SOA -some advice needed please

lulu79_2

Hi all,
I've been reading posts for a while now and want to share my SOA in the hope you can provide advice on how to proceed. 
I've completed and income and expenditure with Step Change  but I'm not sure how I want to proceed at the moment. It has been a huge step doing this and reading posts here has been amazing. I first contacted some of my lenders at the end of last year to explain my financial situation had changed and I was struggling. I had been signed off sick due to work place stress and anxiety that I had put up with for a few years but it came to a head Nov 2018. I was signed off sick in January 2019  and was not in a good place. Forward 5 months and work were doing nothing in order for me to return to work despite me doing everything I possibly could. They ended up offering me a "settlement figure" to leave....so I did. I worked out the money I would get would last me through to year end but never did I think I would need it until then. I had  lovely summer off work with my family and looked to return to employment in Sept but my mental health took a huge dip. I was also now worrying about my pot of money reducing o the anxiety crept back more and more. I had paid lumps of money into 2 of my credit cards over the summer so felt good about that but then I ended up dipping into them again towards the end of the year and the beginning of this year. I called all of the lenders which in itself was a mammoth task and emotionally draining but they were all amazing and so supportive. They put holds on my accounts and asked me to update them. I did that with most of them but each time it felt like such a huge task to do and I got so worked up about it.
 Right now I have options available as suggested by SC but the lenders are looking for an update from me as how to proceed. They are all aware I have been dealing with SC and I am looking to start repayments when I can. I just do not know how to proceed now. 
Sorry for the background ramble. Here goes the SOA.

[tt][b]Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet[/b][b]

 

Household Information[/b]

Number of adults in household........... 2

Number of children in household......... 2

Number of cars owned.................... [b]  ( I have outstanding HP on my car so left this as 0)

 

Monthly Income Details[/b]

Monthly income after tax................ 1933.33 (I am currently furloughed so this is an average of my furloughed pay)

Partners monthly income after tax....... 0 (I am just using my income as the debt is mine)

Benefits................................ 0 (we receive child benefit but this goes into the joint account not mine)

Other income............................ 0[b]

Total monthly income.................... 1933.33[/b][b]

 

Monthly Expense Details[/b]

Mortgage................................ 614 (this comes out of my current account - it is a long standing arrangement from when I was the higher earner)

Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 195.20 (this is my car - I have not paid for 5 months now)

Rent.................................... 0

Management charge (leasehold property).. 0

Council tax............................. 0 (this comes out of the joint account and I do not transfer money into that)

Electricity............................. 0 (this either comes out of the joint or husband pays this)

Gas..................................... 43 (this currently comes out of my account but will move to joint account)

Oil..................................... 0

Water rates............................. 0

Telephone (land line)................... 0 (this comes out of the joint account)

Mobile phone............................ 58 (I would like this to reduce. Contract ends tomorrow but been waiting to get a replacement phone as current one screen badly damaged and costly to repair. This monthly sum also includes £11 for my daughters account)

TV Licence.............................. 13.29 (this comes out of my account but will transfer it to the joint account)

Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0

Internet Services....................... 0 (phone and internet with BT and comes out of joint account)

Groceries etc. ......................... 290

Clothing................................ 30

Petrol/diesel........................... 40

Road tax................................ 12.68

Car Insurance........................... 22.16

Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 12.5

Car parking............................. 0

Other travel............................ 0

Childcare/nursery....................... 0 (we do not have any childcare costs anymore)

Other child related expenses............ 0

Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 15.75

Pet insurance/vet bills................. 81.25 (we have a 20year old cat on medication for thyroid and heart)

Buildings insurance..................… 0 (comes out of joint account)

Contents insurance...................... 0 (comes out of joint account)

Life assurance ......................... 0 (comes out of joint account)

Other insurance......................... 0

Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 30

Haircuts................................ 22

Entertainment........................... 30

Holiday................................. 0

Emergency fund.......................... 90[b]

Total monthly expenses.................. 1599.83[/b]

[b]

 

Assets[/b]

Cash.................................... 0

House value (Gross)..................... 135000

Shares and bonds........................ 0

Car(s).................................. 0

Other assets............................ 0[b]

Total Assets............................ 135000[/b]

[b]

 

Secured & HP Debts[/b]

Description...........................Debt......Monthly…….APR

Mortgage............................103167……..(614)….......0 (no issues and no missed payments)

Hire Purchase (HP) debt ........4686........(195.2)......12.9[b] (Back Horse are aware of my current situation -financial and mental health, account on hold and with specialist support team. Last call to update them was mid June & I explained I was completing SOA on SC site. I have not paid for 5 months now)

Total secured & HP debts...... 107853....-.........-   [/b]

 

[b]Unsecured Debts[/b]

Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR

RBS Loan.......................15764..... 489.6.......17.2 (the bank are aware of my current situation -financial and mental health, account on hold and with specialist support team. Last call to update them was mid June & I explained I was completing SOA on SC site)

Barclaycard.................... 8598......193.3.......25.9  (they are aware of my current situation -financial and mental health, account on hold and with specialist support team. Last call to update them was mid June & I explained I was completing SOA on SC site)

Opus...............................6735.......202..........0 (Last call was Feb 2020 - aware of my financial situation and mental health -I provided copies of repeat prescription and medication boxes as requested. They knew I wanted to make repayments again but now I cannot access any details on my account and I have not called them so I am worried)

Next..................................611.64....31.........23.9 (no missed payments - continuing to pay more than minimum each month by rounding up to next £10)

Shop Direct.......................741.68....55.36.....39.9 (no missed payments - continuing to pay minimum by DD each month)

RBS CC.............................. 792.......18.73.....26.48[b] (no missed payments - continuing to pay by DD each month £60)

I hope this makes sense and I would be most grateful of how to progress as this is impacting my life daily again . 
I'd love to have a proper budget sorted and have said to my husband that we should work on this. He is more than happy to do so. Again any advice would be fab.
I've started following Dave Ramsey and plan to listen to his podcasts. I've also started looking at items I can sell to try and make some extra money to go towards debts. 
Sorry for long post. 

KxMx

I've always been PAYG so know little about contracts, but when I cracked my mobile screen got it repaired free through home contents insurance, is that an option for you?

You have £90 pm listed as emergency fund, but no assets listed, is that aspirational or money kept somewhere else? 

lulu79_2

oh I have mobile phone insurance with my bank so will look into that! Thank you. I wasn't sure if I should add my car to the assets as I have not finished paying if off yet. The £90 is in a joint saving account - I have been moving money earned through RBS My Rewards scheme to that account. Should I take that off of my SOA?

KxMx

I'm not an expert responder in this part of the forum, someone else is probably able to advise you better. 

It's really good that you have an EF, some do post here one as an outgoing which turns out to be an aspiration, which isn't that helpful for budgeting and SOA purposes  

sharpe106

I think you need to address the debts with your husband you have children together and are married so you need to work it together. As by yourself you are never going to manage it. 

lulu79_2

sharpe106 said:

I think you need to address the debts with your husband you have children together and are married so you need to work it together. As by yourself you are never going to manage it.  

Thank you for your encouraging last comment. It has taken a lot for me to do this and this type of comment makes me feel like I am not able to do this. My husband is aware of the debts and would like us to be able to budget together instead of us both doing what we are doing now. He has 2 credit cards he is paying off and his car loan has jut been completed. At the moment he is the higher earner as is still thankfully full time employed. The fact I shared my debts is entirely down to me.

ohdearhowdidthathappen

That's a confusing SOA when it's all randomly divided up as yours/not yours.  Don't you have a family budget, is your husband not helping with the debts, were they solely accrued by you or did the whole family benefit from the spending?  On this SOA, you're over £500pm short so will never cover the payments and there are no obvious categories to cut.  Why are you paying the mortgage on your own?  Some of those APRs are massive (Shop Direct, Next, RBS and BC). 
What options did step change offer?
You've said your husband is open to budgeting... I'd sit down with and work out the whole picture and go from there.  Hope it goes well and you can sort out a solution moving forward

Karonher

I would agree with previous comments. A joint budget will be much easier to deal with. You said you pay the mortgage as this was agreed when you were the higher earner. Surely of that has changed it needs to be altered. Your husband seems to be on board with sorting this out, If he is now earning more and does not have a car loan to pay, surely he will be able to take on a little more of the household expenses. Without knowing what the full costs are it is hard to comment. I have done a quick guestimate of what the bills could be that come out of the joint account it seems to be a lower amount than you are paying for the mortgage - and you are earning less. I am assuming he pays into the joint account to pay insurance etc, but he is paying less and he is getting the  child benefit to help him.

