In a deep mess and not quite sure what to do

Teflon80

Hi Everyone 

I am absolutely terrified at the position we are in. I have been reading through other threads and have done a SOA. (see below)

Our debts are due to a multitide of reasons. General overspending, mental health issues ( wife), house repairs, disorganisation, maternity leave etc etc etc. There hasn;t been one BIG event that has led to this and we have both buried our heads for far too long. it's time to sort this now

We are both now back working full time and my wife receives £515 PIP due to medical issues that she has. 

we also owe my parents 15K but they are happy to wait for this for a while and therefore I have not included it

I am trying to think positively and focus on the fact that our income is good and that we should be able to tackle this. Neither of us are looking for a quick fix and if possible. I would like to avoid debt management

Please can you take a look at my SOA. It's very difficult sharing this and I feel sick with shame 

Household Information[/b]

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

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

Number of cars owned.................... 2[b]

Monthly Income Details[/b]

Monthly income after tax................ 4090

Partners monthly income after tax....... 1550

Benefits................................ 515

Other income............................ 300[b]

Total monthly income.................... 6455[/b][b]

Monthly Expense Details[/b]

Mortgage................................ 576

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

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

Management charge (leasehold property).. 0

Council tax............................. 135

Electricity............................. 130

Gas..................................... 159

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

Water rates............................. 57

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

Mobile phone............................ 62

TV Licence.............................. 13

Satellite/Cable TV...................... 57

Internet Services....................... 0

Groceries etc. ......................... 400

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

Petrol/diesel........................... 350

Road tax................................ 6

Car Insurance........................... 80

Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 50

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

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

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

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

Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 9

Pet insurance/vet bills................. 38

Buildings insurance..................... 21

Contents insurance...................... 12

Life assurance ......................... 41

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

Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 100

Haircuts................................ 15

Entertainment........................... 200

Holiday................................. 100

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

Total monthly expenses.................. 2641[/b]

[b]

Assets[/b]

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

House value (Gross)..................... 260000

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

Car(s).................................. 7000

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

Total Assets............................ 267000[/b]

[b]

Secured & HP Debts[/b]

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

Mortgage...................... 46520....(576)......4.11[b]

Total secured & HP debts...... 46520.....-.........-   [/b]

[b]Unsecured Debts[/b]

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

barclaycard 1..................12741.....287.......6.9

barclaycard 2..................4000......105.......6.9

barclaycard 3 ( Wife)..........9000......271.......19

creation.......................4100......121.......21

Tesco..........................3600......36........0

mbna...........................8900......276.......33

Fairscore loan (wife)..........8000......210.......16

Fairscore loan.................14000.....360.......19

halifax loan...................3800......132.......8[b]

Total unsecured debts..........68141.....1798......-  [/b]

[b]

Monthly Budget Summary[/b]

Total monthly income.................... 6,455

Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,641

Available for debt repayments........... 3,814

Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 1,798[b]

Amount left after debt repayments....... 2,016[/b]

[b]Personal Balance Sheet Summary[/b]

Total assets (things you own)........... 267,000

Total HP & Secured debt................. -46,520

Total Unsecured debt.................... -68,141[b]

Net Assets.............................. 152,339[/b]

Abbafan1972

@Teflon80 well done. You have taken the 1st step by posting here. 

Someone will be along soon to offer some practical advice to you. 

WYSPECIAL

How long have you both been back working full time with just over £2k a month spare?
where has the £2k gone in that time?

Obvious answer given your income is to throw the spare £2k per month at the highest interest rate debt until it is cleared, then move onto the next highest etc.

If you’re not up to the limits have you logged on to Barclaycard and MBNA websites lately to see if they have any 0% transfer offers? Both have been offering 12 months with a transfer fee of 4.5 to 5% in recent weeks, which I still higher than normal but far less than what you’re paying now.

Others will be able to comment in detail on your SOA but mobile phone is high, how many is it for? Given how much you spend on fuel it looks like you do a high mileage. Is £300 per car per year really enough for servicing and repairs?

fatbelly

I think the thing here is to make hay while the sun shines.

You have accumulated an impressive amount of non-priority debt but are now in a position to pay it off.

The game is snowballing and there is a calculator here

https://www.lemonfool.co.uk/financecalculators/snowball-calculator.php

Obvs start with mbna

Floss

I'm confused about the 2 cars - £350 a month on fuel but only £6 road tax & £50 for servicing?

enthusiasticsaver

I think your problem is down to budgeting and maybe thinking because you have a good income you don’t need to watch what you spend. According to that soa you should have £2k spare but you obviously don’t or you would not have that much debt. No doubt you have fallen into the debt consolidation trap at least once which kicks the can down the road as far as debt is concerned. Of course if you have only recently both been working full time that is different as presumably this £2k spare has not been there. 

Look through your statements and see what you are really spending. Go cold Turkey on the credit cards and cut them up. Throw as much as you can to that MBNA as that interest rate is high. You need to be very disciplined with spending moving forward if you want to tackle this. Good luck.

Teflon80

WYSPECIAL said:

How long have you both been back working full time with just over £2k a month spare?
where has the £2k gone in that time?

Obvious answer given your income is to throw the spare £2k per month at the highest interest rate debt until it is cleared, then move onto the next highest etc.

If you’re not up to the limits have you logged on to Barclaycard and MBNA websites lately to see if they have any 0% transfer offers? Both have been offering 12 months with a transfer fee of 4.5 to 5% in recent weeks, which I still higher than normal but far less than what you’re paying now.

Others will be able to comment in detail on your SOA but mobile phone is high, how many is it for? Given how much you spend on fuel it looks like you do a high mileage. Is £300 per car per year really enough for servicing and repairs?

Hi 

We have both been working full time since June so we are just getting to grips with our new budget. 

We don't have access to any balance transfer deals unfortunately so I think it's just going to be a case of us knuckling down

I will look again at the car costs as I wasn't sure about this

Teflon80

fatbelly said:

I think the thing here is to make hay while the sun shines.

You have accumulated an impressive amount of non-priority debt but are now in a position to pay it off.

The game is snowballing and there is a calculator here



Obvs start with mbna

Hi, 

Thanks for posting. I have seen some of your other advice on other threads so I was hoping you would post

Do you think that we can get away without debt management given the scale of our debt? I imaging that we are a pretty extreme case 

Teflon80

Floss said:

I'm confused about the 2 cars - £350 a month on fuel but only £6 road tax & £50 for servicing?

Hi, Thanks for posting. I do need to look at the car costs again as i wasn't sure on this

Teflon80

enthusiasticsaver said:

I think your problem is down to budgeting and maybe thinking because you have a good income you don’t need to watch what you spend. According to that soa you should have £2k spare but you obviously don’t or you would not have that much debt. No doubt you have fallen into the debt consolidation trap at least once which kicks the can down the road as far as debt is concerned. Of course if you have only recently both been working full time that is different as presumably this £2k spare has not been there. 

Look through your statements and see what you are really spending. Go cold Turkey on the credit cards and cut them up. Throw as much as you can to that MBNA as that interest rate is high. You need to be very disciplined with spending moving forward if you want to tackle this. Good luck.

Thanks for posting. I have seen some of the other supportive advice you have given on other peoples threads

I think that I just need to get my head around it all and also accept that we are where we are. I think that I am  still in the shock stage!

Teflon80

So glad I posted on here. I already feel better knowing that I have people to 'talk' to. 

My wife knows about the debt but i will be the one managing the payments etc. She suffers with anxiety and depression but is in a good place right now, so I have to protect that. I must admit, she doesn't know that I am posting on here - this is my guilty secret