Advice Please £16000 Debt 8 Months Pregnant

Firstly, you've accepted that this has happened and how it happened, so please stop beating yourself up. You can't go back, but you can move forward with the help of the people here. The first thing they will say is to post up your SOA so they can have a look at how to help. Include how much you owe and interest rates if you can.

You have a baby coming which is a wonderful thing but also means tears will come very easily at the moment

-MRS_T- wrote: »

Hi

thanks for your replys dubsey, merlot. Your right merlot sainsburys is there now Kirkintilloch is a nice place I like living here.

Here goes with my SOA

Incomings Monthly

Me £440 appx as my maternity pay will start in January
Husband £1200 thats him doing overtime


Outgoings

Mortgage £591.34- Is this interest only, or repayment?
Car Loan £126.51
Tv Licence £11.61
Car Ins £22.66
Home Ins £15.74
BT £20.00
Mobile Tel Me £40.00 - You need to lower the tariff on this
Mobile Tel Hubby £30.00 - You need to lower the tariff on this
Life Ins £11.74
C Tax £156.00 - is this over 10 months, can you phone your council and ask if you can spread over 12 months.
Gas & Elec £76.00
Broadband £5.00 - Gosh thats cheap - whos the provider?
Sky £20.00 - It is a luxury just now - I would say cancel it
Setanta Sports £10.00 - It is a luxury just now - again I would say cancel it

Total Outgoings £1136.60
Total Incomings £1640.00

Difference £504.00

My wages were about £650 up until December but because of my maternity leave it will now go down. All these outgoings are obviously not including paying any of my minimum monthly repayments on my debt.

MBNA Interest Rate 1.8735% Monthly
Bank Of Scotland Interest Rate 9.93% pa
Barclaycard 0% for 9 months

I have put comments in the above.

Food, Car Tax, Car servicing holidays etc should be included on your SOA in order to obtain a fuller picture.

What is the balance of the barclaycard and the limit? and how long is remaining on the 0%?

Well done though for getting your SOA up so quickly.

I thought it was Sainsburys, I used to live in the flats near there. Kirkintilloch is lovely, I loved it, but we got re-located with OH job so we moved over the border.

I hope you do not think some of the things mentioned in the SOA are harsh, on the initial glance you would think £500+ remaining, but with food, petrol etc taken in account, I don't think there would be that much that.

A spending diary is a great way of checking your daily spending, it has helped me a lot to see where my money is going.

I hope this helps a wee bit
Merlot

Hi MRS T :wave:

Glad you managed to get signed up okay, and well done on posting your SOA.

I think people have already picked up on the things I would have mentioned, but I would also have a look into ways of increasing your income - even the odd £10 or £20 a month will pay for the nappies. There are sites like Quidco and Pogsback, where you can earn either cash (which you can have paid directly into your bank, or a Paypal account), or earn points to buy things like store vouchers. There are also online surveys, although I find it's a bit slow going, getting enough to be worth withdrawing.

I wont overwhelm you with loads of info about them now, but when you are ready, type 'quidco' or 'pigsback' into the forum search at the top (search the forums, not the main site), and there are quite a few threads about both.

Also have a look on the 'Up Your Income' board for other ideas.

It IS possible to have a baby without getting into lots of debt, especially if you stick around here - I had a baby 8 months ago (seems like only a few weeks ago :eek:), and have managed to continue decreasing our debt through my maternity leave, thanks to things I have picked up on this site.

Good luck, and congratulations on your pregnancy.

We have a little tradition on here that you have to post and let us know when you are in labour, by the way! (I didn't manage it, as mine was rather fast!)