When it's good, it's fun. When it's bad, it's funny.

BrotherUuurgh

Aaaand herein begins my new diary, where I hope to capture the ups and downs of the journey. In other areas, it's been fun to read things back several years later and experience those "oh, yeah!" moments, so hopefully that will be the case here. 

As of 01/11/24 I have cleared a 0% balance transfer card within the 3 month promotional peroid. A small win and one I'm proud of. Immediate impact. As of today, 08/11/24, my total debt is £13,572.78. This is comprised of credit cards, loans and family arrangements. The credit cards have been used for the likes of car hire and deposits for holidays, general silly spending. When I say silly spending, I mean the odd fiver here, the odd tenner there, the odd takeaway, Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner out on the road in the van, regular little bits that have added up to literally thousands. ChampThe loans are a bit of good, a bit of bad - One for some home improvements however only 40% was used on this, the other 60% went elsewhere. The other was more of a necessary evil when I fell short due to some terrible, terrible timing with my long term job falling apart and having to leave. Throw in a stag do, wedding, honeymoon, two lots of household bills in between, with a miserable two weeks pay at my new job to try to make it happen, bill paying and living suddenly became very challenging.

This last few months has been a wake-up call. For the last year or so I've been conscious of my credit history and how my file looks. A good while back my goals and ideals, which went missing years ago due to alcohol and gambling, returned with clarity. Now, I've sat and jotted some numbers down and it's not great. I haven't missed a payment since May 2021 (and that itself was due to moving house and forgetting about a water bill) so I thought, naively, that I'd been doing good. How wrong I was...

[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................ 2427.63

Partners monthly income after tax....... 0

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

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

Total monthly income.................... 2427.63[/b][b]

Monthly Expense Details[/b]

Mortgage................................ 0

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

Rent.................................... 571

Management charge (leasehold property).. 0

Council tax............................. 117

Electricity............................. 100

Gas..................................... 55

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

Water rates............................. 37

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

Mobile phone............................ 65

TV Licence.............................. 15

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

Internet Services....................... 35

Groceries etc. ......................... 300

Clothing................................ 0

Petrol/diesel........................... 0

Road tax................................ 20

Car Insurance........................... 40

Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0

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

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

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

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

Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 19

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

Buildings insurance..................... 0

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

Life assurance ......................... 0

Other insurance......................... 13

Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0

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

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

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

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

Total monthly expenses.................. 1459[/b]

[b]

Assets[/b]

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

House value (Gross)..................... 0

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

Car(s).................................. 750

Other assets............................ 5500[b]

Total Assets............................ 6250[/b]

[b]

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts[/b]

[b]Unsecured Debts[/b]

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

Lendable.......................4209.26...267.5.....48.87

Plata..........................2234.41...139.7.....34.9

Vanquis........................1637.5....100.......47.9

Family A.......................1850......160.......0

Family D.......................1900......150.......0

Zopa...........................1741.61...100.......30.9[b]

Total unsecured debts..........13572.78..917.2.....-  [/b]

[b]

Monthly Budget Summary[/b]

Total monthly income.................... 2,427.63

Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,459

Available for debt repayments........... 968.63

Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 917.2[b]

Amount left after debt repayments....... 51.43[/b]

[b]Personal Balance Sheet Summary[/b]

Total assets (things you own)........... 6,250

Total HP & Secured debt................. -0

Total Unsecured debt.................... -13,572.78[b]

Net Assets.............................. -7,322.78[/b]

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

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

Please feel free to pick apart the above information (any advice would obviously go a long way and be hugely appreciated). I've spoken to a well known financial charity for budgeting advice and strategy, and the consensus was that I attack the debt with the highest interest first. I know this works for credit cards, but wasn't sure if the same applies when it comes to loans. It appears with my loans that I can overpay without penalty, reducing the overall term and total interest incurred. With that, I'm thinking of hitting Lendable head on first. This is also the debt with the highest monthly repayment, so it will start to seriously snowball once I get this shifted, right? How would you do it? Does anyone have any advice here?

