Seriously need to take action before we lose everything

Singlespeeder

smithers1981 said:

Do you have anything of value you could sell? 

Presumably yes, and I know every little helps, but the OP has the ability and income to rectify this without really scrimping.... but it could be worth looking at.

[Deleted User]

I have subscribed and hopefully you will return soon to read suggestions here and decide on your plan of action.

Ksw3

I hate to raise it now but what are your usual Christmas (assuming you celebrate christian holidays of course other holidays are available) plans and what effect is this likely to have on your debts? Everyone is different so no judgement from me if you go all out but as you have no cash what are your plans?

I think its worth considering now because otherwise a last minute decision might lead you to reach for more credit. 

benbenandme

What ages are your children? If school age surely the clothes budget needs looking at, as uniform and shoes are costly? What are the other child related expenses - clubs/activities? Childcare? 
In your position I would do an honest reflection as to where the remaining £1500 is going each month, then have a family blitz on selling stuff on marketplace / Vinted / Ebay etc to make an initial dent in some of the debts. You've had some good advice on this thread but it is a mindset shift that is needed. Yes you have a good income but you also have £90k debts on top of the mortgage. How long is your mortgage rate fixed for?

Coffeekup

All of the above good points made above.
Most importantly you should have £1570 left to pay off your debts and don't, find out where this is going. Then amend your soa for yourself so you know what you and your partner should be spending in each category.

Open a separate savings account for your holidays fund and for Xmas and birthdays, which means you'll have the money ready for whatever/whoever you need to spend it on. This will work if you budget for what holiday you want (and spending money) and who and what is the budget for that person's birthday/Xmas/other event.

As others have said with your income you could have this paid for in 3 years (depending on when the 0%'s finish). If you knuckle down with the debts, and interest rates are still better than your mortgage rate. You could throw what you were paying for debts into savings and 2-3 years after your debts have gone, you'd have enough saved to pay off the mortgage.

I wish you all the best, former debt free wannabe here. It may seem like forever now, if you start to pay it off. But if you don't it'll only be hanging around so much longer which means less money for your future self.

MultiFuelBurner

philleaf said:

Hi 

I am a long time lurker and no that I will get good advice here. Our finances are a CAR CRASH. For a couple who earn well, we have made a terrible hash of it all, and now we at the point where we sort it out, or we lose everything. 

We both entered the relationship with fairly high debts. Unfortunately we continued to spend without thinking and now we have monstrous debts. Our credit utilisation has impacted our ability to get any more 0% deals so we are no stuck with horrendous debts at some nasty rates. 

Our saving grace is that we do have a deent income and depiste the payments being very very high, we are able to meet these commitments. 

My wife thinks that we need to seek formal debt management advice but I am keen to avoid this as I think that we still have the means to pull this back into control. We have been disucssing this for the last 3 months and we have made significant spending changes. It's now time for us to DO something about. 

I have trawled lots of other SOA's and I am embarrassed that ours is probably the worst I have every seen. I need to use that fact to take action. 

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................ 4355

Partners monthly income after tax....... 2511

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

Other income............................ 250[b]

Total monthly income.................... 7116[/b][b]

Monthly Expense Details[/b]

Mortgage................................ 801

Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 386

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

Management charge (leasehold property).. 0

Council tax............................. 139

Electricity............................. 98

Gas..................................... 112

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

Water rates............................. 35

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

Mobile phone............................ 67

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

Satellite/Cable TV...................... 36

Internet Services....................... 21

Groceries etc. ......................... 600

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

Petrol/diesel........................... 220

Road tax................................ 22

Car Insurance........................... 64

Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 30

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

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

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

Other child related expenses............ 120

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

Pet insurance/vet bills................. 28

Buildings insurance..................... 22

Contents insurance...................... 17

Life assurance ......................... 49

Other insurance......................... 9

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

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

Entertainment........................... 150

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

Emergency fund.......................... 100[b]

Total monthly expenses.................. 3298[/b]

[b]

Assets[/b]

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

House value (Gross)..................... 320000

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

Car(s).................................. 14000

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

Total Assets............................ 334000[/b]

[b]

Secured & HP Debts[/b]

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

Mortgage...................... 140098...(801)......4.11

Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 17000....(386)......0[b]

Total secured & HP debts...... 157098....-.........-   [/b]

[b]Unsecured Debts[/b]

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

updraft loan...................21000.....360.......16.9

updraft loan 2.................8000......210.......18.9

Updraft loan 3.................6500......165.......18.9

overdraft......................2500......80........42

Creation Credit card...........7100......192.......21

very...........................700.......48........50

halifax cc.....................2400......24........0

fluid..........................3600......170.......39

LLoyds.........................3890......132.......8

HSBC loan......................7309......210.......7.9

Lloyds.........................10500.....269.......29

barclaycard platinum...........12600.....258.......4.9

barclaycard....................4960......109.......4.9

natwest........................2000......20........0[b]

Total unsecured debts..........93059.....2247......-  [/b]

[b]

Monthly Budget Summary[/b]

Total monthly income.................... 7,116

Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 3,298

Available for debt repayments........... 3,818

Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 2,247[b]

Amount left after debt repayments....... 1,571[/b]


So there it is. Years and years of financial mismanagement laid bare. I feel sick but also glad that we are finally here and ready to take action. 

Given the amount we owe, am I being unrealistic in thinking that we can actually deal with this ourselves. I am not adverse to debt manegement such as an IVA, but I kind of feel as though we should deal with it if we are able to. 

Please give me any advice but please be kind - this has shook me to the core. 

Can I just say well done for putting this all down.

That's is always the first step and it really is handy having it all laid out. 

It is my first time visiting this part of the forum, finally getting around to all parts.

caprikid1

I worry that the OP has not returned to this thread following the offer of a balance transfer, I think the balance transfer is a means to provide extra snowball money but unfortunately it seems to have removed the urgency.

OP please please take action urgently this needs a wholesale lifestyle change not a single balance transfer.

kimwp

caprikid1 said:

I worry that the OP has not returned to this thread following the offer of a balance transfer, I think the balance transfer is a means to provide extra snowball money but unfortunately it seems to have removed the urgency.

OP please please take action urgently this needs a wholesale lifestyle change not a single balance transfer.

Where was a balance transfer mentioned?

Martico

By the look of it, this thread in the Credit Cards section

gizmo111

OP's wife was on another forum (exact same SOA) and was advised to remortgage/second charge to clear the debt ..............  hope they didn't take that advice.