Shall I stop paying credit cards?

MFWannabe

Dreaming_big said:

Summary

Monthly Budget Summary	Amount(£)
Total monthly income	2,967
Monthly expenses (incl. HP & secured loans)	2,721
Available for debt repayments	246
UNsecured debt repayments	470
Amount short for making debt repayments	-224

Personal Balance Sheet Summary	Amount(£)
Total Assets (things you own)	403,610
Total Secured & HP Debt	-59,000
Total Unsecured Debt	-25,604
Net Assets	319,006

Household Information

Number of adults in household	1
Number of children in household	3
Number of cars owned	1

Income, Expense, Debt & Asset Details

Income	Amount(£)
Monthly income after tax	2647
Partners monthly income	0
Benefits	110
Other income	210
Total monthly income	2967

Expenses	Amount(£)
Mortgage	461
Secured/HP loan payments	0
Rent	0
Management charge (leasehold property)	0
Council tax	210
Electricity	5
Gas	80
Oil	0
Water Rates	0
Telephone (land line)	0
Mobile phone	65
TV Licence	13
Satellite/Cable TV	48
Internet services	33
Groceries etc.	500
Clothing	25
Petrol/diesel	120
Road tax	15
Car Insurance	56
Car maintenance (including MOT)	50
Car Parking	0
Other travel	0
Childcare/nursery	0
Other child related expenses	100
Medical (prescriptions, dentists, opticians etc.)	25
Pet Insurance/Vet bills	0
Buildings Insurance	55
Contents Insurance	0
Life Assurance	35
Other Insurance	0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc.)	50
Haircuts	25
Entertainment	300
Holiday	200
Emergency Fund	50
students x 2	200
Total monthly expenses	2721

Secured & HP Debt Description	Debt(£)	Monthly(£)	APR(%)
Mortgage	59000	(461)	5.12
Secured & HP Debt totals	59000	-	-

Unsecured Debt Description	Debt(£)	Monthly(£)	APR(%)
barclaycard	2220	80	20.45
barclycd 0% Aug25	5813	0	0
tesco	9926	175	9.8
Nationwide	1980	45	12.2
Newday	5665	170	22
Unsecured Debt totals	25604	470	-

Asset Description	Value (£)
Cash	610
House Value (Gross)	400000
Shares and bonds	0
Car(s)	3000
Other assets (e.g. endowments, jewellery etc)	0
Total Assets	403610

Entertainment £300? What is this spent on? 

£100 other child related expenses; what is this for? 

Your house insurance seems very high, when is this due renewal? 

Groceries can definitely be slashed if it’s just the two of you at home 
You could easily slash the budget to make up the shortfall on the debts and build an emergency fund. The entertainment and holiday amounts of £500 could pay off Barclaycard in four months then you have another £87 to chuck at the next debt and so on. 

You don’t need to default and could pay these off by cutting back and really chucking everything at the debts 

Dreaming_big

They do, but DSA doesn't provide cash, as such, it pays for support they need, such as software or a mentor. 

Floss

No contents insurance? You need that.

Holidays savings - where is that money? If there's no money in the pot there is no holiday.

What do you spend £300 entertainment  on + £100 for the teenager?

strawb_shortcake

I take home a similar amount to yourself and my 2 children at uni are not too far away from the maximum of student loan, have you informed the student loan company of your drop in income? 

I also pay for 5 mobile phones on a contract that come in around £43 a month with tesco mobile, the Motorolas are £7.50pm I pay a few extra pounds for a Samsung for myself.

I also do surveys, in spare time, depending on the free time I have I can earn £50 a month, I have learnt more in a month but not always easy to fit in.

I think you said you Airbnb a room? Is this acceptable with your mortgage lender? Don't want to remove any income from yourself but has the potential to cause issues down the road if a breech of contract 

katsu

The great news is that it looks like you can get this under control. 

I appreciate that you'd like a holiday but removing the stress by getting your budget to balance will be worth so much. 

I would:
* cancel the extra TV stuff
* if you watch regular TV you can keep the TV license
* if any mobiles not in contact, get those bills down. Check the main site articles for great advice on that
*holiday £200  pay off debt instead. 
* entertainment £300.  Can you stop it all for 1 year or reduce to <100 and pay another 200 off your debt?

Look at it this way... if you reduce your entertainment and don't have a holiday this year, you'll clear Newday totally, be £170 better off every month and not have all the extra interest from them. 

Surveys and stuff are great for treats. Get the money that way for yourself.