PS, I'm sure as I make more entries that my specific situation will start to make more sense. For example, why car repairs aren't budgeted for. Anyways, feels good to get this off my chest.

fatbelly

What struck me from that soa is that you don't have a lot of surplus at this stage - £50 ish - and your debts are high interest

Can you get another 0% deal to transfer the Vanquis debt to?

Have you thought of an affordability complaint to Lendable and Plata?

https://debtcamel.co.uk/refunds-large-high-cost-loans/

MFWannabe

BrotherUuurgh said:

Aaaand herein begins my new diary, where I hope to capture the ups and downs of the journey. In other areas, it's been fun to read things back several years later and experience those "oh, yeah!" moments, so hopefully that will be the case here. 

As of 01/11/24 I have cleared a 0% balance transfer card within the 3 month promotional peroid. A small win and one I'm proud of. Immediate impact. As of today, 08/11/24, my total debt is £13,572.78. This is comprised of credit cards, loans and family arrangements. The credit cards have been used for the likes of car hire and deposits for holidays, general silly spending. When I say silly spending, I mean the odd fiver here, the odd tenner there, the odd takeaway, Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner out on the road in the van, regular little bits that have added up to literally thousands. ChampThe loans are a bit of good, a bit of bad - One for some home improvements however only 40% was used on this, the other 60% went elsewhere. The other was more of a necessary evil when I fell short due to some terrible, terrible timing with my long term job falling apart and having to leave. Throw in a stag do, wedding, honeymoon, two lots of household bills in between, with a miserable two weeks pay at my new job to try to make it happen, bill paying and living suddenly became very challenging.

This last few months has been a wake-up call. For the last year or so I've been conscious of my credit history and how my file looks. A good while back my goals and ideals, which went missing years ago due to alcohol and gambling, returned with clarity. Now, I've sat and jotted some numbers down and it's not great. I haven't missed a payment since May 2021 (and that itself was due to moving house and forgetting about a water bill) so I thought, naively, that I'd been doing good. How wrong I was...

[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................ 2427.63

Partners monthly income after tax....... 0

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

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

Total monthly income.................... 2427.63[/b][b]

Monthly Expense Details[/b]

Mortgage................................ 0

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

Rent.................................... 571

Management charge (leasehold property).. 0

Council tax............................. 117 - Is this over 10 or 12 months? 

Electricity............................. 100 - Seems very high for one person; is this your direct debit or actual usage? 

Gas..................................... 55 - As above 

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

Water rates............................. 37

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

Mobile phone............................ 65 - Are you in contract? If not then go sim only for a lot less 

TV Licence.............................. 15

Satellite/Cable TV...................... 57 - Are you in contract? If not then this needs to go 

Internet Services....................... 35

Groceries etc. ......................... 300. - For one person this is a lot, could cut by £100 at least 

Clothing................................ 0

Petrol/diesel........................... 0

Road tax................................ 20

Car Insurance........................... 40

Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0 - You need something here so you don’t rely on credit 

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

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

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

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

Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 19

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

Buildings insurance..................... 0

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

Life assurance ......................... 0

Other insurance......................... 13. - What is this for? 

Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0 - Never buy presents? 

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

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

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

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

Total monthly expenses.................. 1459[/b]

[b]

Assets[/b]

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

House value (Gross)..................... 0

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

Car(s).................................. 750

Other assets............................ 5500[b]

Total Assets............................ 6250[/b]

[b]

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts[/b]

[b]Unsecured Debts[/b]

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

Lendable.......................4209.26...267.5.....48.87

Plata..........................2234.41...139.7.....34.9

Vanquis........................1637.5....100.......47.9

Family A.......................1850......160.......0

Family D.......................1900......150.......0

Zopa...........................1741.61...100.......30.9[b]

Total unsecured debts..........13572.78..917.2.....-  [/b]

[b]

Monthly Budget Summary[/b]

Total monthly income.................... 2,427.63

Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,459

Available for debt repayments........... 968.63

Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 917.2[b]

Amount left after debt repayments....... 51.43[/b]

[b]Personal Balance Sheet Summary[/b]

Total assets (things you own)........... 6,250

Total HP & Secured debt................. -0

Total Unsecured debt.................... -13,572.78[b]

Net Assets.............................. -7,322.78[/b]

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

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

Please feel free to pick apart the above information (any advice would obviously go a long way and be hugely appreciated). I've spoken to a well known financial charity for budgeting advice and strategy, and the consensus was that I attack the debt with the highest interest first. I know this works for credit cards, but wasn't sure if the same applies when it comes to loans. It appears with my loans that I can overpay without penalty, reducing the overall term and total interest incurred. With that, I'm thinking of hitting Lendable head on first. This is also the debt with the highest monthly repayment, so it will start to seriously snowball once I get this shifted, right? How would you do it? Does anyone have any advice here?

