Or you getting a 25% single-persons discount?
12 months and yes I do get the discount

Your electricity and gas bills are high? Have you tried putting the numbers into the MSE Cheap Energy Club to see if you can reduce your bills and save money?
This was the cheapest at the time when I looked. I can't come out of it until March.

@ £80/month your mobile is costing way too much. Are you stuck in a contract or can you terminate it? I have a SIM-only deal for just £8/month
Contract at the mo until the phone deal is up. Next September.

Your TV license should be £13/month
It is but I always round up on these things on my bills so I have spare.

Your TV/Cable/Internet is way high @ £100/month. You can subscribe to a lot less and still have entertaining shows.
This includes my landline as well. I could but this would be cancelling sports which is all I watch.

Your building and contents insurance is quite high @ £20/month.
Again was the best deal on comparison sites at the time. I always search for the best deal

Are you able to cut back on your haircuts @ £30/month? Maybe you could explore getting students stylists for your monthly grooming?
Nothing like this is available near me. Where I go is about the cheapest and I have to go 3 times a month as my hair does grow insanely quick


And finally, you need to budget something monthly as an Emergency Fund. This will mean you having something put away for when the car breaks down or the boiler needs repairing. Means you won't have to use credit when these things crop up.
Noted but I don't have much left as you can see hence the reason for looking at consolidation

Are you paying for child support @ £90/month?
No this was a mistake and meant to be in other so playing sport and other travel. Sorry.

Glad it looks better than you thought although I do struggle on this much available cash.

springfieldpark

Wren is the remainder of my new kitchen a year ago attributed a lot of my credit card debt also.
I had a lot of unexpected costs when I remodelled the home which is why I'm confident of not building the credit card debt again as I obviously won't be doing any home improvements until I'm in a much better position again.

monetxchange

In the nicest way possible, a lot of your answers to where to make cuts on your budget are “I can’t because ...” The reality is, you need to make a choice: do you want to get debt free or do you want to carry on the way you are and gain more debt?

You are going to have to make compromises if you want to tackle this. Your hair is just going to have to get slightly shaggy on one haircut a month instead of always being super fresh on three cuts. You’re going to have to watch sports matches round at a mates instead of on your expensive tv package. You’ll have to spend time researching much better mobile, electric and gas and insurance deals. Is the £50 per month for spending money for the holiday, so £600 over a year? Reality is, you can’t afford that extravagance. The reason you don’t have enough money at the end of the month to put into an emergency fund is due to your spending choices, nothing else.

I’m being harsh because I’ve been there. It’s easy to think you deserve these things because you work hard and earn well. But that’s how I ended up in huge debt. I’m now working and earning more than ever, but living like I have nothing. It really puts things into perspective, changes your mindset to money and isn’t forever. You can absolutely get out of this by trying something different, as your current way hasn’t worked. I wish you all the luck with it.

springfieldpark

Hi, I appreciate the feedback and honestly didn't mean it to sound like I'm not entertaining the cuts.
I will look into cutting the sky sports.
The holiday isn't £600 a year spending its just I'm saving £50 a month for the next three months and that cost will go. I just thought best to list what it is at the moment.

I'll also start leaving the haircuts too. You are right the current way isn't working

springfieldpark

Just checked the links for 0% credit card and the only lenders that seem to be worth applying due to eligibility are the poor credit ones who will obviously give me a low credit limit. Are these still worth doing?
I'm seeing it as another creditor and an additional monthly payment.
Obviously it will reduce the limit of one of the cards (would probably go Virgin).
The 0% term is for 9 months. So say I clear the 2k in that time what do you next?

enthusiasticsaver

Consolidating debt as others have said hardly ever works as a change of spending habits is needed and usually the debt is built up again. You have said you would cancel the cards again but that is a common response and the temptation is there to spend if things get tight. Shifting it on to secured puts your home at risk and with that amount of debt you would probably move your mortgage into a higher LTV band meaning you will struggle to get a good remortgage rate.

Your soa shows you can sort this without going down that route with some financial discipline. Groceries is high for just one person and the mobile is very high. Don't book any more holidays until your finances are in better shape and look for savings on cable tv, haircuts, insurances and the £90 other spends. Three times a month haircut is insane. Every 10 days?