Help AAARRGGGH

sarah_elton

Unless you've a bad credit history or are maxed out on the number of cards you can have and total credit limit, you'll get 0% ones.

Only problem may be the limit on them as you've got a lot of credit elsewhere - simplest way to find out is to apply!

A lot charge a Balance Transfer one off fee now - 2% of the transfer typically - but this is a one off fee and pales in comparison to what you're paying in interest.

Check out the Credit Cards part of the site for the best balance transfer deals.

ms_london

Income - £900

Outgoings - £325

Gym - £35.00
Mobile Phone - £40.00
Food - £80.00
Beer & Fags etc £70.00
Records cd's £100.00

Total Debt Repayments - £540

Main loan with my bank £14'500 = £270
Main Credit card = £200
Virgin Card = £35.00
cap one = £35.00

Surplus - £35

Based on the figures you have given us, you have £35 as a monthly surplus. However, I think you definately need to trim your outgoings. Especially considering you dont have to pay rent (and i am presuming food is more for lunches/eaten out, than helping your parents with food shopping??), you could be making a bigger dent into your debt.

Could you halve the budget for beer/fags, food & CD's. This might sound extreme, but you already have the mobile phone & gym as "entertainment", and if you were that healthy you wouldnt drink or smoke anyway :0)

That way you would have an extra £125 a month to throw at your debts, plus, if like you say, you sometimes earn over £900, whatever you do bring home above this should automatically be thrown at your debt or put into an "emergency fund"....

I am presuming that one day you will want your own place, or at least you have other long term goals/dreams? Well, this is the first step to reaching them. You can do it, it just takes a bit of perseverance. And definately list those things on ebay NOW.

For £2 you can gain a copy of your credit report from both Equifax & Experian (you can order it online), but if you can get a 0% credit card it would definately cut your interest costs... Although if you have a business loan etc too you might be over committed, still its worth a try.

I understand what you mean about your parents, mine couldnt help me either, but then I wouldnt expect it. Still, if they are letting you live at home rent free, they are helping in their own way.

Good luck.

System

First of all i have no idea what the apr

Do you have any recent credit card statements? They'll have a monthly or yearly %age rate on them

Beer & Fags etc £70.00

You'd save money knocking the fags out, but you can only do that if you really want to quit - (that's from a born-again non-smoker! Quit nearly two years ago; saved nearly £4k so far!)

Records cd's £100.00 this is for my djing but i am not currently getting paid for this so will be cutting this down by about half to help pay off debts

Is DJ'ing anything to do with your business? Could you be getting your records at trade prices?

i also have a bussiness loan and overdraft but thats seperate from all this and kind of pays itself as i invested most of it in stock so i am keeping that seperate from all my personal stuff

Is your business banking also with HSBC?

BigDebtBoy

hi ms london
no i have to buy all my own food and other stuff such as toiletries etc i wouldnt expect my parents to help me out any more than letting me live there rent free as thats plenty of help on the half seeing as i am 26 its not ideal living at home but there is not a lot i can do about it at the moment unfortunatley i can cut the beer/records down though.
Regarding the 0% interest cards where would be best to try would you suggest ?
it all seems a bit pointless paying off the main cc card at the min amount if i am giving half back on interest
i am tempted to just tell all my creditors i cant pay any of them apart from a small amount but not sure what that would result in

i am totally hopeless with money and all the apr/ intrest rates etc i dont know anything about all this i just wish i had never been sent a credit card as this is where it all stems from you see i was on the dole for quite a while with no money never being able to anything then i started my own business and get these credit card offers flying in and i was like way hay i can do what i want now
starting to leran it soesnt work like that buts its a bit late now

ms_london

We all have our own reasons behind why we got into debt, so you are not alone on that front.

I can appreciate that you might not understand "everything about all this", but now is your time to learn, I didnt even know what an APR was when I was running up my debt, didnt have a clue, not that I cared at the time anyway.!!

What you could do is contact your creditors & say that you are having financial difficulties and could you pay them a reduced monthly payment, however, I am concerned that you will use this as an excuse to pay less to them & have more money for yourself (in the same way you did when you got the credit card/consolidated). You can afford to pay your creditors on your monthly incoming/outgoings, and thats with your beer/fags/gym/food/record money, so I dont understand what the problem is. It is a pain in the bum knowing that most of your minimum payment is just repaying the interest, but thats how it is.

