Got myself in a right mess!

13thlegion

The good news is that based on the SOA you are debt free apart from the mortgage in 32 months if you snowball (over pay off smallest balance first) or over pay highest interest first. You save £500ish doing pay highest interest first but you have to wait a year until debts start going away. Snowballing you will start to see debts go away in 3 months which will feel nicer. And that's without a DMP.

How accurate is this SOA to how you live life now? Is it based on actual transactions or what you want to do going forward. The tell tale sign is you have £40 every month for emergencies but no cash saved. Don't worry we have all done it, it takes a few months of practice to get them right.

If it is aspirational are you fully aware of what you need to cut back from habit spending to make it a reality?

baaaalocks

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82006009#Comment_82006009

that's great! glad you're at the end, that position feels a lifetime away for me at the moment. Did you have to pay a fee to have a managed DMP?

ManyWays

No child benefit?

Other child related expenses............ 97
What does this cover? School uniform, other school costs, afterschool clubs, clothes, shoes etc?

Groceries etc. ......................... 500
Clothing................................ 30
Both of those look low - how old is your child?

Entertainment........................... 120
Holiday................................. 150
Both of these could be trimmed a bit

With your income dropping by £400 a month in a few months, this is VERY uncomfortable. especially as it is likely your mortgage will be going up by £100-200 a month next year.

When do the 0% cards end?

Did you have to pay a fee to have a managed DMP?
No one should pay a fee for this. Stepchange or Payplan will do it for free

ArtyJ931

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82006176#Comment_82006176

you do not have to pay a fee for a managed DMP - go via one of the charities. Stepchange is the one I hear about a lot.

Anyone charging you to manage it is effectively fleecing you.

RAS

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82006202#Comment_82006202

Agree with ManyWays, if you want to deal with your debt, you are going to have to tighten your belts for a year or two.

Is this year's holiday booked? If do you have no choice but to continue, and need to think now how to reduce additional spends when you are away. Cheaper meals out, raid local (super)markets for ingredients for meze meals, less drinks in bars and more in your accommodation etc.

Entertainment needs reviewing given your salary and mortgage situation. Yet again, phone and TV needs reducing as soon as possible.

And are all the debts to which you've indicated 0% debt actually so, as some look unlikely?

Regarding AMex, they are one of the less tolerant lenders. If humanly possible, maintain your payment to them.

baaaalocks

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82006159#Comment_82006159

I'm fully aware that we need to stop all non essential spending and using CC's. How would we do the snowballing? do we contact the providers to do this?

The SOA is a bit of both, I haven't looked at every transaction we make as they are spread over all the accounts. The £40 was for going forward so we could use that instead of using the CC's.

baaaalocks

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82006202#Comment_82006202

yes there should be child benefit, £112 a month I think, he is 14. The child related expenses are Karate (£72) and Gym membership (£25) he doesn't do any afterschool clubs and I included the clothes and shoes in our clothing expenditure.

I agree the entertainment and holiday can be trimmed, we have a holiday in August, so the holiday fund will be gone after then

Lloyds CC 0% ends in June 26

Virgin CC 0% ends in November 26

Barclaycard 0% ends in January 28

baaaalocks

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82006469#Comment_82006469

Yes we definitely need to cut back. The holiday is all inclusive so we won't be spending much whilst there.

I'll reduce the TV package down to basic and see if I can reduce our phones.

just checking back on the 0%'s they are all correct apart from my wife's CC's and the Sainsbury Loan, I will need to ask her to check the APR later.

ManyWays

£30 a month for 2 adults and child, including school uniform is NOT possible.

have you looked at whether you can refinance the Lloyds 0% that ends next month?

13thlegion

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82007185#Comment_82007185

That's really good practice for the emergency fund.

The snowballing I talk about is instead of a DMP based on the numbers in your SOA. You pay minimum payments on all debts except the smallest. Then overpay that every time until it is gone. Typically you can just make extra 1 off payments through the providers app.