SoA - some extra eyes would be appreciated

nifferwilko

Hi everyone,

My sister called me earlier this week quite frantic following her lightbulb moment so we've sat down and created her SoA. I've got some ideas on savings (I've told her the brows, nails and disney+ are going to have to go) but I would appreciate any input anyone more experienced can give on this. It's not great but I think it's do-able (just), although I'm a little concerned about the upcoming 0% expiries, and that her fixed-rate term on the mortgage ends in April 2024. 

[font=courier new][b]Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet[/b][b]

Household Information[/b]

Number of adults in household........... 1

Number of children in household......... 0

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

Monthly Income Details[/b]

Monthly income after tax................ 1853.12

Partners monthly income after tax....... 616.08 

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

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

Total monthly income.................... 2469.2[/b][b]

Monthly Expense Details[/b]

Mortgage................................ 228 (currently 2.08% until April 2024)

Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 209.82 

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

Management charge (leasehold property).. 0

Council tax............................. 128

Electricity............................. 75

Gas..................................... 0

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

Water rates............................. 23

Telephone (land line)................... 69 (this is a Sky package - phone, internet, TV - in contract until July 2024)

Mobile phone............................ 60 (contract until Dec 2023)

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

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

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

Groceries etc. ......................... 160 (this is a guess)

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

Petrol/diesel........................... 120

Road tax................................ 15

Car Insurance........................... 45

Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 18

Car parking............................. 25 (for parking when in office - no free parking available)

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

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

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

Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 35 (contact lens subscription)

Pet insurance/vet bills................. 16.19

Buildings insurance..................... 25.89

Contents insurance...................... 0

Life assurance ......................... 32.12

Other insurance......................... 12 (this is for white goods and boiler I think)

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

Haircuts................................ 7.5 (one £90 a year)

Entertainment........................... 50

Holiday................................. 65 (£65 to pay off holiday until November)

Emergency fund.......................... 0

Nails & Brows........................... 40

Disney Plus............................. 7.99

Amazon Prime............................ 7.99

Amazon Subscriptions.................... 30 (this is for cat litter - apparently cheapest place?)

Cat Food................................ 50 (one cat has a special diet. We've already reduced this by £20)

Breakdown Cover......................... 7.5

Travel Insurance........................ 5 (annual)

Window Cleaner.......................... 12 (once a month)

Park Saving (x2 more payments).......... 22.22[b] (two more payments to make in September and October)

Total monthly expenses.................. 1665.47[/b]

[b]

Assets[/b]

Cash.................................... 602.54 

House value (Gross)..................... 108000

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

Car(s).................................. 8000

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

Total Assets............................ 116602.54[/b]

[b]

Secured & HP Debts[/b]

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

Mortgage...................... 59455....(228)......2.03

Secured Debt.................. 21600....(30.82)....0 (this is a guestimate of the amount on the Help to Buy loan)

Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 9600.....(179)......11.9[b] (for car)

Total secured & HP debts...... 90655.....-.........-   [/b]

[b]Unsecured Debts[/b]

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

Nationwide Loan................17679.....458.......7.4

Halifax C (Jan 24).............2783......70........0

Sainsburys CC..................8828......252.......22.46

Parents........................345.......50........0

MBNA (Apr 24...................5695......0.........0

MBNA (Nov 23)..................1530......0.........0

MBNA (Standard)................1418......120.......27.21[b]

Total unsecured debts..........38278.....950.......-  [/b]

[b]

Monthly Budget Summary[/b]

Total monthly income.................... 2,469.2

Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,665.47

Available for debt repayments........... 803.73

Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 950[b]

Amount short for making debt repayments. -146.27[/b]

[b]Personal Balance Sheet Summary[/b]

Total assets (things you own)........... 116,602.54

Total HP & Secured debt................. -90,655

Total Unsecured debt.................... -37,933[b]

Net Assets.............................. -11,985.46[/b]

[i]Created using the SOA calculator at www.stoozing.com. 

Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using other browser.[/i][/font]


A couple of points that seemed to wordy to write alongside.

Jobwise - she works full-time 9-5 M-F and then part-time 6-10 M-Th. There is a possibility she can increase the evening work to Friday, which would be another £140ish. 

There are some existing commitments coming up that already have spend attached
- a trip to Liverpool for a concert in September(ticket & hotel paid, just petrol) 
- a trip to Iceland in November (the holiday that the £65 is for to finish paying for travel & accommodation) - this will also mean paying to put the cats in the cattery for a week (£11 a day)
- a trip to Crete that was booked just before LBM - this hasn't been fully paid for but a deposit paid. This is next May/June. No idea on the cost or payment deadline, but she's getting this information.

I know my parents are financially stable enough that the payments to them could be suspended indefinitely (or knowing them, they would write it off entirely) but that would be dependant on her telling them about her debt. I don't know if she wants to do that. 

I am going to encourage her to come along and join the boards but it seemed a step to far last night. 

I'd appreciate any ideas - I'm very lucky that I haven't had to navigate the debt world for a long time so I'm a little rusty. 

Martico

Hi - first thing that jumps out is that her partner's income is included, but they don't appear to be living together? Should that income be included on the SoA, as by the look of it, that extra income might artificially bump up the household income? 
And two of the MBNA cards don't show a minimum payment due, which I suspect is an oversight

Grumpelstiltskin

The partners income is that in fact her part time job or is there a partner on the scene?