Perhaps ask them if they could freeze the interest? This does work (mind you, only one of my creditors did this, but it still helped). You should be able to find a list of the current 0% offers on CC's on this board somewhere.

I have just turned 25 and if you hadnt noticed my signature (and if not, I need to make it bigger, haha!!), but I will be debt free tomorrow, having paid of £19,000. You can do it, you really can. You just need to change your spending habits.

Please keep posting

xx

BigDebtBoy

bham-dave wrote:

Do you have any recent credit card statements? They'll have a monthly or yearly %age rate on them

hmm hsbc says 1.240%
cap one - 1.527
virgin - 1.32

monthly interest it says on purhases


You'd save money knocking the fags out, but you can only do that if you really want to quit - (that's from a born-again non-smoker! Quit nearly two years ago; saved nearly £4k so far!)

cut down on the beer i can do cant stop smoking as i will be evn more stressed out maybe when i have cleared the debts i can look into this i have switched to rolling baccy which works out at about £25 pm insted of about £45pm


Is DJ'ing anything to do with your business? Could you be getting your records at trade prices?
allready get some of them cheaper its releted to my bussines but not directly


Is your business banking also with HSBC?

yes mate the !!!!%4s

BigDebtBoy

ms_london wrote:

We all have our own reasons behind why we got into debt, so you are not alone on that front.

I can appreciate that you might not understand "everything about all this", but now is your time to learn, I didnt even know what an APR was when I was running up my debt, didnt have a clue, not that I cared at the time anyway.!!

What you could do is contact your creditors & say that you are having financial difficulties and could you pay them a reduced monthly payment, however, I am concerned that you will use this as an excuse to pay less to them & have more money for yourself (in the same way you did when you got the credit card/consolidated). You can afford to pay your creditors on your monthly incoming/outgoings, and thats with your beer/fags/gym/food/record money, so I dont understand what the problem is. It is a pain in the bum knowing that most of your minimum payment is just repaying the interest, but thats how it is.

Perhaps ask them if they could freeze the interest? This does work (mind you, only one of my creditors did this, but it still helped). You should be able to find a list of the current 0% offers on CC's on this board somewhere.

I have just turned 25 and if you hadnt noticed my signature (and if not, I need to make it bigger, haha!!), but I will be debt free tomorrow, having paid of £19,000. You can do it, you really can. You just need to change your spending habits.

Please keep posting

xx

Yes its the amount of interest on the 6k card thats doing my nut in to be honest i just want to get that down asap and the other cards as i can managed the loan no problem well its a problem but not one thats going to give me sleepless nights like i am having at the moment which in turn affects my work which as i run my own business affects how much i make its like one big vicious circle at the moment

Congrats on getting your paid off matey fair play to you :beer:

if you dont mind me asking how long did it take and what were the most benificial things you did to get it done quicker ?

xela_17

I agree with Ms London: I don't think it's very likely your creditors will accept reduced payments as you are not struggling to pay - you can easily afford your mimimum payments.

You should take advantage of not paying any rent to make the biggest inroad into your debt that you can. Really do start off trying to get a 0% card, it will make a big difference. Try egg to start.

johannamse

Good Post ms_london.

I agree with you.

BigDebtboy - you need to get exact with your figures - TO THE PENNY. As ms_london says you can afford all your debts - why do you need to ring them and offer them reduced payments? Get a notebook and write down EVERYTHING you spend.

It will be possible to get out of this mess, but it will take a complete change of attitude. You seem pre-occupied with how annoying it is paying £100 per month interest. This is only part of it. You need to be annoyed with yourself for spending money on beer and fags and records. Get reading these boards and you will learn loads.

You also need to get down the exact %APR's. I am also not sure that getting a 0% is the right thing for you at the moment. I think it would be better for you to turn the corner first, and get your spending under control. Would you trust yourself at the moment not to spend on it?

Good Luck.

xela_17

johannamse wrote:

You need to be annoyed with yourself for spending money on beer and fags and records. Get reading these boards and you will learn loads.

This is true - every time I spend something now I am annoyed with myself. I always think: 'that could be going towards my debts'. Since I started moneysaving I HATE spending money. This is the mindset you need to be in to properly get control of your situation.