PS, I'm sure as I make more entries that my specific situation will start to make more sense. For example, why car repairs aren't budgeted for. Anyways, feels good to get this off my chest.

Hi. I’ve made some suggestions above where you could make cutbacks 
What is the £5,500 in other assets? Could this be used to clear one of those horrendously high interest rate debts? 

Would family give you some breathing space from paying them back until you’ve cleared high interest debt? Even just one of them? 

BrotherUuurgh

Hi fatbelly, I said I'd forget to add context! This SOA is a worst case - my own single wage and no overtime. The strong likelihood is that I will be able to pump up my wages through overtime quite significantly, I just didn't want to budget for money that was not stone wall guaranteed. There is also talk from my employer of increasing everyone's wages to help with the new gov budget. In fact, this worst case is extremely unlikely. There is also a good possibility that my wife will be picking up some kind of work in the next few months - she's been looking for a while and is doing ever so well.

What this means is that, in a good month, say 40hrs OT, my net earnings can increase to over £3,100, though this may not be sustainable - I wouldn't want to burn out - but it is possible (I managed just shy of 10hrs this week alone). More realistically (and sustainably) my earnings with OT can be easily increased to the £2,750 area, which is an instant and easy £300 a month extra. Once my wife gets work, she will be able to pick up some of the household bills, freeing up a further £300-£400. To summarise, it's possible that in a few months my extra income could be as high as £1,000 if I can put the hours in. THAT is when real progress will be made.

An idea is that when I have a bit of a bumper month, I'll come back here to ask you guys and see which may be the best way, at that time, to shift some debt.

As a side note, I've just remembered that I claim the uniform tax relief for a further bit of "free money". 

BrotherUuurgh

I forgot to address the 0% suggestion. As much as it would be great, it is still a further payment that will need to be made per month. I'm not likely to be able to get a long enough 0% period for the struggle to be worth it. 

MFWannabe

BrotherUuurgh said:

I forgot to address the 0% suggestion. As much as it would be great, it is still a further payment that will need to be made per month. I'm not likely to be able to get a long enough 0% period for the struggle to be worth it. 

The 0% suggestion is want an additional card( it was to move some of the extremely high interest debt to; for instance Vanquis 

fatbelly

BrotherUuurgh said:

I forgot to address the 0% suggestion. As much as it would be great, it is still a further payment that will need to be made per month. I'm not likely to be able to get a long enough 0% period for the struggle to be worth it. 

If you are able to BT the Vanqis balance to another card then it would just mean making the minimum payment on the new card and cutting up the Vanquis one. Given that Vanquis has a high minimum payment, your payment could be the same or less than it is now

Don't dismiss it out of hand

Brie

Your SOA states one adult but then you say you are married so that makes it 2 adults which might answer some of the questions about food expenses etc.  

The one question I always ask is do you need a TV licence?  I know it's only £15 a month but if you don't watch live TV or every use iPlayer then it's not required.  So many people only watch Netflix or similar but only you will know that for sure.

Also - I wouldn't want you to ruin any family relationships but is there any leeway on cutting those repayments back to £100 a month each?  The extra against your loan would be a big help.

And also - do you have your DDs set to a specific amount or are you on minimum payments?  Having specific amounts make it easier to budget in my opinion.  It also means that any lender looking at your credit history for a new 0% BT will not see you as making minimum payments (aka scraping by) and might see you as less of a risk and therefore more deserving of a longer term offer.  I pick a point with mine just above the current minimum and let that stay in place for a few months before moving it down a fiver.  So Plata which you have at £139.70 I'd put at £140.  It won't make much difference to you if you are paying 30p extra but that will all nibble away at the principle and you'll pay less interest.  

