Can I ever be debt free?

RAS

Hi

There is no equity in the house - you are in negative equity at the mo

180 - (153+120) = 97K negative equity.

I think you need to talk to one of the debt charities as well as payplan (they are not a charity). See here http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/loans/debt-help-plan#help

smallperson_2

Ok I will go and have a look at one of the debt charities, I do hope they can help us out. do any of them do f2f meetings ? Is there one that you would recommend over the others?

lindens

Thanks for the SOA, before I hand out advice, are those your ACTUAL outgoing figures or are they what you "are allowed" to spend on the dMP?

lindens

smallperson wrote: »

Value of house £180,000
Mortgage outstanding: 153,000
Secured debt: £120k (this is a rough figure from memory the file i need is in the loft which I cant get to until later on)
Unsecured debt: £52084.19 (to complete roughly 2018!!!)

Here is our current SOA:

my income: 2,200 pm this is due to drop to £1800/£1900 1st May
partners income: 880 pm
partners 2nd job: 300pm (does vary due to overtime but not guaranteed)

Total £3380 (there are variables to this when I start earning commission which could be anything from £650 up to £4k)

NOTE: Payplan have an income of £3642 but this is not correct and I am due to send them a revised amount.

Expenditure (note some of the items listed below are what payplan have built into our CURRENT budget they then take what is left over which is currently £500 a month but this is based on current income and this will have to reduce.

Outgoings

Mortgage £900 (includes building and contents insurance £48.58)
First Plus Loan £896
Council tax £126
Elec & gas £80 This seems high, try changing suppliers
Water £40 This seems high are you on a meter
Orange broadband £5 needed for work
Land phone £30
Life assurance £95.49 (we have 3 policies)
HP £178.44 for both cars Can you survive on 1 car?
TV licence £11.77
Insurance car £121 this seems very high, and as above
Petrol £160
Road tax / mot mthly allowance £36.00
Maint £30
Food £320 This is high, can easily halve this. goto OS board on here
Clothing £40 (we dont spend this and use this money for other things bills emergency)
Dentist / contact lenses £40 (contacts are actually £25dd)
pet insurance £35 (two boxers)
hair £16 (we dont put this by and I have my hair done when absolutely essential, every 4mths)
payment cover with payplan £47.95
Mobiles £60 we are in contract so cannot reduce

we currently pay payplan £500pm this is bases on their salary calculations and the above expenditure, I have to send them a revised copy asap as our salaries are lower and we have had rising expenditure costs. I think our payments to them will be considerably lower and I am scared of the impact of this.

I can also have the option to take a company car which would mean I could sell mine and not pay insurance etc but there are tax impliations so not sure what your advice is on that.

Hope this all makes sense !

Hope this helps, others will be along with some more good ideas

Gemmzie

The SOA is a bit irrelevant with such negative equity, as RAS said please speak to Payplan or CCCS or National Debtline.

Good luck

GemGems

Hello Smallperson,

I am a newbie too and bit of a novice but looking at your expenditure I noticed the amount you are spending on contact lenses. If you google on the internet there are various companies you can go direct to for contact lenses and get them alot cheaper than the £25pm your spending, even dailies. This may help a little bit in getting you on your way.

I have just googled 'cheap contact lenses' and it has bought up lots of sites. Just an idea and may be worth a look

Good luck with everything

Gems x

GDS

Hi Smallperson,

I’m in a very similar position to you so I’m watching this thread with great interest. Your life insurance does seem quite high, we’ve just changed using the method on main site and managed to get £80 cash back through Quidco.

Good Luck.

smallperson_2

Thanks GDS, it is high and I have been lazy really so I will have a good look at what is on offer with a view to changing asap to save some money.

Emily

smallperson_2

Thanks Gems Gems, I will have a look on the net for cheaper lenses as, they and day and night ones but as you say im sure I can save some pennies and at the moment I need to save everything !

I will go and speak to CCCS to get their advice as to how to move forward with the other stuff.

smallperson_2

Hi Lindens

the insurance is for two cars, we cant really survive on one car as i need mine as I am a sales person and needs to be out on the road and my other half is an on call fireman so has to have a car to hand at all times. my company has offered me a company car which would save us money but I am not sure whether to go for it or not due to being taxed more then on my salary.

Food shop we dont tend to spend that much that is the allowance that PP have given us, we tend to spend £40 per week or do a big shop at the start of the month and then dont need to shop.

Gas and elec when doing comparisons i havent found someone that much cheaper but I need to spend some quality time doing it really so I will do so this weekend. The water is not on a meter, I think it is actually about £30 pm.