Remortgage to clear debts

purplelady99

Maybe go through all the figures with your wife so she can see and understand exactly what is coming in and what is going out every month. Could you put your salaries together in a joint account? She may not appreciate all the demands on your monthly income and that there isn’t a surplus every month. 

curly_moose

Just to add, because I don’t think anyone has mentioned it, that it’s not inconceivable that the value of property in the UK could go down.

I know you have a good chunk of equity, but the recent increase in values is from a combination of pretty unusual circumstances (impact of the pandemic of construction, the stamp duty ‘holiday’) and that, combined with rising inflation/cost of living and interest rates, could lead to a slump.

Rob5342

This might be a bit late now but I agree with Sourcrate's post about starting a DMP.. I started one a year ago with £42k of credit card debt when I finally did something that really addressed it. Through keeping to the plan and getting refunds on affordability complaints I've got it down to £31k, and after recently making CCA requests I've found that only £13k of that is enforceable. If I keep going then there will be nothing enforceable left by the end of next year.

It's easy to say you will change your habits but it's much more difficult in practice. ,You get a big lump sum and it feels like a qucik fix, then you  convice youreself you  will have that "one off" holiday etc, and before you know it you are back where you started. On the other hand if you work for years keeping to a DMP then it feels like a big achievement when you get there and all the good habits you were forced to stick to have become ingrained. If I had consolidated mine then it would never have occured to me to make affordability complaints or make CCA requests, and I'd have missed out on several thousdand pounds of interest refunds and turned £18k of unenforceable debt into £18k of enforcable debt secured against my house.

I'll have defaults on my credit file for the next five years, but I look at that in a positive way as it will force me to save for things instead. It was a big adjustment but we can still enjoy ourselves, we just have to be very careful. Instead of just booking chessington tickets on a credit card for example wecollected the sun tickets and went on an unusual inset day.

slummymummyof3

Mr_Clark1000 said:

I agree with all the above. Things like vehicle tax and insurance I never really budgeted for and then I'm left wondering why I'm in my overdraft having to pay for them. I've now added that to my spreadsheet.

I think one of the harder things will be trying to reign in spending whilst keeping wife and kids happy. There's always been an expectation that I will just pay for everything as my wage is 3x my wife's, blissful ignorance of the fact that I pay all vehicle costs, grocery costs, most entertainment costs, most holiday costs and all house maintenance costs. That 3x amount means nothing by that point.

Doesn't help that this change is needed at a point where everything is going up in price!

I'll look at the diary thing when I have finally sorted my spreadsheet and it accounts for all variables I can think of, maybe try get it to track weather forecasts as well as I always seem to spend more when it's sunny on Cider and Burgers...

Having read the thread to date and the advice you have been given by others, there are a few additional things that stood out for me. You haven't put anything down in your SOA for life insurance - but you have dependents. I realise you are trying to reduce unnecessary expenditure but having life insurance in place, in my mind - when your family is dependent on your income, is somewhat fundamental. You also haven't listed any outgoings in your SOA for contents insurance either.

Car tax - Not sure whether you curently pay this monthly or annually? It might be more comfortable paying this on monthly direct debit, then you won't have the expense of it coming out in one hit. Council tax - I believe it is possible to pay this over 12 months instead of 10. Are you gas and electric costs up to date? Or are they based on an estimated bill?

Sit down with your wife and go through your household budget together. Otherwise, she will remain in blissful ignorance.

Karonher

Is a DMP an option? It seems that there is a lot of money showing as being left at the end of the month. I thought a DMP was only for people who could not actually meet their financial requirements.