Credit Cards

EmmaLou_3

After several years of having a low income, having a child etc, our debts have built up. We fell into the trap of thinking we could cope with transferring 0% credit cards. Cards were all in my partners name and he kept paying them late (I did tell him about the tool that reminds you! but he didn't follow my advice!) we are now finding that we can't transfer anymore.
The credit cards haven't been used for spending, just for keeping us within our £3200 overdraft with Natwest.

I really want to get this all sorted! At the moment our credit cards are like this:
Credit card/Debt/Minimum payment/APR
Virgin £4045 2% 15.9%
MBNA £3018 2% 15.9%
Morgan Stanley £4417 1.3% 15.9%
Capital 1 £2654 1.2% 15.9%
Egg £4000 2% 15.9%

We are only making the minimum payments, but are struggling to meet them. Last month we paid out £472.93.

We also have a loan with Natwest which is £105 per month but ends in February 09.

At the moment we are spending probably £500 over our income each month.

I have done the budget planner so can see where we can make savings on our personal spending, but it still doesn't help us.

Should we consolidate our debt?
Any advice on IVA's/Bankruptcy?

I have read loads of useful info on this website, but it all leaves my head spinning!
x

runmichellerun

I know what's coming - can you post your full SOA? People will give advice on how you can cut back

Numpty_Monkey

Hi EmmaLou

I would advise against consolidating as whill most people here.
You are right about all the info from here it can be overwhelming in a good way

As runmichellerun says post your SOA the clever lot will go through it and save you some money

Have you thought about phoning one of the debt charties?

savingholmes

I've done the snowball calculator which illustrates how you can pay your debts off in the right order and save interest and pay off quicker. I've entered my data on there and it shows if we stick to a strict budget we may be able to repay by the end of 2010 latest rather than 2011. I found it very encouraging.... There are links in other people's posts if you search on snowball calculator....

Numpty_Monkey

Link to snowball calculator
http://www.whatsthecost.com/snowball.aspx?country=uk

HTH

PoorPrincess

Please dont take out a Loan to consolidate - speaking from experience i had the best intentions and all the will in the world to put the loan i took out to go towards my debt and i just didnt, eben though i promised myself i would.

A SOA can mean that people on here can look at your spending habits and try and help you cut down n spend less, also buy a A5 pad of paper and keep in in ur jacket/car/bag/work drawer and write down everything you spend no matter how big/small, you will soon shock yourself at much money you are throwing away on things you dont need. Every penny saved can be throw at your debts

Princess

x

EmmaLou_3

To be honest I am sick of filling out things showing all our details. Thank you for offering to help let me know where to save money, but to be honest I know exactly where we over spend!
1. Virgin Media - currently on a package costing us £55 including calls per month (boyfriend upped the package without consulting me!) - gonna give them a call today.
2. Boyfriend making £160 worth of cash withdrawals so don't know where money is going - probably on the next item...
3. Boyfriend buying lunches in London when could take sandwiches
4. Me thinking I am money saving by getting a bargain (charity shop addiction!), but forgetting that I probably didn't need the item in the first place.
5. Me letting boyfriend have full control of our credit cards!

I would say I am pretty good with money, afterall I could be spending on store cards/credit cards etc. Its just my partner that isn't! I think he thinks that a cash machine has an endless supply for us!
We don't go on holiday, weekends away, family days out etc.
We only have the occasional takeaway/meal out.
We probably go to the pub a couple of times a month, but only get a couple of drinks each.
We rarely have new clothes - most are from charity shops.

The killers are the usual that we can't do much about:
Petrol
Gas
Electric (we are on E-ON combined gas/elec paying DD £78pm)
Council Tax

The other thing we need to sort out is benefits.
Tax Credits
We were getting tax credits until last year I made the mistake of not letting them know straight away that I had become self-employed. I thought it was ok to declare on the next form - stupid I know, but I can't remember everything! But anyway - I had only earnt £40 in that time, but they are making us pay back all of the credits they gave us for that year. Think it was £380. Well I appealed but lost. I tried phoning them, but the bloke refused to talk to me - said I was shouting at him, but I wasn't, I was crying because I didn't know what to do! We still owe the money and they also stopped us getting paid anymore. We should have reapplied, but I am scared to get into the same problems again with them so have pusshed it under the rug.

Housing Benefit
Again we were getting Housing benefit, but I kept forgetting to submit my Self-employment income on time (to be honest I struggle to do my accounts - my brain doesn't function well with figures!), then they changed what they would accept as proof of fuel usage. First they said I could do it by giving them it at 40p per mile, then they decided that wasn't good enough so wanted receipts. Well I couldn't find them all. Got fed up with the hassle of it so haven't reapplied.

Since the benefits have stopped, that is when we got into trouble with repaying the cards.

Boyfriend is going to call the CCCS tonight - we did their online thing last night which said we would benefit from Debt Management.

The diary is a good idea! Have told boyfriend to keep cash withdrawals to a minimum and keep note of everything he spends.

Wish us luck!

PS - I have been on this forum before trying to get our debts sorted out whilst they were smaller. Unfortunately my boyfriend didn't take it seriously until we got to this stage.