I heart NY - Our journey to and across the Pond

newyorkcitybride

Hi,

I've read through a lot of posts on this board over the past few days and was hoping I could pick some brains...

My husband and I are starting to feel things are a bit "tight" in regards to money.
We both earn an averagely ok wage, have no kids and rent our flat.

However we both have debts.
Mine is in the region of 7k, and his 17k.
These debts are predominantly individual, and we accrued them before we met. Now in my mind I want to get mine paid off as soon as possible, but I dont really see why I should pay for his and vice versa.

We did apply for a consolidation loan end of feb, and have just found out its been declined, which I personally am quite glad about. But it might be easier for me to say that because my debts are pretty low-ish...

So.... in order to help... which I'm hoping this board can, what information does anyone need?

sparky0107

newyorkcitybride wrote: »

Hi,

I've read through a lot of posts on this board over the past few days and was hoping I could pick some brains...

My husband and I are starting to feel things are a bit "tight" in regards to money.
We both earn an averagely ok wage, have no kids and rent our flat.

However we both have debts.
Mine is in the region of 5k, and his 16k.
These debts are predominantly individual, and we accrued them before we met. Now in my mind I want to get mine paid off as soon as possible, but I dont really see why I should pay for his and vice versa.

We did apply for a consolidation loan end of feb, and have just found out its been declined, which I personally am quite glad about. But it might be easier for me to say that because my debts are pretty low-ish...

So.... in order to help... which I'm hoping this board can, what information does anyone need?

Hi newyorkcitybride,
Welcome to the site, you need to put your SOA (Statement of Affairs) on here, this is a list of all your income & outgoings, with outstanding balances, APR's & minimum payments etc, also your monthly outgoings for food, gas, rent, council tax etc.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=806277

This link will take you to a post from clariman, use the link in that post to take you to the SOA calculator, remember to save it & use the format button for MSE.

Good luck

RAS

Hi

When you do you SOA, it is worth listing each debt, with APR, amount outstanding/number of payments left, and minimum payments/maximum limit for CCs. For loans, if you are allowed to over-pay, indicate that as well.

The other things to look at is the snowball on www.whatsthecost.com.

newyorkcitybride

Thanks for the advice. I had a look through the site and entered in what I know so far.
Some things are estimates, like Husbands car expenses, since I have no idea about them!:o



Monthly income after tax................ 1143
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1600
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2743

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured loan repayments................. 0
Rent.................................... 650
Management charge (leasehold flat)...... 0
Council tax............................. 120
Electricity............................. 25
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 35
Mobile phone............................ 60
TV Licence.............................. 13
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 26
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 200
Clothing................................ 20
Petrol/diesel........................... 200
Road tax................................ 10
Car Insurance........................... 50
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 5
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 10
Haircuts................................ 20
Entertainment........................... 12
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1456

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 5000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 5000

No Secured Debt

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mum............................5000......100.......0
Abbey card.....................1728.9....50........19.9
I.F card.......................200.......20........4.95
overdraft C................600.......5.........0
computer.......................425.......14........21.8
abbey loan 2...................2456......89........19.9
abbey loan 1...................4553......136.......14.9
Car............................5405......147.......12.3
MBNA...........................1004......35........29.9
Halifax........................2517......55........19.95
Overdraft J......................900.......5.........0
Store card.....................223.......12........29.9
Total unsecured debts..........25011.9...668.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,743
Expenses (including secure debts)....... 1,456
Available for debt repayments........... 1,287
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 668
Surplus(deficit if negative)............ 619

Although to be honest, I dont feel as though we have 619 spare a month... so I must be missing something on there!

newyorkcitybride

Forgot to add, everything is over-payable aside from husbands car, loans and computer.

dancingfairy

Hi and welcome. Let me see what I can suggest although I'm sure there will loads more people along with more ideas.

Mortgage................................ 0
Secured loan repayments................. 0
Rent.................................... 650
Management charge (leasehold flat)...... 0
Council tax............................. 120
Electricity............................. 25
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 35
Mobile phone............................ 60 - is this yours or both? or what? perhaps you can go a package or 2 lower? maybe try and cut them both to £20 a month? - phone them and say you want a better deal as xyz network (find out what the others are offering) are doing what I've got for £20 or whatever.
TV Licence.............................. 13
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 26 - do you really need this? perhaps you could get a freeview box - depends how desperate you are to get out of debt really.
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 200 - I'm sure you could cut this down a bit with more home cooking, planning your meals etc, batch cooking - ie cook double and freeze meals.
Clothing................................ 20 - could you skip this for a couple of months and use what you have already?
Petrol/diesel........................... 200
Road tax................................ 10
Car Insurance........................... 50
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 5
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 10
Haircuts................................ 20
Entertainment........................... 12
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1456


On paper you have quite a bit spare every month so perhaps you would find a spending diary useful. You need to record everything - bus tickets/the 'odd' coke/pint/cd/dvd/new top/magazine/cigarettes/bottled water - whatever your vice is. You will be surprised where it all goes.