If you are then paying for the food, clothing, pet costs, medical costs, presents, entertainment  and trying to sort an emergency fund no wonder you are falling behind. If you arrange a joint budget you may find that you can both make ends meet, and if not it will give others the full picture so that they can give advice - for example, is that the full food budget or your share?

lulu79_2

Thank you for commenting. I had changed the SOA so it showed what was coming out of my account. the other bills come out of the joint account and my husband puts money into there. 
We do not have a family budget - this was one of the areas I was asking for guidance on here. I'm sorry if I have confused things by splitting out what comes out of my account and stating what comes out of the joint. I thought this would be the best way to show it. I really feel at a loss and feel like I need baby steps to get me through this and on my feet. 
SC suggested talking to financial solutions team and also gave an overview of DMP. I haven't spoken with financial solutions team as yet. 
The loan I took out was a few consolidations after a very messy breakup years ago and selling a house with negative equity due to my ex.  I had done so well paying off my cards last year then ended up using them at the end of last year and start of this year. 
Can someone please help with budget advice as I think this is the first step for my husband and I?? I feel so silly and useless. 
£425 goes into the joint from my husband. I used to use this for shopping but then my husband was on a much lower salary and used the joint account so I just ended up buying shopping from my account. The council tax is £162 per month. Electricity is £45. Landline and internet is £43. Groceries - this is what I spend for in Aldi after making a list from what is in the house and having a loose meal plan (ideas) for the week. My husband will do smaller runs to Tesco to top up things at the weekend. Home insurance is £23.12. Life insurance is crazy at £94 with 2/3 of it being to husband being a smoker. He has stopped smoking ciggies since October last year but vapes instead. Less money but he needs to be smoke free for one year before the policy could be reviewed. 
Clothes  - kids clothes, particularly uniform normally try to take from joint but again, when I was earning more I used to just pay for it. 
Really appreciate your advice. feeling fragile but want to make things better and easier for us.

sharpe106

Not meaning to be harsh, but you can't share a house, have kids and expect to budget separately unless you are really on top of it. The only way you can really address the issues is by working as team, consider yourself as one unit.

 

 

The same goes for the budget, you need to budget together. That is when you can see where you are overspending and where the savings can be made.

 

With you saying your husband earns more then you if you budget and work together your debts should be fairly manageable. As you seem to be paying the majority of the bills.

 

 

But just on your debts, you need to address the Next, Shop Direct and RBS ones as fast as you can. The only main are you can cut back on is the emergency fund, no real point having that when you are paying 40% APR on some loans.

 

For the budgeting have a read of the budgeting section on the MSE website and complete the spreadsheet. Then you will know where you are at.

 

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/budget-planning/

lulu79_2

@sharpe106 thank you so much for replying and I am sorry for my blunt reply to your initial message. Wasn't the best way to start off. I really appreciate you coming back to me. I've put everything from my SOA (my account and joint) into a budget planner from stepchange but I will have a look at the link you suggested. I will sit down with hubby and explain that we need to do this. I've been feeling awful all evening feeling like I am failing but seeing everything written down, I do seem to be taking on a lot of the payments and our circumstances are very different at the moment so our money should reflect that. We've never had a budget which has not been great. We've just dealt with our own money things then had a joint account but it is really not working.  We both need to see in black and white what our commitments are and what the household income is.
Thank you for the advice about the Debts. I have been paying over minimum for Next but not by a great deal. RBS is a set £60 DD. I need to be putting more than the minimum into Shop Direct though to be making more a dent on that. Thank you.
I don't know how to progress with the other CC, loan and car payment. Should I do a DMP for those? Can I manage it myself? Making 4 separate phone calls (to the individual lenders) seems so daunting and I'm not sure I feel well equipped with information on how best to proceed BUT they have all been very helpful during previous calls. I just worry about them for day in advance of the call, say I won't leave it so long and then get stuck I a rut again. I've told them all that they have been so helpful and I am so grateful so I don't know why I find it so difficult to make the calls each time.

Another rambling post from me sorry. I feel a slight weight for having finally posted this and looking into budgets but I know I have a long way to go. I will go to bed now and be grateful I have made the first step.
Thank you again.