Need to face up to the reality of this mess I am in

jimmy08 · 30 July 2018 at 9:07AM

Good morning,

I have just completed a SOA to finally get a complete picture of the mess that are my finances.

I am 40 years old and live with my wife in Worcestershire. We have two kids aged 8 and 10. I have built up a lot of debt over the years with little to show for it. It's reached a stage now where I am worried that if we don't take action, we are going to struggle to support our kids as they go through unit etc.

I should add that my wife has around 15K of her own personal debts at low or 0% rates, however she has roughly the equivalent amount in savings so she is effectively debt neutral. I have not included her debts on here but I have deducted the amount that she pays monthly from her take home pay, so that it's accurate. She supports me and the other debts and contributes fairly toward the bills etc. When we met she was insistent on maintaining some degree of financial independence due to bad experiences with a previous partner. We have a joint account for household bills, but also maintain our own accounts. We do share our 'spare' funds though and don't consider this money to belong to either one of us.

As you can see, not all of my debt is at 0%. According to the eligibility checker, I am not eligible for any more promotional offers at present. I am going to look at this again early next year and just plough on for now.

I am not in any arrears and I can afford the payments. I am just so dreadful with money and really need advice to get myself of out of this mess. My wife knows about all of this - I haven't shown her the SOA yet as I am on the train en route to a work meeting.

Is this fixable? I rally don't want to have to sell our house or remortgage etc, but I fear that I am now in too deep.

Any advice would be gratefully received.

Jim x

Ilona · 30 July 2018 at 9:20AM

Hi Jim. Yes, it is fixable. Can't see your SOA yet, maybe post it soon so we can have a look. Well done for setting the wheels in motion. Things don't right themselves if you take no action, by admitting you are in a bit of a pickle you have taken the first step. Now is the time to get a grip on things, you don't want to take the debt into old age. Let's have more info when you have time.

ilona

National_Debtline · 30 July 2018 at 12:07PM

Hi Jim

You're doing exactly the right thing by trying to deal with the situation now. Once we can see your SOA we can be more specific on what your debt options but please try not to feel too stressed in the meantime, there is lots of help and support available.

Next step is sharing your SOA with the board, there's a button you can use to format it for MSE if you have used this link http://www.stoozing.com/calculator/soa.php.

Best wishes

Susie
@natdebtline

jimmy08 · 30 July 2018 at 7:38PM

oops - here it is ( see below). Any advice gratefully received. I keep waking up in a hot sweat thinking I am going to go bankrupt!

Household Information[/b]
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 1
Number of cars owned.................... 2

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 2874
Partners monthly income after tax....... 996
Benefits................................ 133
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 4003

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 547
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 124
Electricity............................. 35
Gas..................................... 40
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 35
Telephone (land line)................... 15
Mobile phone............................ 45
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 15
Groceries etc. ......................... 300
Clothing................................ 50
Petrol/diesel........................... 200
Road tax................................ 5
Car Insurance........................... 80
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 30
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 200
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 15
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 20
Contents insurance...................... 15
Life assurance ......................... 38
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 50
Haircuts................................ 10
Entertainment........................... 100
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 50
Total monthly expenses.................. 2031

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 6000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 6000

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 67600....(547)......1.9
Total secured & HP debts...... 67600.....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
CC1............................4800......135.......19.9
loan 1.........................8900......245.......7.9
loan 2.........................13000.....364.......7.9
cc 7...........................6000......185.......19.9
CC6............................2200......70........0
CC 5...........................4600......127.......16.9
cc4............................3100......31........0
cc3............................7100......190.......19.9
CC2............................4500......108.......6.9
Total unsecured debts..........54200.....1455......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 4,003
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,031
Available for debt repayments........... 1,972
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 1,455
Amount left after debt repayments....... 517

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 6,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -67,600
Total Unsecured debt.................... -54,200
Net Assets.............................. -115,800

Smellyonion · 30 July 2018 at 7:50PM

You have a huge amount of debt on
high interest rate credit cards. T

Very roughly- 48k is at an average of 10% apr this is almost 5k a year interest!

My first priority would be to get this switched to 0% asap.

jimmy08 · 30 July 2018 at 7:55PM

Spotted a mistake. I have an additional 350 per month income. This makes my take home pay 4353 and my total money left after all payments is £867. I!!!8217;ll be upfront now and say that this soa is aspirational. I!!!8217;ve never thought about budgeting before. I!!!8217;ve always stuck my head in the sand and hoped for the best. My stress levels are through the roof over this. I can!!!8217;t believe how stupid I!!!8217;ve been

jimmy08 · 30 July 2018 at 8:00PM

I agree, it’s just. Case of getting approved for a 0% offer. Might have to ride it out a bit until I’m eligible

jimmy08 · 30 July 2018 at 8:09PM

I’m really worried that things are going to spiral out of all control. I don’t want to lose my house or declare myself bankrupt but I just don’t know where to begin with this mess

McKneff · 30 July 2018 at 8:13PM

You said you had 2 kids ???
Only 1 on the soa

jimmy08 · 30 July 2018 at 8:15PM

Oops, definitely 2!

NeverendingDMP · 30 July 2018 at 9:22PM

A spending diary for a couple of months or having a look over past bank statements might help you with your soa or point out all the little spends that add up over time.good luck

Need to face up to the reality of this mess I am in

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