Where to start?

EssexHebridean · 21 February 2019 at 2:34PM

Usual - comments in red (Some may already have been covered by others)

kjw327 wrote: »

Taken a bit of work but here I am, SOA and debts included:

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 4
Number of cars owned.................... 2 Allowing that your partner isn't working currently do you actually need two cars?

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 2500
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0 This needs to increase - even if by the small amount that doing online surveys or similar would allow - this is a case of "every little helps"
Benefits................................ 207 You've checked this is all you ar entitled to?
Other income............................ 120
Total monthly income.................... 2827

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 268
Rent.................................... 580
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 129 is this paid over 10 months? If so make sure that this and next month's payment are put either to am emergency fund or straight to debt, then look to pay over 12 months from the start of the new financial year.
Electricity............................. 164 Ouch this is high! Have a read of the guide on the main site to cutting use, get everyone on board with turning things off/shorter showers etc, and also make sure that you're on the cheapest tariff you can be - use the MSE Cheap Energy club for this.
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0 comments below noted.
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 82 How many phones? Can any of them be cut down to a basic SIM only plan?
TV Licence.............................. 12.5
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 130 I hope this includes more than the internet? If it's landline and TV as well then look to cut the package right back just as soon as any contract tie-in allows.
Groceries etc. ......................... 600 You can certainly reduce this a lot - think about ensuring that everything is cooked from scratch rather than using convenience options, and make the most pf the deals like Aldi Super 6 and Lidl Pick of the week
Clothing................................ 100 Too much - younger kids can be clothed for very little from hand-downs, eBay & charity shops, older ones avoid anything branded like the plague - I promise they'll live. You & partner need to go essentials only for now.
Petrol/diesel........................... 120 Read the guide on the main site on reducing usage and make sure you fill up at the best priced garages where you can
Road tax................................ 65
Car Insurance........................... 119
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 100 The car costs are killing you - you REALLY need to ditch one of the cars.
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 55 Is this anything that can be reduced at all, even if just in the short term?
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 23
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0 PLEASE tell me you have this in place and have just forgotten to fill in the details? If not go and get at least a basic policy sorted RIGHT NOW!
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 34 Is this essential?
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0 Not realistic. Think how much you spent over the last 12 months, halve that amount, and then divide by 12 and fill that figure in here.
Haircuts................................ 25
Entertainment........................... 50
Holiday................................. 50
Emergency fund.......................... 50
Total monthly expenses.................. 2756.5

Assets
Cash.................................... 3300 I see that this is the EF, holiday savings (I have to break it to you that I don't think you can afford a holiday right now though), car maintenance money etc. As you're renting I would cap the emergency fund at £500, think about using the holiday money to pay off a chunk of debt, and see if there is any surplus currently in car maintenance savings - as an aside on that if paying insurance and tax monthly you may be putting away a little more than needed here.
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 9000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 12300

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 0........(0)........0
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 804......(268)......9.9 Ahh this is nearly gone then - good news.
Total secured & HP debts...... 804.......-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Cabot (Next)...................1574......0.........0
Robinson Way (Vanq)............3476.85...10........0
Wescot (Barclays)..............7195.88...0.........0
U/K (Argos)*...................1797......0.........0
Lowell (Cap1)*.................4336.42...0.........0
Robinson Way (Barc)*...........2923.95...0.........0
U/K (Vanq)*....................3425......0.........0
Cabot (Next)*..................1730.72...0.........0
Cabot (Zopa)...................1274.05...0.........0
PRA (MBNA).....................8523.42...10........0
Cred Sec Ltd (Halifa)..........2504.91...0.........0
Lowell (Cap1)..................1608.29...0.........0
Lowell (Cap1)..................2724.39...0.........0
Total unsecured debts..........43094.88..20........-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,827
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,756.5
Available for debt repayments........... 70.5
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 20
Amount left after debt repayments....... 50.5 And do you have this left?

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 12,300
Total HP & Secured debt................. -804
Total Unsecured debt.................... -43,094.88
Net Assets.............................. -31,598.88

Created using the SOA calculator
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using other browser.

Some points to note:

