Here's my story! - SOA

woosutt

Hi,

I had my lightbulb moment about a month ago and since then my husband and I have really cut back and changed alot of our spending habits. However, I realise that if we want to get rid of our huge debt asap, we really need to look at everything in our finances and come up with a real action plan. Finding this board has been fantastic because it's made me realise that i'm not the only person who's got themselves into big debt! I regret my actions so much but i'm fully focused now on getting rid of this debt.

I'm 25 and we have £16275 debt on credit cards and a loan of £15880. We realise we need to live a very basic life until we shift the debt. I just desperately want to get rid of the debt in as quicker time as possible.

This is my SOA:

Monthly Income Details:
Monthly income after tax = 1000
Partners monthly income after tax =1450
Other income = 0 (i make money from mystery shopping but this is unreliable so i won't count it on here)
Total monthly income = 2450

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage = 777
Management charge (leasehold flat) = 70
Council tax =102
Electricity= 75
Water rates = 20
Telephone, Internet and Tv = 35
Mobile phones (mine and my husbands) = 70
TV Licence = 11
Groceries etc. = 120
Petrol = 120
Road tax =16
Car Insurance = 38
Other travel = 38
Pet insurance = 12
Contents insurance = 13
Life assurance = 16
Presents (birthday, christmas etc) =10
Payment to Husbands Dad for loan = 25
Gym membership = 38
Husbands Sport = 16
Total monthly expenses = 1622

Secured Debts
Description....................Debt.........Monthly....APR
Mortgage...................... 158000......777.......5.89
Total secured debts = 158000

Unsecured Debts
Description
hsbc loan = £15,880 at 6.49% (paying £305 per month until Sep 2012)
hsbc credit card = £1625 at 15.9%
Mint credit card = £4150 at 0% until Feb 09 and then at 12.9%
Virgin credit card = £7850 at 0% until Aug 08 and then at 15.9%
Husband's overdraft = £1350 at 9.9%
My overdraft = 1300 at 9.9%
Total unsecured debts = £32,155

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,450
Expenses (including secured debts)....... 1,622
Available for debt repayments........... 828


The hsbc loan is something we pay £305 per month towards and this won't be paid off until Sep 2012. But the rest which amounts to is all on credit cards/overdrafts and it is this debt we want to clear asap. That way we only have the loan repayment and life will be so much easier.

My main worry at the moment is the fact that my large virgin credit card ends its 0% period in August and i'm worried I will not be able to get another 0%. I feel sick at the thought of my repayment only covering the high interest. I guess I just have to keep my fingers crossed.

I'm really looking forward to sharing ideas on this board and getting debt free as soon as we can.

Thanks for reading!

poppyg_2

Your SOA looks pretty impressive, well done

Have you tried applying for one of the life of balance low APR cards for balance transfers? I think Barclays do one which has APR of approx 6%, maybe you could apply for one to transfer the HSBC card to as APR on that is pretty high

Stinkybell

Petrol payments seem very high, and is the gym membership really needed?

woosutt

Thanks for your replies.

Petrol costs are high i agree. We've got one car which is an old old bmw. I've realised it's not very economical but we don't have a spare penny to buy a new car. So stuck with that for now.

I'm tied into the gym membership until October and will be canceling it from then. So that will be an extra £38 per month from October.

I'm too scared to apply for another credit card just yet. My husband got rejected about 3 months ago, so we're trying to hold out another 3 months until one of us applies for a new lob or 0%. My virgin card goes up to 15.9% in August so i pray that a new card accepts me by then!

Any advice on lob/0% cards that tend to be quite generous on lending? Or any to avoid?

poppyg_2

There's a smart search you can do to get an idea of how likely you are to be accepted or try having a look at the credit card forums on here, might give you an idea

Might be worth getting a copy of your credit report if you haven't already done this???

RedDino308

Hi Woosutt and welcome,

I'm sure that many more people will be along to help. In the meantime though.

1) £75 for electricity in a flat is very high. Have a look at changing your tariff. There is an article on here somewhere for that.

2) £70 for mobile phones. Again very high and you should look at battering these right down to about a quarter of that amount. Again read through Martin's article about how to nail them.

3) Shame about the Gym membership. Do check the T&Cs for this. Mine had a 3 month notice period that I really had to fight to get out of. You may want to give them your notice now stating that you are leaving on xyz date.
Good luck

RD308