BrotherUuurgh

fatbelly said:

BrotherUuurgh said:

I forgot to address the 0% suggestion. As much as it would be great, it is still a further payment that will need to be made per month. I'm not likely to be able to get a long enough 0% period for the struggle to be worth it. 

If you are able to BT the Vanqis balance to another card then it would just mean making the minimum payment on the new card and cutting up the Vanquis one. Given that Vanquis has a high minimum payment, your payment could be the same or less than it is now

Don't dismiss it out of hand

The trouble I think I'll have is that I won't get a high enough credit limit to transfer the entire balance, so it leaves me with an extra card and an extra payment to make each month. This is the experience I had with the Post Office balance transfer I did a couple of months ago. I managed to shift £500 interest free, but it did add 1+£170 odd to my monthly expenditure. Funnily enough I've put the Vanquis amount on "stop" by ordering a new card and pin. They came through the post... Today... Together.... I might just complain about that. That card and pin are no longer in my possession and with someone I trust, so I won't be using it. 

Brie said:

Your SOA states one adult but then you say you are married so that makes it 2 adults which might answer some of the questions about food expenses etc.  

The one question I always ask is do you need a TV licence?  I know it's only £15 a month but if you don't watch live TV or every use iPlayer then it's not required.  So many people only watch Netflix or similar but only you will know that for sure.

Also - I wouldn't want you to ruin any family relationships but is there any leeway on cutting those repayments back to £100 a month each?  The extra against your loan would be a big help.

And also - do you have your DDs set to a specific amount or are you on minimum payments?  Having specific amounts make it easier to budget in my opinion.  It also means that any lender looking at your credit history for a new 0% BT will not see you as making minimum payments (aka scraping by) and might see you as less of a risk and therefore more deserving of a longer term offer.  I pick a point with mine just above the current minimum and let that stay in place for a few months before moving it down a fiver.  So Plata which you have at £139.70 I'd put at £140.  It won't make much difference to you if you are paying 30p extra but that will all nibble away at the principle and you'll pay less interest.  

Apologies, yes it's my wife and I only, so two mouths to feed. The shopping is really cut back as far as is reasonably practical. It's not just food, it's also cleaning profucts, toiletries and so on. 
We do watch live TV every so often. Hardly ever BBC but my wife likes C4, ITV etc for the crime programs. Otherwise it's mostly OD viewing and YouTube. Is it JUST BBC and iPlayer that you need a licence for? If so, we may be able to omit that and watch different things in different ways. 
I actually only have a couple DDs. Most bills I pay manually as that's the way I like to do things. The CCs are both £100/month because I make them that amount. I've always paid above minimum (don't think I ever have made minimums before), and this is a nice round number, so it helps me with the rest of my budgeting. 
As far as family debts, due to the circumstances surrounding the last couple of months, I've already exhausted that avenue. I just can't ask any more of them without risking a breakdown in our relationships. I'm already behind two payments, they've gone over and above for me. I have to remember my credit history with family from years before is not glowing.

BrotherUuurgh

MFWannabe said:

BrotherUuurgh said:

Aaaand herein begins my new diary, where I hope to capture the ups and downs of the journey. In other areas, it's been fun to read things back several years later and experience those "oh, yeah!" moments, so hopefully that will be the case here. 

As of 01/11/24 I have cleared a 0% balance transfer card within the 3 month promotional peroid. A small win and one I'm proud of. Immediate impact. As of today, 08/11/24, my total debt is £13,572.78. This is comprised of credit cards, loans and family arrangements. The credit cards have been used for the likes of car hire and deposits for holidays, general silly spending. When I say silly spending, I mean the odd fiver here, the odd tenner there, the odd takeaway, Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner out on the road in the van, regular little bits that have added up to literally thousands. ChampThe loans are a bit of good, a bit of bad - One for some home improvements however only 40% was used on this, the other 60% went elsewhere. The other was more of a necessary evil when I fell short due to some terrible, terrible timing with my long term job falling apart and having to leave. Throw in a stag do, wedding, honeymoon, two lots of household bills in between, with a miserable two weeks pay at my new job to try to make it happen, bill paying and living suddenly became very challenging.