1 - The debts with an * are in my wife's name.I assume you're planning on working through this together though?
2 - The £130 for internet services is for TV/Fibre and phone with Virgin. I gave my month notice to leave today so this will give me some money back to the pot but I need to arrange phone/broadband now. Good call - I've mentioned this below. Get a basic BB package and go with freeview for TV - or use Netflix and take it out of your entertainment budget.
3 - I have 3 payments left on the HP agreement 24 Feb/Mar/Apr so that's back in the pot then.
4- The £3300 cash is made up of our emergency fund/holiday/debt free fund. The debt free fund is what I have been saving since we went completely off the grid as far as the creditors were concerned. The holiday - you REALLY have to think about whether that's a good use of funds I'd suggest.
5 - I have put four children but my eldest has left education t is now working. Her contribution is the £120 listed as the other income. Being blunt, you need to consider her contribution increasing - for context when I first started working back in 1988 I gave my parents £25 a week from my £70 a week wage - your daughter is paying only a fraction above that and I would guess is earning substantially more! It will actually do her a favour to get used to paying a bit more - and it will still be below what she'd pay on a market rent and all bills etc.
6 - My wife has experienced mental health difficulties and was not able to work for a long time but she is now building confidence and gaining some experience by volunteer working for a few hours a week. The hope is she can return to some paid employment in the near future. Good for her - but she obviously can't rush this either. Anything she can do at home or working from home in the interim will help with the budget though. Surveys etc, or perhaps an Avon round or similar?
7 - The electricity cost listed is my monthly DD for dual fuel with British Gas. It's still quite a lot! Comments above stand!
8 - Water rates are included in my rent.

Thanks once again for your contributions so far and I now look forward to advice/suggestions.

Things like the car situation and the holiday need some honest and frank discussions between you I'd suggest. Freeing up some money from there would potentially mean that you could get rid of the HP debt at the next payment date (if the agreement allows this) which then frees up a chunk of money each month to go to paying down debt - that might enable you to offer payments across the board against everything, going forwards.

The good news is that a) you've had your lightbulb moment and b) there are savings to be made on that SOA.

enthusiasticsaver · 21 February 2019 at 3:23PM

There is scope to reduce that soa on clothing, groceries, Internet package and mobiles and I see that you have made a start. The hp for the car presumably will be gone in a few months so that will give you more income to play with each month. Presumably you have made arrangements with PRA and Robinson Way to just pay the nominal £10 a month? I think I would be saving any spare money you have if all those debts are at 0% and offering arrangements or F and Fs when you are in a position to do so. Tackle them one by one and it will get easier.

kjw327 · 21 February 2019 at 3:58PM

EssexHebridean wrote: »

Usual - comments in red (Some may already have been covered by others)

Things like the car situation and the holiday need some honest and frank discussions between you I'd suggest. Freeing up some money from there would potentially mean that you could get rid of the HP debt at the next payment date (if the agreement allows this) which then frees up a chunk of money each month to go to paying down debt - that might enable you to offer payments across the board against everything, going forwards.

The good news is that a) you've had your lightbulb moment and b) there are savings to be made on that SOA.

Thank you for taking the time to look at my SOA and provide detailed feedback. I will look at this again this evening and see what I can work to accommodate. We don’t actually have a holiday planned, it’s a bit of a dream really and if I could use £3000 to reduce the debt through a couple of F&F settlements then I would take that all day long.

Edit: absolutely we are working this through together.

kjw327 · 21 February 2019 at 4:02PM

enthusiasticsaver wrote: »

There is scope to reduce that soa on clothing, groceries, Internet package and mobiles and I see that you have made a start. The hp for the car presumably will be gone in a few months so that will give you more income to play with each month. Presumably you have made arrangements with PRA and Robinson Way to just pay the nominal £10 a month? I think I would be saving any spare money you have if all those debts are at 0% and offering arrangements or F and Fs when you are in a position to do so. Tackle them one by one and it will get easier.

Thank you for replying. Yes, the car finance will be settled and then this money will go towards debt repayments by saving for F&F settlements one at a time as they are all no longer accruing interest.

anna_1977 · 21 February 2019 at 4:36PM

Hi, can I just check was the car HP or PCP, do you own the car in the next couple of months or will you need to buy something else?

My comments would be the same as the others, some v high expenses. Pleased to see you've handed notice to Virgin. Have you looked at whether your mobile provider does a cheap BB or just shop about..

Good luck

EssexHebridean · 21 February 2019 at 4:58PM

kjw327 wrote: »

Thank you for taking the time to look at my SOA and provide detailed feedback. I will look at this again this evening and see what I can work to accommodate. We don’t actually have a holiday planned, it’s a bit of a dream really and if I could use £3000 to reduce the debt through a couple of F&F settlements then I would take that all day long.

Edit: absolutely we are working this through together.

I wouldn't use the full £300 if I were you - definitely keep some back as an emergency fund, and remember to budget for when car maintenance will need to be spent also.

Anna makes a good point about the car payments too - you've listed the cars as assets though so I presume they will both be owned by you when the finance finishes?

kjw327 · 21 February 2019 at 5:06PM

anna_1977 wrote: »

Hi, can I just check was the car HP or PCP, do you own the car in the next couple of months or will you need to buy something else?

My comments would be the same as the others, some v high expenses. Pleased to see you've handed notice to Virgin. Have you looked at whether your mobile provider does a cheap BB or just shop about..

Good luck

Thank you for replying, It was HP for the car so we will own it. I’d not even considered the BB with mobile provider but will definitely be shopping around.

Where to start?

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