Just wanted to say Hi to everyone

golden_girl

Hi Everyone

I have been lurking around on this site for a very long time.
I have read many posts but me and my husband have decided this year to actually do something about our debts.

So far I have done the following:

1. Changed my credit cards onto low interest rates.

2. Phoned Virgin as I have broadband, phone and tv (no charge for tv as it is just the basic channels). I didn't really want to leave them, but I thought I would try and get a better deal. They have reduced my bill by £10.55 a month and have given me free landline calls week days and week ends all day. I'm happy with that.

3. I have signed up with Quidco. Changed my Gas and Electric with them. I really do hope I have done it right... as I am not that computer literate:p

4. Changed my gas and electric ( currently with BG). I have never changed suppliers in over 15 years. Yes, Please don't shout at me.

5. Cancelled our gym membership saving us £59.95 a month

6. We have a food budget which I know is higher than it should be. Going to see if we can stick to it. I am going to read up on the shopping forum to get hints.

7. Phoned up today to cancelled my contract phone and 02 will be sending me an new pagy sim card and pac code. They said I could register the payg sim with them. But now I want to go with virgin £10.00 a month 300 mins and 300 texts. Have posted message on mobile forum for advice.

The only other thing which we will not be able to avoid is...

My husbands pays £210.00 amonth directly out of his wages for a car on the scheme. He works 35 miles away. 70 miles a day for when he is driving. His 2 other friends who he car shares with will not be able to do this soon. Due to them going on different shifts. There isn't anyone else who travels from this end that he could ask. The mileage allowance on the car is 8 months 8,000 miles. He will not be able to carry on having cars on the scheme as he won't be able to stay within the mileage limit.

Which means as we do not have the cash we will have to get a loan for the car. He needs a reliable car due to the mileage he will be doing. I have looked at Nationwide as they do offer overpayments. The new loan will be no more than the monthly amount already being taken out of his wages so it won't be an extra cost. We wil have an extra £210 (roughly before tax etc. ) in wages As my husband said he has had cars on the scheme for over 5 years and in that time he would have paid for his own car.

Sorry for the long post. I did just want to say HI but thought I might as well give you all an essay to read

:beer:

Mozette

Well hello & welcome. You're making good progress! Well done.

Sassamac

hi and welcome. sounds like you've made some really good progress already, and got your head screwed on with your approach.

IWantToBeFree_2

golden_girl wrote: »

My husbands pays £210.00 amonth directly out of his wages for a car on the scheme. He works 35 miles away. 70 miles a day for when he is driving. His 2 other friends who he car shares with will not be able to do this soon. Due to them going on different shifts. There isn't anyone else who travels from this end that he could ask. The mileage allowance on the car is 8 months 8,000 miles. He will not be able to carry on having cars on the scheme as he won't be able to stay within the mileage limit.

Which means as we do not have the cash we will have to get a loan for the car. He needs a reliable car due to the mileage he will be doing. I have looked at Nationwide as they do offer overpayments. The new loan will be no more than the monthly amount already being taken out of his wages so it won't be an extra cost. We wil have an extra £210 (roughly before tax etc. ) in wages As my husband said he has had cars on the scheme for over 5 years and in that time he would have paid for his own car.

That mileage allowance is quite low, who runs the scheme that he is with?

I have a similar set up with my car, I make a salary sacrifice and get the car instead. My first one, I drove 24,000 miles in 13 months, when I got this one they asked me how many miles I would be doing, and I set it at 50,000 over 2 years. They don't care how many miles I do....

Is your husbands set up a salary sacrifice? I.e. is he paying tax on the net figure and then BIK on the car? If so, it could be likely that the tax he saves on the BIK is more than the BIK, so when he stops doing the scheme his tax bill could rise slightly.

Also, does the monthly payment include tax, insurance, services, maintenance etc? If it does, don't forget that you are going to factor in all these costs when you buy your own car, so whilst the loan you take out may be around the same payment, these costs will increase your monthly outgoings significantly.

With regards to having nothing to show for his money, that is correct, but if he is getting the above all thrown in, I would say he hasn't done too badly. Don't forget that cars depreciate so fast, meaning that over 5 years, a car can be worth next to nothing when you come to replace it... Which is even worse if you factor in the interest if you've paid for it via a loan.

golden_girl

IWantToBeFree wrote: »

That mileage allowance is quite low, who runs the scheme that he is with?



I have a similar set up with my car, I make a salary sacrifice and get the car instead. My first one, I drove 24,000 miles in 13 months, when I got this one they asked me how many miles I would be doing, and I set it at 50,000 over 2 years. They don't care how many miles I do....


It is not a salary sacrifice scheme. It gets deducted out if his wage. It is like an loan agreement he has.


Is your husbands set up a salary sacrifice? I.e. is he paying tax on the net figure and then BIK on the car? If so, it could be likely that the tax he saves on the BIK is more than the BIK, so when he stops doing the scheme his tax bill could rise slightly.

Also, does the monthly payment include tax, insurance, services, maintenance etc? If it does, don't forget that you are going to factor in all these costs when you buy your own car, so whilst the loan you take out may be around the same payment, these costs will increase your monthly outgoings significantly.

It includes tax, ins etc. We have an idea which car he is looking to buy and we got a rough quote for the insurance which was £174 for the year.

With regards to having nothing to show for his money, that is correct, but if he is getting the above all thrown in, I would say he hasn't done too badly. Don't forget that cars depreciate so fast, meaning that over 5 years, a car can be worth next to nothing when you come to replace it... Which is even worse if you factor in the interest if you've paid for it via a loan.

It is a good scheme the only downfall is you are not allowed to go over your 8000 miles in 8 months. As he will be doing 350 miles a week just to get to work. This amounts to 1400 a month=11,200 in 8 months. So he will be already going over the mileage and that is just to get to and from work. Don't have any other choice as they do not offer any other mileage allowance. If you go over there is a fine of £250.00 plus a charge per mile over.:mad:

golden_girl

It is not a salary sacrifice scheme. It gets deducted out if his wage. It is like an loan agreement he has.

It includes tax, ins etc. We have an idea which car he is looking to buy and we got a rough quote for the insurance which was £174 for the year.

It is a good scheme the only downfall is you are not allowed to go over your 8000 miles in 8 months. As he will be doing 350 miles a week just to get to work. This amounts to 1400 a month=11,200 in 8 months. So he will be already going over the mileage and that is just to get to and from work. Don't have any other choice as they do not offer any other mileage allowance. If you go over there is a fine of £250.00 plus a charge per mile over.:mad: