What a year!

morecambe.bae · 26 October 2016 at 1:00PM

Hi guys

I've been lurking on these boards for years but I finally created an account today. As you'll see from my signature, I've about £3800 to go after a very intensive 18 months of snowballing and clearing debts. I am EXHAUSTED!

This is more of a rant than an ask for advice I guess.

The remainder of my debt is spread between a santander overdraft (costing £30 a month) and a santander credit card (again, costing about £30 a month in interest). On December 1st I will make my final payment on a huge loan agreement and I'll finally have more flexibility in how and when I pay off my debts. I'll then be able to pay about £350 a month off my debts.

I'm trying to figure out my next steps for January....
1) Try for an interest free balance transfer card and take a break?
2) Storm through the rest of the debt? (will take about 10 months)

I dream of the day I can put all this money I'm paying every month into savings

lambda · 26 October 2016 at 1:03PM

Hi

Well done for facing up to the challenge!

Post up an SOA on here and let's take a look and see how we can help.

morecambe.bae · 26 October 2016 at 2:09PM

Thank you! What's an SOA?

EssexHebridean · 26 October 2016 at 2:26PM

morecambe.bae wrote: »

Hi guys

I've been lurking on these boards for years but I finally created an account today. As you'll see from my signature, I've about £3800 to go after a very intensive 18 months of snowballing and clearing debts. I am EXHAUSTED!

This is more of a rant than an ask for advice I guess.

The remainder of my debt is spread between a santander overdraft (costing £30 a month) and a santander credit card (again, costing about £30 a month in interest). On December 1st I will make my final payment on a huge loan agreement and I'll finally have more flexibility in how and when I pay off my debts. I'll then be able to pay about £350 a month off my debts.

I'm trying to figure out my next steps for January....
1) Try for an interest free balance transfer card and take a break?
2) Storm through the rest of the debt? (will take about 10 months)

I dream of the day I can put all this money I'm paying every month into savings

You missed one - and it's the one you should go for:

3) Check whether you can get a 0% card and if so, use it to save yourself some interest while you storm through the rest of your debt...

Use Martin's eligibility calculator to see whether you're likely to get the card - this does a "soft search" so doesn't impact on your credit file.

An SOA is a Statement of Affairs - the link can be found on the sticky post at the top of this board. As Lambda says it may be possible that by looking over that, we can come up with ways of savings or things you've missed that you'd not thought of - this can often bring a DFD forward even earlier!

Well done for getting as far as you have! The boost you can gain through posting on here should ensure that by this time next year you are indeed watching your savings grow!

morecambe.bae · 26 October 2016 at 2:36PM

Thanks so much for the reply! I do periodically apply for a 0% card but I'm always rejected. I think it's because my current credit card is almost always maxed out, and I have this loan (ending 1/12/16) so it's not a good look. I'll look for an SOA now

morecambe.bae · 26 October 2016 at 3:05PM

This will be by SOA from January onwards...

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 1
Number of children in household......... 0
Number of cars owned.................... 0

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1440.63
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1440.63

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 520
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 60
Electricity............................. 24
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 16.94
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 49.1
TV Licence.............................. 0
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 10
Groceries etc. ......................... 100
Clothing................................ 20
Petrol/diesel........................... 0
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 9
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 25
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 10
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 844.04

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

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Santander Credit Card..........1500......50........18.9
Santander Overdraft............1800......30........0
tesco credit card..............150.......25........0
Total unsecured debts..........3450......105.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,440.63
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 844.04
Available for debt repayments........... 596.59
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 105
Amount left after debt repayments....... 491.59

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 0
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -3,450
Net Assets.............................. -3,450

amaranthus · 26 October 2016 at 3:19PM

Couples of things I've noted:

morecambe.bae wrote: »

Gas..................................... 0 are your heating and cooking both electric powered?
TV Licence.............................. 0 you might not have a TV (?), but if you do, there should be something here for the license
Groceries etc. ......................... 100 this seems very low - is it right?
Other travel............................ 0 you have no car expenses - do you walk / cycle everywhere or ever get the bus/train?
Contents insurance...................... 0 if you have no contents insurance, you should think about getting some!
Haircuts................................ 0 do you cut your own hair?
Entertainment........................... 0 no cinema, theatre, shows, nights out, meals with friends, etc, ever?
Holiday................................. 0 ditto - any holidays throughout the year?

morecambe.bae · 26 October 2016 at 3:27PM

Gas - yes.
TV - honestly I don't have a license as I don't watch broadcast TV.
Groceries - yes this is about right, it's only me

though I do need to take note of my eating out costs, I don't track those

Travel - My travel pass is taken out of my salary before I get it
Contents insurance - I don't have anything to steal, honestly.
Hair - I get one haircut a year at cost £80.
Entertainment - I budget myself £300 a month after all bills and this covers my groceries and entertainment, I don't track these expenses minutely as the figure never changes. I manage. If I run out of money, then tough titties.
Holidays - No, I wish.

amaranthus · 26 October 2016 at 3:51PM

Ta

1. Watch out re your TV. The rules changed in September regarding streaming services, and you may need a license now - see http://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/check-if-you-need-one/topics/watching-online-and-on-mobile-devices-TOP14 to make sure.

2. I'd still recommend contents insurance. I use MoreThan and it only costs me a tenner a month and covers both my stuff and my housemates. Worth it, IMO.

3. Is that £300 a month entertainment included in the SOA above? i.e. have you already taken it off your monthly income?

Oh, and well done on clearing all that debt already, obv

amaranthus · 26 October 2016 at 3:53PM

If you haven't already, sign up to Noddle, or ClearScore, or the MSE Credit Club, all of which give you credit scores or reports for free.

morecambe.bae · 26 October 2016 at 4:01PM

Thank you for the advice

Honestly I'm happy to take my chances with the TV License thing...call it a political stance

Thanks for the advice on contents insurance too.

The £300 isn't subtracted from the SOA. The groceries I added in, the rest is just reflected in what's left over. I've done a snowball forecast from January that seems reasonable too... but it also relies on me keeping up this momentum and no nasty surprises happening in the next 11 months. Ugh I'm just so tired of this debt!:mad:

And yep, I'm with Clearscore too thanks!

What a year!

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