Not sure what to do

Loobylou19 · 13 December 2019 at 9:16AM

Hi this is my first post I stupidly have managed to get 7.5k in debt on 3 credit cards all are currently 0% until August 2020 and I’m paying what I can at the minute but I am so stressed and worried about what to do when the 0% runs out, what if I can’t get a balance transfer? I am on a low part time wage. I just don’t know what to do.

fatbelly · 13 December 2019 at 10:00AM

Well done for getting yourself into a position where you will pay no interest on 7.5k debt for the next 8 months.

That gives you a bit of room to get your budgeting sorted out while maintaining a good credit file.

If you want us to make sensible suggestions, we will need a statement of affairs

https://www.lemonfool.co.uk/financecalculators/soa.php

You'll need to format for mse and remove any links before posting it here

bjt2019 · 13 December 2019 at 4:22PM

hi there, what's a statement of affairs? sorry if thats really stupid but i'm new here.

lindens · 13 December 2019 at 4:30PM

bjt2019 wrote: »

hi there, what's a statement of affairs? sorry if thats really stupid but i'm new here.

follow the link and it tells you;)

Loobylou19 · 13 December 2019 at 10:16PM

No idea if Iv done this right, i live with my husband who has just been made redundant so no income from him at the minute although he currently pays all our bills/mortgage I have stopped spending on crap I don’t need but I have other bills which are essential so Iv had to tweak my answers to suit this form

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

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 850
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 850

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 100
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 50
Electricity............................. 0
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 30
Mobile phone............................ 0
TV Licence.............................. 0
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 0
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 90
Road tax................................ 40
Car Insurance........................... 30
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 120
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.................. 460

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 4000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 4000

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Credit card ...................2300......30........0
Credit card ...................3590......40........0
Credit card ...................1865......30........0
Total unsecured debts..........7755......100.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 850
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 460
Available for debt repayments........... 390
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 100
Amount left after debt repayments....... 290

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 4,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -7,755
Net Assets.............................. -3,755

fatbelly · 13 December 2019 at 10:31PM

Loobylou19 wrote: »

No idea if Iv done this right, i live with my husband who has just been made redundant so no income from him at the minute although he currently pays all our bills/mortgage

That might be OK if it was genuinely the situation you are in. But if your husband has no income, how are the mortgage/utilities/tv licence and food going to be paid for?

monetxchange · 13 December 2019 at 10:38PM

I think you need to sit down with your husband and work out what your joint income and bills will be over the coming months. This separate way of one paying something and the other doing something else rarely works. Plus as FB says, you need a revised game plan for your change of income.

There’s no children listed on the SOA - so what’s the reason for you only working part time? You need full time employment, and try to work towards higher paying employment. If it’s health related, check your benefit entitlement.

Loobylou19 · 14 December 2019 at 12:00AM

Hours were reduced at work but vary between 26-35 hours a week I have tried to get a more full time job but just get knocked back. I suffer hugely with mental health but I am not entitled to anything benefits wise, hubby earned “too much” so we have never been entitled to anything.

EssexHebridean · 14 December 2019 at 12:48AM

Has your husband signed on as unemployed? he needs to do this to make sure that his NI stamp is paid in case he is still out of work when his redundancy notice period ends.

It's tricky to comment much on your SOA as it obviously doesn't reflect the full picture. One thing leaps out though and that's the amount you're paying out for car maintenance. For a £4k value car paying out over £1400 a year for maintenance seems a bit steep. Also where are you saving this as you show no cash assets?

Is the income you've mentioned the lowest it gets - ie is that for the lowest number of hours you do in a month? Even if so that does seem extraordinarily low - and if that's for an average week then surely you're being paid less than minimum wage?

monetxchange · 14 December 2019 at 1:26AM

I’m sure if he ends up on unemployment and you’re still on the same low wage, you’ll be entitled to something together. Still, your wage is extraordinarily low for not insignificant hours. Is there any chance of career progression where you work (even moving up to supervisor etc) if other jobs aren’t panning out? Don’t give up looking. Are you sure you’re being paid minimum wage, as EH says?

The car figures do seem off. Do you really spend that much on Maintenance on not high miles going by your petrol spend? Your insurance is pretty cheap but the road tax is sky high - is that right?

The reality with the cards is if you can’t move them to new 0% deals when the term is up, they’ll just start accruing interest. Not ideal, but if there’s no other option, you’ll just have to pay that off too. They’re not huge amounts. This is doable. Priority now is sitting down with 12 months bank statements, seeing where your money has gone, work out the monthly average spend on each category and do an updated SOA and you can plan a budget from that. We can all help. Only way you’ll get rid of these debts is by sticking to a budget and paying the surplus to the debts to clear them as quickly as possible with minimal interest, while all the while learning to live within your means and not end up in debt again.

We’ve all been there. Well done on taking the first step!

Not sure what to do

Comments

Categories

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free