This last few months has been a wake-up call. For the last year or so I've been conscious of my credit history and how my file looks. A good while back my goals and ideals, which went missing years ago due to alcohol and gambling, returned with clarity. Now, I've sat and jotted some numbers down and it's not great. I haven't missed a payment since May 2021 (and that itself was due to moving house and forgetting about a water bill) so I thought, naively, that I'd been doing good. How wrong I was...

[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................ 2427.63

Partners monthly income after tax....... 0

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

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

Total monthly income.................... 2427.63[/b][b]

Monthly Expense Details[/b]

Mortgage................................ 0

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

Rent.................................... 571

Management charge (leasehold property).. 0

Council tax............................. 117 - Is this over 10 or 12 months? 

Electricity............................. 100 - Seems very high for one person; is this your direct debit or actual usage? 

Gas..................................... 55 - As above 

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

Water rates............................. 37

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

Mobile phone............................ 65 - Are you in contract? If not then go sim only for a lot less 

TV Licence.............................. 15

Satellite/Cable TV...................... 57 - Are you in contract? If not then this needs to go 

Internet Services....................... 35

Groceries etc. ......................... 300. - For one person this is a lot, could cut by £100 at least 

Clothing................................ 0

Petrol/diesel........................... 0

Road tax................................ 20

Car Insurance........................... 40

Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0 - You need something here so you don’t rely on credit 

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

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

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

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

Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 19

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

Buildings insurance..................... 0

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

Life assurance ......................... 0

Other insurance......................... 13. - What is this for? 

Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0 - Never buy presents? 

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

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

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

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

Total monthly expenses.................. 1459[/b]

[b]

Assets[/b]

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

House value (Gross)..................... 0

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

Car(s).................................. 750

Other assets............................ 5500[b]

Total Assets............................ 6250[/b]

[b]

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts[/b]

[b]Unsecured Debts[/b]

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

Lendable.......................4209.26...267.5.....48.87

Plata..........................2234.41...139.7.....34.9

Vanquis........................1637.5....100.......47.9

Family A.......................1850......160.......0

Family D.......................1900......150.......0

Zopa...........................1741.61...100.......30.9[b]

Total unsecured debts..........13572.78..917.2.....-  [/b]

[b]

Monthly Budget Summary[/b]

Total monthly income.................... 2,427.63

Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,459

Available for debt repayments........... 968.63

Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 917.2[b]

Amount left after debt repayments....... 51.43[/b]

[b]Personal Balance Sheet Summary[/b]

Total assets (things you own)........... 6,250

Total HP & Secured debt................. -0

Total Unsecured debt.................... -13,572.78[b]

Net Assets.............................. -7,322.78[/b]

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

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

Please feel free to pick apart the above information (any advice would obviously go a long way and be hugely appreciated). I've spoken to a well known financial charity for budgeting advice and strategy, and the consensus was that I attack the debt with the highest interest first. I know this works for credit cards, but wasn't sure if the same applies when it comes to loans. It appears with my loans that I can overpay without penalty, reducing the overall term and total interest incurred. With that, I'm thinking of hitting Lendable head on first. This is also the debt with the highest monthly repayment, so it will start to seriously snowball once I get this shifted, right? How would you do it? Does anyone have any advice here?

PS, I'm sure as I make more entries that my specific situation will start to make more sense. For example, why car repairs aren't budgeted for. Anyways, feels good to get this off my chest.

Hi. I’ve made some suggestions above where you could make cutbacks 
What is the £5,500 in other assets? Could this be used to clear one of those horrendously high interest rate debts? 

Would family give you some breathing space from paying them back until you’ve cleared high interest debt? Even just one of them? 

I missed your reply, very sorry. The other assets are my photography gear. It's a passionate hobby of mine and these are things that have taken years to get the money together for. I'd be extremely reluctant to sell any of it on to service what I view as a (comparitively) temporary debt situation. 

MFWannabe

Could your wife do some online surveys while at home looking for a job 
Sell stuff on EBay or Vinted? 
Can bring in some nice extra money for debt repayments