Martico

And something to look at when renewal comes around: the buildings insurance (I assume this is building + contents) appears very high. I pay around £120 per year for building + contents on a £400,000 2 up 2 down terrace. I expect this will increase come December when I renew, but even so. Insurance is always cheaper paid for upfront and annually than monthly (which attracts quite a high credit component)

Montybell1

Building insurance is defo too dear, try Hastings direct, am sure it won’t be anything like your paying at minute. Mobile phone get a sim only deal when your contract ends in December you would only need to spend £10 a month max to get unlimited text & calls & at least 20gb

Martico

Nice to see there's some cash in hand though, that's pretty rare on these first-time SOAs that we see on this board. 

theoretica

Why does she have life assurance at all?  Or is it actually some form of income protection?

£144 a year on window cleaning?  Windows in my world don't need cleaning that often, and are usually DIYable with a little thought.

If she is single, and the partner's income is misleading, then has she registered for the single person council tax?

Groceries - are not low for one person, and are only an estimate - clearly she needs to keep track here so she has better information.

Mobile - obviously she needs to look around for a much cheaper SIM only deal for when her current deal comes to an end.

nifferwilko

Grumpelstiltskin said:

The partners income is that in fact her part time job or is there a partner on the scene?

Opps, sorry everyone.  I thought I'd updated the text to say part-time job. So no partner, that is, as Grumpelstiltskin (awesome name!) has guessed, the part-time job income. 

Martico said:

And two of the MBNA cards don't show a minimum payment due, which I suspect is an oversight

She's got three different rates on one card - and according to the details on the MBNA statement, any payments to the card go to the highest interest balance first. From what I can see from her past statements, the 0% balances aren't reducing month-on-month. Sorry that wasn't clear. theoretica said:

Why does she have life assurance at all?  Or is it actually some form of income protection?

£144 a year on window cleaning?  Windows in my world don't need cleaning that often, and are usually DIYable with a little thought.

If she is single, and the partner's income is misleading, then has she registered for the single person council tax?

Groceries - are not low for one person, and are only an estimate - clearly she needs to keep track here so she has better information.

Mobile - obviously she needs to look around for a much cheaper SIM only deal for when her current deal comes to an end.

I think the life assurance was something she was required to get because of the Help to Buy loan on her house - she's looking for the paperwork but I suspect it's more to provide a repayment of that loan to the government then to help her (or I guess me as she won't benefit from it)

My windows are lucky if I wash them twice a year - that's what the rain is for isn't it?

Single person CT is all already set-up and sorted - CT is paid over 12 months so no spare cash come February and March unfortunately. 

I'm glad the thinking is along where I was - thank you. I'm stressed for her so everyone on this board who is a DFW or a successful past DFW has my full respect and support. 

badmemory

Can she ditch the life insurance.  That is a huge amount for the amount it is to cover.  If she had children it could be different but if she can stop this & the window cleaner.  As you said that is what rain is for (unless she lives on a main road).  Also cancel the holiday & lose the deposit, it isn't worth her added stress.

Grumpy_chap

nifferwilko said:

Telephone (land line)................... 69 (this is a Sky package - phone, internet, TV - in contract until July 2024)

Mobile phone............................ 60 (contract until Dec 2023)

Both of these seem high.
As soon as December comes around, swap to a SIM-only mobile package.
No need for SKY TV, simply use Freeview.
Does she need a landline phone number?
A simple broadband only service would be much keener priced.  If the mobile had enough data for her needs, she could even ditch the broadband and use phone tethering.

For a comparison, I have VIRGIN broadband 1GB speed unlimited data including landline phone line at £40.  My wife and I have TESCO sim-only mobile phone at £20 (total, not each).  That's £60 per month for two mobiles, landline, broadband.

nifferwilko said:

Haircuts................................ 7.5 (one £90 a year)

Nails & Brows........................... 40

Are both of these correct?  One haircut per year is not consistent with other regular beauty treatments.

nifferwilko said:

Groceries etc. ......................... 160 (this is a guess)

She needs to work to get accurate figures for any items that are uncertain.

nifferwilko said:

Disney Plus............................. 7.99

Amazon Prime............................ 7.99

Both of these could go.

nifferwilko said:

[b]Unsecured Debts[/b]

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

Nationwide Loan................17679.....458.......7.4

Halifax C (Jan 24).............2783......70........0

Sainsburys CC..................8828......252.......22.46

Parents........................345.......50........0

MBNA (Apr 24...................5695......0.........0

MBNA (Nov 23)..................1530......0.........0

MBNA (Standard)................1418......120.......27.21[b]

Total unsecured debts..........38278.....950.......-  [/b]

What was the money spent on from these £38k debts?
Are there item that can be sold to realise money to paydown some of the debts?

nifferwilko said:

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

Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 209.82 

Petrol/diesel........................... 120

Road tax................................ 15

Car Insurance........................... 45

Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 18

Car parking............................. 25 (for parking when in office - no free parking available)

Breakdown Cover......................... 7.5

Assets[/b]

Car(s).................................. 8000

Secured & HP Debts[/b]

Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 9600.....(179)......11.9[b] (for car)

Does she need a car?  Is it an essential for work, or could she work out a way to not have a car?
If she does need a car, can she start thinking about a plan to have a car in a debt-free way?

TheAble

Looks like around 28 years left on the mortgage? When the current fix expires in April I would factor in a new repayment of around £370/month, so this should be planned for.

Also by this time the MBNA is going to be attracting interest on the full balance i.e. £8500. So the min payment on that is going to be upwards of £190 of interest plus a portion of the balance. So expect a min MBNA repayment of £270+ from April (assuming 1% of balance repayable per month - it may be more, her statements will show).

Factoring in the Halifax card becoming interest-bearing from January (you don't mention the interest rate and terms but she should be able to find out) and also the current shortfall she'll need to find overall savings of around £500+/month from somewhere. It feels tricky given that of course she's likely accumulated all this debt over a sustained period of overspending. Any and all savings need to be made as well as increasing income where possible. I'd suggest the jolly to Crete is maybe out...!