Advice Needed

ad1jnl

Dear All,

This is my first and I'm getting to a stage with debt where it is becoming unmanageable. I currently owe £22k approx on top of the mortgage.
These are as follows

Student Loan - £8000
Personal Loan - £7000
Credit Card - £7500
Overdraft - £850

The main issue has been an unplanned for increase in my wage which has taken me just over my deferrment limit. This was not something I budgeted for and led to me spending more each month and have been regularly getting charged for going over my limit at £25 a pop.

I phoned the student loan company to see if I could renegotiate the repayment amount but they said I was paying the minimum at the amount. It a struggle at the mo and isn't doing my head any good and am suffering from depression. The student loan repayment is £120, personal loan £129 and credit card £75. I earn around £1500 each month. I've read the CAB advise and it talks about negiotiating with credit companies - I've got some kind of budget drawn up but was wondering what kind of monthly living expenses are reasonable. I know I have to try and sought something.

Just feel a bit ashamed I've got into this situation and can see something going badly wrong (ie lose my home/job) if I don't sort it out.

Jon

RedDino308

Hi There,

First of all well done in posting that lot up. I'm sure many people will be along to give you some excellent advice.

The next thing to do is to post up your SOA so that you can look at how to reduce your monthly outgoings.

HTH

RD308

ad1jnl

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1580
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1580

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 704
Secured loan repayments................. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold flat)...... 65
Council tax............................. 70
Electricity............................. 55
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 21
Telephone (land line)................... 11
Mobile phone............................ 0
TV Licence.............................. 11
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 24
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 120
Clothing................................ 40
Petrol/diesel........................... 0
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 10
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 10
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 20
Haircuts................................ 10
Entertainment........................... 120
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1291

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 119500
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 0
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 119500

Secured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 108000...(704)......5.99
Total secured debts........... 108000....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
A&L Credit Card................7500......70........0
A&L Personal Loan..............7233......129.......0
Student Loan...................6940......120.......0
Total unsecured debts..........21673.....319.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,580
Expenses (including secured debts)....... 1,291
Available for debt repayments........... 289
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 319
Surplus(deficit if negative)............ -30

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 119,500
Total Secured debt...................... -108,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -21,673
Personal net worth...................... -10,173

Created using the SOA calculator at https://www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission.


This is roughly my SOA - however I think I may be understating certain things

kazwookie

For food is that just for you or how many?

Entertainment will have to be capped for now, and that money used for paying of the debts, have nights in instead, get friends round and bring a bottle etc with them.

Others will be along soon.

Good luck and well done for posting up

ad1jnl

Hi,

Yes the food is just for me - so I'm looking about £30 per week.

poorandindenial

can you ditch the pay monthly tv??? if you want more than five channels you can get freeview for a one off payment of something like £20-30 (not sure, been ages since i got my freevuiew box, probably three years and it was £35); that in itself would nearly cover the deficit.

Jvic28

Yeh, I have to agree. In times of need you gotta cut back.

• Lose the Sky TV cos you can't afford it or you'll have to find other ways to cut back.

• I'm in a state with finances and I'm afraid I can't spend £40 a month on clothing. That can be 1/2'd at least. Think of it as a treat at the end of every month and go and get a new item (poss sub £20)

• You're food budget can definately be reduced. I'm not saying starve but really plan what you're going to be eating ahead and stick to it when you go shopping. We budget £160 a month but thats for 2 people and it's an over estimation. Take the time to look round for the offers.

• You're entertainment costs can also come down for the time being. Invite friends round and tell them to bring a bottle. You can have just as much fun being the host of a little party.

If you do these little things you should be coming out on top (slightly).

If you can't cut back you're going to end up damaging you're credit report. Even if you come to arrangements of lower payments with your creditors, your score will suffer.

x

Miss_Marple_2

Hello :hello: welcome and well done on posting. If I had found this site when I was in your position, I wouldn't have gone on to get in a total mess, which is taking me years to get out of

You are in a great position to just tighten your belt slightly and meet all your contracted payments, and so not affect your credit in the future.

What is your entertainment budget for ? Maybe you could knock a few quid of that and you'd be paying your debts no problem. If you knock a few quid off your food and clothes as well, you could throw a bit extra at your debts - before you know it, you will be debt free.

Treat it like a project - keep a spending diary and a speadsheet of your debts and how much you are paying off them - I do this, and any extra I pay just brings in my debt free date and I get (sad I know) really excited when it comes in by another month!

nivir

Hi

I read your post and felt like it was me.I'm new to MSE and have been reading through all the good advice. it's nice to know i'm not alone and the posts are supportive. My problem is mainly that i racked up a certain amount of debts on cards, but now that is getting way out of control and i am paying up to £500 a month on debts. I wouldn't mind so much if it was actually going to paying some of it off but it is purely on interest. I am beginning to feel desperate because even with cutbacks i have made, I am spending about £300 a month more than i earn and getting deeper into debt. I am considering an iva, but i have bought my house with a friend and don't want to put her at risk.
I would like to find a way to get my debt repayments down to £300 or so a month. Should I try contacting my card companies and see what they say? what is the best approach for this?

So, i have done my SOA and here it is:

tt]Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1445
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1445

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 363
Secured loan repayments................. 300
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold flat)...... 33
Council tax............................. 43
Electricity............................. 10
Gas..................................... 22
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 16
Telephone (land line)................... 15
Mobile phone............................ 80
TV Licence.............................. 6
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 0
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 25
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 15
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 50
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 6
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 20
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 50
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1054

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 200000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 2000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 202000

Secured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 45000....(363)......0
Secured Debt.................. 0........(300)......0
Total secured debts........... 45000.....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
credit cards ..................12000.....300.......17
loan...........................20000.....300.......7
Total unsecured debts..........32000.....600.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,445
Expenses (including secured debts)....... 1,054
Available for debt repayments........... 391
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 600
Surplus(deficit if negative)............ -209

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 202,000
Total Secured debt...................... -45,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -32,000
Personal net worth...................... 125,000

any advice would be much appreciated!

ad1jnl

Thanks everyone,

The spreadsheets done - I can be debt free in about 5 years (well probably quicker) - it cleared me head a bit with it as things were starting to get a bit overwhelming and I can see an end in sight :j

Will take up the advice on food planning and spending dairy as well - as I need to get control with it. I'm lucky in that I can meet the payments (well provided I sort my spending out) so it could be worse. Was looking at the Debt Management and IVA's but it looks like they damaging the credit rating and would rather not go down that road.

Cheers