Debt Help

GIB91

Hi there,

First post as I'm currently looking to get on top of my situation and see what solutions are available to me. Long story short is I've accumulated a lot of debt over the last year or so after being virtually debt free my whole life so I'm struggling with the situation.

I would say I'm between roughly £35,000 in debt, I haven't missed any payments but I'm now struggling to keep on top of it and looking for a solution.

Below are my outgoings:-

MY ACCOUNT:-

£23.92 (car insurance, Direct Line) - monthly (1st)

£23.27 (life insurance) - monthly (1st)

£20.00 (phone, Vodafone) - monthly (30th)

£9.99 (Spotify) - monthly (1st)

£7.99 (Amazon Prime) - monthly (31st)

£11.81 (road tax) - monthly (1st)

£22.62 (life insurance) - monthly (1st)

£79.79 (loan) - monthly (1st, BOS)

£130.06 (loan) - monthly (1st, Santander)

£159.53 (loan) - monthly (1st, Nationwide)

£60.19 (loan) - monthly (1st, Asda)

£209.46 (loan) - monthly (1st, Sainsburys)

TOTAL = £759.11

JOINT ACCOUNT:-

£558.09 (mortgage, Nationwide) - monthly (28th)

£104.00 (gas/electricity, SSE) - monthly (1st)

£114.00 (council tax) - monthly (1st)

£105.00 (internet and Sky) - monthly (1st)

£156.80 (home insurance, Direct Line) - annually

£13.25 (TV license) - monthly (1st)

£14.99 (Premier Sports) - monthly (11th)

Total = £909.33

Joint Total = £1,718.44

My personal monthly income is about £2,000 after tax.

My questions are - what routes are available to me, and if I went down the route of writing off debt would it affect my mortgage? I'm due to move to a new deal in July, I'll be staying with the same lender but would that affect anything as long as I'm with the same lender and not looking to remortgage elsewhere?

Thank you.

kimwp

Hi there, it's great that you've pulled your numbers together. It will be a lot easier for us to advise if you put them into the SOA format in my signature, format for MSE and post them on this thread - it's the format we commonly use so easier to spot things.

EssexHebridean

You really need to fill in a Statement of Affairs - as the list you’ve provided doesn’t include a lot of your expenditure so it isn’t really possible to assess what your best options might be. There is a link in my signature to one of the calculators we recommend. When completing, you need to fill it in openly and honestly - and it needs to reflect your actual spending  as it is now - not what you think you “should” be spending. 

One thing I’d note right away is that you are paying a premium to pay your road tax monthly - it would be a good saving to change that to annual.  Your gas/electric looks on the low side - does that cover what you are using currently and are your meter readings up to date? You need to factor in a likely 20% increase in April too. 

That is a lot of debt to have accumulated in a year - are you aware of where all this has racked up, and are the reasons behind it short term and now sorted? 

GIB91

Hi guys,

Thanks for the replies. I'll look into that and get it done. Gas/electric is a fixed rate monthly and it's up-to-date yeah but the fixed rate is up in July so that'll change.

It's probably longer than a year but that's just a rough guide - it's been a mixture really but the majority would be gambling. I got myself into issues with gambling which I am now on top of as in I no longer do it but it's caused a lot of long term problems I'm trying to sort. It's not something I'm proud of but it stemmed from a personal issue and it spiralled is the only way I can really put it.

Thank you for your help so far.

EssexHebridean

Good news on the energy prices being because of a fix - just make sure you work out ahead of the fix ending what you’ll be needing to budget. In fact, you might want to start thinking about increasing payments once the new EPG prices are confirmed in April, so you start to build some credit at that stage. 

As for the gambling - it happens. You’ve identified the issue and you’re trying to deal with it, so don’t beat yourself up about it, be proud that you’ve faced up to it and are tackling it. There is help and support out there for that, don’t be afraid to ask for that help, also, have you already put in place self-exclusions and things like that? If not then that’s something that the gambling charities can advise you about. 

GIB91

Thanks, EssexHebridean. Yeah I have, all that's sorted and I've put it behind me. Just want to clean up my finances and start living within my means again. I'll fill that form in today and post it on here.

enthusiasticsaver

Filling out the soa would help as we could see what else you pay out for food, fuel, other living expenses.  All you have above are presumably direct debits and standing orders and given there is not much left after paying that the only solution is to cut back on some of those or enter into a DMP which  will affect your credit record. You would need to default and stop using credit.  Do you have credit cards or overdrafts on top of those loans? 