I think you should try and pay the store card off first while making min payments on the rest as the apr is soooo high - also it's a relatively small debt and will encourage you to tackle the rest.

Good Luck

RAS

NYCB

Your most expensive debts are the MBNA and Store card. Those debts will get bigger if you only pay the minimum. Those are your priorities. Then the Abbey and Halifax cards, if you cannot do anything with the computer and abbey loans.

I also suspect that the car maintenance is not high enough. How much is a set of tyres?

I would suggest that you both keep a spending diary for a month to see where that £619 is going.

Also do you have anything that you can sell on e-bay, amazon or at a car boot? Can you reclaim and credit card charges? You could certaily reduce your satellite and phone cards a lot as well. Do some comaparisons and swap via www.quidco.com to get cash back towards the debts.

newyorkcitybride

Hi,

Thanks for all your feedback.

The Sky payment also includes our broadband and since I dont go out much I consider it our entertainment...
The food budget, yes you are right this could be cut down, with better planning for lunches etc. However this is prooving to be a bit of an issue with my husband as he is quite a fussy eater and also has a bit of a junk food habit.... forgive me if it sounds a bit rude to say of your own husband, but his eating habits and tastes are quite "teenage", loads of junk stuff, crisps, chocolates etc...
It would be ok if he simply didnt eat what wasn't in the house but he'll just go out and buy it himself, which sends us round in circles!

Clothing isnt really a monthly expense, but over the year I would say about roughly that amount gets spent, especially with husbands work gear he has to pay out for.

Mobiles - this is for both of us. I have tried limiting my usage to the bare minimum with the allowances it gives me. I've checked my contract info and in 3 months I shud be able to review the contratc I'm on to swap up or down, but not cancel.

I totally agree that looking at it saying we've got £600 a month, somethings not quite adding up somewhere!
I've been writing in my diary for work, what I've spent per day, and it is prooving helpful even after a week... One thing I must make sure I do is reclaim work expenses and pay them back into my account as opposed to having the cash to hand.

I'm aiming to pay off the store card, or at very least make a considerable overpayment to it this month, but I am just waiting for all my direct debits/standing orders to clear from my account to see what I have left over.

RAS

If your hubbie is a bit of a techie, try getting him onto the snowball I mentioned above.

it shows how long it will take to clear the debt and the impact of every extra payment. So you can see that you have the choice of paying megabucks over 7 years or pulling your belt in and paying not a lot over 2 years, say.

if you are lucky, he will get hooked on it. Then he will understand the consequences of those junk food purchases.

newyorkcitybride

RAS wrote: »

NYCB

Your most expensive debts are the MBNA and Store card. Those debts will get bigger if you only pay the minimum. Those are your priorities. Then the Abbey and Halifax cards, if you cannot do anything with the computer and abbey loans. Yes I totally agree with you on this one.

I also suspect that the car maintenance is not high enough. How much is a set of tyres? Must admit that was a shot in the dark as I'm not responsible/aware of anything to do with running the car as I dont drive/use it... I will try and get a better figure from husband on this.

I would suggest that you both keep a spending diary for a month to see where that £619 is going.

Also do you have anything that you can sell on e-bay, amazon or at a car boot? Can you reclaim and credit card charges? You could certaily reduce your satellite and phone cards a lot as well. Do some comaparisons and swap via www.quidco.com to get cash back towards the debts.
Thanks. Unfortunately when we moved, we had a fit of getting rid of lots of unused items, which at the time we did not think of selling on Ebay and we just donated them, or binned what was of poor condition.
Neither of us have any charges on our accounts which we checked for earlier. Bit of a shame almost :rotfl:

I hope this makes sense... got to admit theres a lot of information to use/help/guide it's seeming a bit overwhelming but thanks to everyone for the advice and please keep it coming.
I really want to get the debts under control a lot more, especially while we're young so that we can then start looking toward buying a home and starting a family, neither of which I will do until the debts are under control...

newyorkcitybride

RAS wrote: »

If your hubbie is a bit of a techie, try getting him onto the snowball I mentioned above.

it shows how long it will take to clear the debt and the impact of every extra payment. So you can see that you have the choice of paying megabucks over 7 years or pulling your belt in and paying not a lot over 2 years, say.

if you are lucky, he will get hooked on it. Then he will understand the consequences of those junk food purchases.

Hi again :rotfl:
I've put him on the snowball in the other room and he's been given 42 months to pay his debts off, but that is considering the loans/computer as unflexible.

Am I right to think when he has paid off everything except the unflexible debts he should be putting aside the difference between the set payment amounts and what he has available to service the debts so that when he has enough he can make a lump sum settlement payment to these unflexible debts?
Just so I've got it straight in my head. :rolleyes:

he does kind of get it, but its a glazed over understanding... He has it in his head that he still needs to live and enjoy life. Maybe I cant understand that as much as my debts (aside than from my mum) could be taken care of within 12 months, so it doesnt seem that hard to me to give them up for that long, whereas he is facing a longer stretch?:o