# Cannot seem to get ahead



## sloggi (2 Feb 2008)

Age: 28
Spouse’s/Partner's age: 38

Annual gross income from employment or profession: 51,500
Annual gross income spouse: 27,000

Type of employment: Civil Servant 

Expenditure pattern: on paper I shouldn't be but in reality i am overspending and wasting money on expensive fees and charges 

Rough estimate of value of home:  €310K
Mortgage on home:  €225 (have been making repayment for 14 months on this amount so not sure what outstanding amount is currently) 
Mortgage provider:  IIB Homeloans
Type of mortgage: Tracker
Interest rate: 5.25%

Other borrowings – loads:
€21,800 outstanding on house deposit
€5,500 car 
€17,000 furniture

Do you pay off your full credit card balance each month? No 
If not, what is the balance on your credit card? €4,750

Savings and investments: €24,500 loan to family member due for repayment to me Aug 2009. €2,500 CU

Do you have a pension scheme? Yes, state

Do you own any investment or other property? No

Ages of children: none

Life insurance: mortgage protection, special illness, income continuous


*What specific question do you have or what issues are of concern to you?*  House is solely owned by me and all bills are DD from my a/c.  Use partner's take home for weekly expenses and some bills.  DDs regularly clash and miss payments incurring unpaid fees and late charges.  always seem to be on back foot and cant seem to get ahead in order to avoid late payments etc.  cant seem to stick to budget to have available cash for annual charges (insurances) so "borrow" on CC to pay them and don't seem to have enough money to meet minimum payments or pay minimum and then use available money to pay for other weekly bills.  credit check a year ago showed credit rating was OK but am worried that my recent mishaps with payments would make me a good bet for for a mortgage top-up to consolidate, say house deposit loan, to extend it over term of the mortgage and am embarrassed to even find out!  Have an agreement in place re repayment of money owed to me and cant really call this in until agreed time (Aug 2009) so want to try and get my finances in order as it currently stands.  Any advice?


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## Guest120 (2 Feb 2008)

Why have savings when in short term debt?

Pay off some CC with CU.


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## RainyDay (2 Feb 2008)

You are carrying a fair bit of debt, given that the mortgage is nearly 3 times your gross income, and the car/furniture loans are fairly high too. It sounds like you are looking for some kind of cash injection, to get ahead of the posse. 

I'd suggest revisiting the agreement about the loan to the family member. No point in you struggling to support them. Can you push for a partial repayment (maybe 10k) this year? You might benefit from some of the 0% credit card transfer offers, so you could transfer your balance to one of the other providers and get an interest-free period.

You also need to think about how you got yourself into this situation, and what steps you will take to stop this happening again. €17k loan for furniture seems high - maybe you should plan to buy when you can afford it, and not borrow for this stuff in future.


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## markowitzman (2 Feb 2008)

mortgage rate is not competitive?


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## Gus2008 (4 Feb 2008)

Are your CU savings tied to a loan? Otherwise, use it to clear the credit card debt as this will free up your monthly cash a bit.

Given the missed payment etc. it’d be no harm to check your ICB rating again. This will at least help you decide what your options are. If it comes back ok, then consider consolidating your loans into one. Although this is a lot of debt for one bank to take on, it’s a much better alternative than re-mortgaging. 

Can you talk to your partner about agreeing to some sort of fixed contribution from you both into the running of the house i.e. bills, groceries etc? You could set up a joint account with you both lodging x amount in each month, and then set up the direct debits to come out of it. Ideally, you should arrange to contribute a bit more than what you think you’d need so you have a buffer in case of unexpected high bills.


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## Welfarite (4 Feb 2008)

I think if you did a spreadsheet on your budget, you might see areas where you could save a few bob. I know the temptation is to ignore the bank statements but facing up to where exactly your money is going (i.e unpaid fees for a few days "miss" on a DD) will show you what's happening. From what yoy say a bit of honest planning will go some way to getting to grips. Your " ad hoc" approach to your partner's contribution ("weekly expenses and some bills") strikes me as an area that should be looked at more closely.


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## ClubMan (4 Feb 2008)

Welfarite said:


> I think if you did a spreadsheet on your budget, you might see areas where you could save a few bob.


Yes - and/or a spending diary. People invariable round up/down and make assumptions about their expenditure that are not always true. The only way to avoid this is to reality check the assumed figures against the actual ones.


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## galwegian44 (4 Feb 2008)

Sloggi,

ANother option that you may not have considered is to rent out a room in your house for a temporary period of time and devote the entire income from this to reducing your outstanding debt. It definitely is an issue with privacy if you have never done it before but you don't have kids so the impact may not be as bad as anticipated.

I second all the other comments also, you really need to get a grasp of the budget details (income, expenses etc).

Good Luck.


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## quinno (4 Feb 2008)

We set up a fund tha twe contribute to every month - try and time your bills, most are every 2 months. SO have apot of money ready when they come in. Any way of getting rid of DD's? I.E. paying off things like car insurance, tax, TV licence etc in one hit? Takes a bit of planning, but nice to k ow you have the funds when it comes in.

that 24,500 coming to you should be used to blitz all debt - CC & that furniture & car loan.


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## galwegian44 (4 Feb 2008)

galwegian44 said:


> Sloggi,
> 
> ANother option that you may not have considered is to rent out a room in your house for a temporary period of time and devote the entire income from this to reducing your outstanding debt. It definitely is an issue with privacy if you have never done it before but you don't have kids so the impact may not be as bad as anticipated.


 
Some useful info if this is an option:

http://www.askaboutmoney.com/showthread.php?t=74111


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## CrazyWater (6 Feb 2008)

You have got to recall the 24,500 on loan to your family member as you are in no position to have that amount of money lent out. You have this and more in borrowings and thus you are paying interest on it. So it is costing you money every month instead of your family member. Explain that circumstances have changed and point them in the direction of the bank. Then pay off as much of your short-term borrowings as possible. 

If that is not possible then why not get them to make a monthly repayment to you so that you can meet these repayments. 24,500/ no. of months from now till agreed repayment date (no interest there of course).  

+1 on the spending diary 

Also: tot up all your annual bills (Car tax, insurance, home insurance, gym membership, healthcare, etc) and divide by 12. Then put that amount into a special account every month. This has two advantage 1) you will have the money for the bill when it arrives and 2) it evens out your expenditure pattern. So you should not have lean months and good months. Each month should be more or less the same and therefore easier to keep to a budget.  

Hope that helps.


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## bamboozle (6 Feb 2008)

Is your partner paying a fixed amount of rent on a monthly basis?
On top of his/her rent you should both agree to lodge a fixed amount per month to cover monthly bills (utilities, food etc)


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