Nervous newbie

theonlywayis_up

Hi, I've read some of the threads here and have decided to take the plunge and share my SOA. I'm staring to really depressed about my debt, but can see there's lots of support out there. So here goes..

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet



Monthly Income Details

Monthly income after tax................ 1275

Other income............................ 181 (mileage paid in work)

Total monthly income.................... 1456



Monthly Expense Details

Mortgage................................ 427

Council tax............................. 69

Electricity............................. 46

Gas..................................... 20

Water rates............................. 40

Telephone (land line)................... 20

Mobile phone............................ 0

TV Licence.............................. 12

Internet Services....................... 0

Groceries etc. ......................... 86

Clothing................................ 17

Petrol/diesel........................... 86

Road tax................................ 15

Car Insurance........................... 60

Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 20

Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0

Buildings insurance..................... 15

Contents insurance...................... 14

Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 12

Haircuts................................ 5

Entertainment........................... 100

Holiday................................. 25

Emergency fund.......................... 30

Total monthly expenses.................. 1119



Assets

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

House value (Gross)..................... 95000

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

Car(s).................................. 1000

Other assets............................ 0

Total Assets............................ 96000



Secured Debts

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

Mortgage...................... 78344....(427)......6.69

Total secured debts........... 78344.....-.........-



Unsecured Debts

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

Natwest Credit Card............278.......6.........22.94

CITI Credit Card...............3589.49...110.......24.9

RBS Credit Card................4674......107.......15.94

Natwest Overdraft..............3400......43........29.6

Egg Personal Loan..............3732......101.......7.66

Egg Credit Card................2842......59........26.9

Total unsecured debts..........18515.49..426.......-



Monthly Budget Summary

Total monthly income.................... 1,456

Expenses (including secure debts)....... 1,119

Available for debt repayments........... 337

Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 426

Surplus(deficit if negative)............ -89



Personal Balance Sheet Summary

Total assets (things you own)........... 96,000

Total Secured debt...................... -78,344

Total Unsecured debt.................... -18,515.49

Personal net worth...................... -859.49



Created using the SOA calculator at www.makesenseofcards.com.

Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission.



======== Enter any other useful information below ========

I've put down £100 entertainment as lots of others have included, but as as you can see I'm in negative expenditure by the end of it, and in reality dont have 'entertainment' money. I also have an £800 VAT bill still to pay, and £550 owed from a previous unsucessfull business venture. The failed business is the main reason I'm in so much trouble, but I want to forget about that and concentrate on getting debt free.

O, also have unpaid gas bill of £185.

From reading all the other helpfull threads I'm thinking of 3 or 4 options, but don't know which is best..

1) IVA or DMP

2) Consolidation Loan (If I would qualify for a reasonable rate and term)
3) Getting better interest rates (I know mine are TERRIBLE:eek:-has come about from late payments)
4) Sell house, clear all debt and rent for a while - this option is seeming better by the day as it would be a huge relief not to have all that debt:j


It just seems that even though I'm on a half decent wage, it's going to take years before I clear things. I have a great job that I really enjoy, but as soon as I come home I get depressed, feel in a right mess and don't know where to start- gotta sort this debt out!

GeorgeUK

Welcome TOWIU

Lots of CC's at nasty APR's
Have you applied for any credit recently? You can usually have about 3 credit searches within 6 months before your credit score is affected. Not sure you'll get alot of credit, but you could apply for a Virgin Money CC which has 0% on balance transfers for 15 months. Reducing the amount of interest you are paying would be a good idea.

Council tax - if you are paying over 10 months can you ask to pay it over 12?
Electricity - can you shop around for a better deal?
No internet?

I'm sure others will be able to see other things.

If you don't think your credit rating will be very good, some CC providers try to keep existing customers from closing their accounts by offering 0% deals. May be worth considering with such a low balance on the natwest card - Then deal with the cards in order of highest APR first.

Cleosmum

5) Make a plan and chip away at it all, you will benefit from it, whereas if you sold your house and cleared it you wouldnt really learn anything

As you say you need to "cut" the £100 ents, which you say you dont spend, and things already look brighter

You car insurance is a huge amount, can you change that? When is renewal? Shop around and buy via a cashback site.

As George says, try paying CT over 12 months. If you live alone do you get your discount? And good advice about transferring onto 0% cards.

Do you have a spare room that you could rent out?

immoral_angeluk

Hi hun. Please don't be depressed. We're a friendly bunch here and you should be proud that you're taking the first steps to dealing with your debt.

immoral_angeluk

£40 a month for your water????

Cleosmum

immoral_angeluk wrote: »

£40 a month for your water????

Lol it is a lot, but then mines £39 pm :eek: the joys of a meter

theonlywayis_up

Cheers guys, in answer to the above....
Yeah got internet, its included in the phone package.
Good one on the 12 month Council Tax, will ring tomorow. Already down as single person.
Water is expensive, but have just found out from a neighbour that I shouldn't be paying the 'surface water drainage and foul' part of the bill, so would save £23/month there!
As for car insurance, renewal's not till December time unfortunately.
The Electricity is so high as I'm clearing arrears.
As for 0% Virgin CC, will look into it, just a bit worried that these types of deals may not be around too much longer with the credit crunch here. It would certainly save in interest if I did get one tho.

Thanks again,
TOWIU

immoral_angeluk

Cleosmum wrote: »

Lol it is a lot, but then mines £39 pm :eek: the joys of a meter

Ah... was going to say. We have a bill and it's £24 a month for 8 months!

LilacPixie

Welcome to the board

First things that jump out at me are you get £181 for mileage yet only spend £86 on fuel i'm a bit confused. Does that mean nearly all your petrol/deisel is used for work purposes??

Ctax does that include single persons discount if you live alone?

Have a little shop around for insurances £29 for B&C and £60 for car insurance i'm sure you could shave a little off them. Have a lookd at quidco and see if you can get a litle cash back as well.

Other than that cut the entertainment that you don't spend anyway and things look a little more healthy.

theonlywayis_up

The 'petrol' bill is for LPG which luckily costs half as much as petrol! About half of it is work use.
re the buildings ins, I've a leasehold property and am tied into it, but I will see if I can get cheaper contents-cheers

TOWIU

theonlywayis_up

May be worth considering with such a low balance on the natwest card - Then deal with the cards in order of highest APR first.

In response to GeorgeUK, how would you suggest going about asking Natwest CC to go to a 0%, would this show as a new credit deal on credit report?