If you are not changing lenders  you can move mortgage deals as long as they do not credit score you which they would not normally so people can have a DMP and still change products on expiry. 

The internet and sky payment could be reduced if you are out of contract and you could lose things like spotify, amazon prime and sky sports. Presumably the home insurance is only once a year and not every month.  

Jamesyb123

Just to add I was in the gambling spiral 3 years ago, managed to amass debts, defaults and a cifas marker from trying g to get cash from anywhere possible. I spoke to a mental health nurse who put life into perspective for me. I'm now 1 month away from a clear credit file and the cifas marker dropping off. Whatever you feel about what you've done there are thousands of people who have done the same or worse. You've obviously had the same wake up moment i had. I assume stress and certain situations pushed u towards gambling like it did with me.if you ever get that feeling just take a breath and remind yourself life is easier without gambling. Also I rang my doctors the day I decide i had enough with gambling and within 2 hours the mental health nurse was on the phone to me. They are amazing for talking through gambling with you. Feel free to message me direct if u need any support too. Just believe in yourself because you are in control of what you do and if you feel you can't control it then there are people there who can help :-)

GIB91

Hi,

Thank you for all the replies.

Jamesy, much appreciated. I just need to get on top of stuff now. My partner doesn't know the extent of the gambling so I just want to get things in order as much as I can because it's embarrassed me so much. 

I've filled this in below for you guys. Any help is appreciated. The only thing I'm trying to do is avoid using my home in anyway as none of this is my partner's fault so I don't want her affected if I can avoid it:-

[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......... 0

Number of cars owned.................... 1[b]

Monthly Income Details[/b]

Monthly income after tax................ 2000

Partners monthly income after tax....... 1500

Benefits................................ 0

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

Total monthly income.................... 3500[/b][b]

Monthly Expense Details[/b]

Mortgage................................ 558

Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0

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

Management charge (leasehold property).. 0

Council tax............................. 114

Electricity............................. 52

Gas..................................... 52

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

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

Telephone (land line)................... 0

Mobile phone............................ 20

TV Licence.............................. 13.25

Satellite/Cable TV...................... 52.5

Internet Services....................... 52.5

Groceries etc. ......................... 200

Clothing................................ 50

Petrol/diesel........................... 100

Road tax................................ 11.81

Car Insurance........................... 23.92

Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 20

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

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

Childcare/nursery....................... 0

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

Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0

Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0

Buildings insurance..................... 5

Contents insurance...................... 5

Life assurance ......................... 45.89

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

Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 20

Haircuts................................ 20

Entertainment........................... 0

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

Emergency fund.......................... 0[b]

Total monthly expenses.................. 1415.87[/b]

[b]

Assets[/b]

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

House value (Gross)..................... 155000

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

Car(s).................................. 5000

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

Total Assets............................ 160000[/b]

[b]

Secured & HP Debts[/b]

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

Mortgage...................... 122264...(558)......3.39[b]

Total secured & HP debts...... 122264....-.........-   [/b]

[b]Unsecured Debts[/b]

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

CREDIT CARD....................6000......100.......0

LOAN...........................4833......79........0

LOAN...........................2562......60........0

LOAN...........................6000......159.......0

LOAN...........................10000.....209.......0

LOAN...........................7404......159.......0[b]

Total unsecured debts..........36799.....766.......-  [/b]

[b]

Monthly Budget Summary[/b]

Total monthly income.................... 3,500

Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,415.87

Available for debt repayments........... 2,084.13

Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 766[b]

Amount left after debt repayments....... 1,318.13[/b]

[b]Personal Balance Sheet Summary[/b]

Total assets (things you own)........... 160,000

Total HP & Secured debt................. -122,264

Total Unsecured debt.................... -36,799[b]

Net Assets.............................. 937[/b]

[i][/i][/tt]

Grumpelstiltskin

Are you sure the SOA is accurate?
£105 for TV and Internet?
Never pay for car parking or entertainment?
You need the APRs for all the loans and credit cards.

GIB91

Grumpelstiltskin said:

Are you sure the SOA is accurate?
£105 for TV and Internet?
Never pay for car parking or entertainment?
You need the APRs for all the loans and credit cards.

£105.00 for SKY/INTERNET is correct. Sorry, I didn't have the APRs handy but I'll get onto those.

I've missed off entertainment by mistake - I would go for £100 just now as I've tried to limit myself to just one night out a month socially until I'm top of this.