Finally posting SOA - any ideas welcome

sashanut

No not a castle - just a big old house.. & you are right it is so much! Our elec (& gas) provider is EDF. Because we have 4 elec meters they couldn't put us on the 'normal' bill - so we are on the small business bill last month we got a massive envelope filled with estimated bills - about £13000 worth. After DH nearly having a heart attack, we got the right reading - but it was still £948.50 for the quarter..

sashanut

Sorry, knew I must have made mistakes - Mortgage is deffo not 0% - it is/was a Woolwich Openplan offset mortgage, now Barclays. Taken out when we imagined (wrongly) that we would have surplus cash to offset. Not sure of the rate, doesn't say on any of the statements

shadydaz

sashanut wrote: »

Hi everyone

I have finally more or less completed my SOA which is listed (i hope) below. As you can see our outgoings are large, mainly due to massive CC debt & this is what I need most help with please. I am useless at transferring balances etc & always miss deadlines - although I have shifted quite a bit onto a virgin 0% deal! We have a big house & a lot of our outgoings are also large...we are self-employed & the business has been very poor the last 2 years so have made no real impression on the debt mountain, have sold things to make ends meet at times & are still doing so. Have taken an average of the last 3 months money to give monthly income but it is slightly skewed as we have to pay VAT & etc in chunks quarterly plus tax. Business might be due to get better in the Autumn & need some pointers as how best to approach the CC debt to drive it down so we are not living on the edge all the time... hope you helpful people can make some suggestions:

PS my Egg card is just offering me the 0% deal till November but have no room on the card; there are 2 adults & 1 DD17 in household; loan is not secured but is due to be paid off in August - but at £400/month that's £1200 - double what is owed?? Should I get a settlement figure & pay it off first???There is no harm in asking for a settlement figure but they will charge an admin fee for the priviledge, it seems to me you will not save much if anything but still worth a try.

Monthly income after tax................ 3600
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 75
Other income............................ 750
Total monthly income.................... 4425

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 1113
Secured loan repayments................. 400
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold flat)...... 0
Council tax............................. 189
Electricity............................. 237
Gas..................................... 145 You really need to work on these, do you have a pool?
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 66
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 0
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 114 as suggested try alternative providers
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 250 tried cutting back?
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 150
Road tax................................ 300 A month? or year?
Car Insurance........................... 300 ditto
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 200 Try to cut this back a bit too
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)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 3476

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 775000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 7500
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 782500

Secured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 149578...(1113).....0
Secured Debt.................. 635......(400)......7.66
Total secured debts........... 150213....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
A&L credit card................8739......167.......24.95 ouch redirect first
M CITI.........................1925......44........16.6
P CITI.........................1215......36........16.6 pay second
EGG P..........................1602......33........19.9 pay third
EGG M..........................12876.....258.......17.9 redirect second
VIRGIN P.......................2866......52........15.94
VIRGIN M.......................9308......145.......0
M&S............................1374......35........20.9 pay first
LLOYDS AIRMILES................7406......149.......21.94 redirect third
LLOYDS PLAT....................6380......128.......18.94
Total unsecured debts..........53691.....1047......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 4,425
Expenses (including secured debts)....... 3,476
Available for debt repayments........... 949
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 1,047
Surplus(deficit if negative)............ -98

TIA if you can help:D

If you can get some cash together and clear off the three or four smaller cards then redirect those monthly payments onto the other highest interest cards. You will save quite a bit. I hope this helps, when I decided it was debt crunching time i adopted this method and am finding it satisfying and motivating to see one thing wiped out at a time. The motivation to get the money together for the next "clearance" grows each time..

Some people might disagree with this strategy and may have a better way. I found that this works for me though.

Good Luck

sashanut

littlemissmoney wrote: »

Do you really spend on none of these??

?

Do have contents/building insurance but they are in with the mortage(s). Do not have life insurance/Do not spend on clothes this year - so far - very little spent on ent/or anything else really, no holiday, haircuts should be in there for me but not DH as I cut his:rotfl:

littlemissmoney

sashanut wrote: »

Do have contents/building insurance but they are in with the mortage(s).

By this do you mean they were sold to you at the same time as the mortgage or is their cost is actually included in the mortgage interest rate? If it's the former, you can almost certainly save money by shopping around.

Also, do you really need two cars?

A bit extreme, but could you consider down-sizing your house? I'm just throwing ideas out there...

Dez-Titute

Hi Sashanut,
You seem to have a very small mortgage and a lot of equity in your property.I think you have 2 options these are
1) Remortgage and clear all outstanding debt and therfore reducing your monthly out goings.
2)Sell up and downsize or maybe rent until you're back on your feet.
Hope you get sorted.

littlemissmoney

Are lodgers an option? Presumably you have spare rooms? There is a rent-a-room scheme that means you can have a certain amount of rent tax free.

Deep_In_Debt

As I appreciate you live in a large house, but you might be able to reduce your water. I had a meter fitted free last year and my bills have reduced by over £20 per month and it makes you more aware of the water you use - not leaving taps running, only using the washing machine once a week, not using dish washer. Might not be viable for you but just a thought, - might be worth giving your water authority a call and see what they say.

suzialwaysbroke

littlemissmoney wrote: »

Are lodgers an option? Presumably you have spare rooms? There is a rent-a-room scheme that means you can have a certain amount of rent tax free.

What the above poster said really, as your house is a big fat moneypit(!!!) can it earn some money in any way, lodger/s was my first thought, or holidays/students etc.
my DD1 had students (4) in her 2 bed flat last summer & it was a useful sum of money to earn.

love Suzi xx

Deep_In_Debt

Again, I'll second (or third, or whatever!) what the above posters say. My mum has taken in foreign exchange students and the colleges pay a small amount - mainly food costs and a little extra but it all helped.