Sorry...another Newbie...up to her Eyeballs in it

Hello Scottish-Diva

Welcome to the boards!! If you post your SOA (incomings & outgoings each month and a list of your debts, balance, APR & monthly repayment) then we can advise you on where to cut back/how to make your debts work for you (i.e. moving your debt onto a 0% CC).

I had a forced lightbulb moment too, like you, when I couldnt get any more credit. Still, I am pleased it happened, otherwise god knows where I would have been now!!

xx

[QUOTE=Scottish-Diva

Take home....£1600

Morgage...£400
CT...£150
Ins...£36
Home ins...£33
Tele...£30 This seems high? Could you get a better deal?
Internet...£28.99 Better deal?
Sky....It's going...£42&£14=£56 Well done!!
petrol...£28 per week
Food...£200 a month This is very high, especially for 1 person - check out the "Old Style Board" for all things grocery shopping (& other stuff of course)!

Debt :eek:
Horrible Visa.....£5434...dont know apr, but interest is £70 a month, paying £400 a month snowballing
Horrible visa 2...£2000 £30
Overdraft...£2500 £25
Cata...£300 £40
Student loans...£2000, dont know balance paying from wage.

[/QUOTE]

Well done on the snowballing, it sounds as though you know what you are talking about.

There doesnt seem to be space in your budget for Car Tax/MOT/Insurance - it's ideal to budget for this monthly so that it's not quite a shock when it's due and you actually have the money put by for it rather than putting it on the plastic.!!

You need to find out the APR's on your credit cards if you can. Could you call your creditors & ask them to freeze interest/charges? (its worth a try and some will!!)

Ask your bank to reduce your overdraft by £X each month, that way you are not tempted to keep using it, and within a few months you will be overdraft free.

Catalogues are usually interest free, is this one? It looks as though your priority debts are the two Visa's and OD. Is the £1600 pay after student loans?

It seems you are on a good wage, and are doing well - it just needs a bit of re-jigging!!

Well done!!

Scottish-Diva wrote:

^^^
ThanQ ms-london....
My food budget is for me and my 2 children.
I have been snowballing my debts since I came to this site.

Being honest, i have been too embarrassed to call the bank to see what I could do with my visa cards.....

What do you say/ask them to do when you call them?
Does it effect your credit score if you do so

Many thanx
DivaX

Oh sorry, didnt know you had kids. Even £150 should be dooable - check out Old Style anyway, its fab!!

If you are up front & honest with your creditors they are more than likely to help you out, the worse thing you can do is ignore their letters/phonecalls, and although it is tough calling them all, you will feel SO much better once you have!!

Creditors are only likely to stop interest/charges if you cannot afford the current repayments, and as you are overpaying they might not do this, however, it might be worth calling them to see if they can balance transfer or cut the interest rate for you (find out the APR's and post back here!). You might be able to play one VISA off against the other, it does work!!

You also need to budget for things like Christmas/Birthdays/Clothes - open a few ING accounts and transfer a set amount into each every month, even if it's £10 a month, come Christmas you will have saved money without feeling it :0)

xx

REf internet - Madasafish have a Martin-recommended deal on until the end of this month, for £11.99 a month, then £17.99, averaging £14.99 for fast broadband with a 5gig download limit (I only reached one last month and I am on here all day!) They are very good, and technical support is in South Africa - sexy accents AND helpful!!