Need Some Reassurance Please

System

Hi there

Sorry if this may be a can of worms, but is the Maintenance of £100 from your ex-husband? Is there no way he can pay more for his daughter's upbringing?

And your Council Tax - are you claiming the 25% reduction for being the only adult living in the property?

Also, what are the Credit Limits on your credit cards? Could you shift anymore on to the 6.9% for life card?

Dave

xela_17

bham-dave wrote:

Sorry if this may be a can of worms, but is the Maintenance of £100 from your ex-husband? Is there no way he can pay more for his daughter's upbringing?

I agree - you're paying over £300 a month for nursery fees, which in an ideal world he should pay half, in addition to some money for your child's food, clothes etc. Can he really not pay more?

Tondella

Hi Tigger,

You are doing the right thing asking loads of questions, people are always willing to help, we're almost evangelical about passing on debt-busting advice!

Just wanted to post a couple of things that might be relevant.
a) I'm a newbie ebayer, starting with simple things like CDs, couple of clothes, books etc. Been amazed at how much it adds up to. Had to ask loads of questions about setting up an account, handling payments etc. Found the ebay board on this site to be really useful. Just go to the forum main page and keep scrolling down. you really can post the most stupid questions there and people will help!

b) trying to get APRs down when can't get 0% credit. Me and OH were in the same situation with this one, we got around it by using our existing cards. So, we had one card that wasn't full to it's limit, managed to transfer an entire balance from another card onto this one. Then phoned up the cleared card provider, told them that we were interested in transferring another balance from elsewhere and what preferential rate could they offer us? Had to be a bit of a negotiator to get the rates we wanted (generally around 6.9%) but it worked. Martin had published a table of the usual Balance Transfer offers available to existing card holders, which should give you an idea of what to aim for. If you do manage to negotiate a preferential rate ask them to increase your credit limit to so that you can accomodate as much as your higher rate debt as possible (not for more spending, obviously!).

The other thing this site is good for is motivating you to live within your means. I never thought it possible that I could find £370 a month out of my salary, but I have. However, for now, just remember that these things are done one step at a time, so focus on small victories, one at a time.

All the best, Tondella

tigger115

Hi all - thanks again for all your replies.

ok - water rates - this is paid up to date - although may look into getting a water meter. Do you know if you have to pay to have this installed?

thanks for the advice skintchick - i will start rummaging around for stuff for ebay!

bham-dave - yes i am claiming the 25% discount. Also, since my divorce ex-hubby has got kids springing up everywhere - and is in and out of work - so am lucky with what he is paying really. He doesn't see our daughter that much and thats how i like it to be honest - have genuine reasons for this.

Thanks Tondella - my balances are the best i can get at the moment and i tried applying for a few O% cards but have been refused - thinking i will leave it for a few months and try again.

The cards are all maxed up except by £200 or £300 except the Virgin Card - have phoned them tonight and they will let me b/transfer £2000 at a rate of 4.9% until May. They have refused to increase my limit though. Feel a bit better that i'm really starting to tackle this again - thanks to all your wonderful advice!

tigger115

Also, have been writing down everything I spend for the last 10 days - cannot believe how much I spend - on nothing! This has been a real eye opener - will continue to do this as it really makes me think twice about buying stuff!

CostCutter

tigger115
Have you read Martin's advice about Childcare Vouchers?
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cgi-bin/viewnews.cgi?newsid1129566540,79743,

They may save you some money each year if your company is or will join the scheme.
I am going to look into this myself as I know my company take part but stupidly I have never realised the saving!
HTH

Also could you try to get a lower rate loan and consoladate your 2 loans into 1? don't know if this is possible?

tigger115

Hi CostCutter
I have been milling over whether to apply for the Childcare Vouchers as they do this at work but have heard of a couple of scarey stories where the tax credits are affected in the long run - will look into this more though.

I applied for a loan with Alliance & Leicester and was turned down for the lower rate - may wait for 3-6 months before applying - do you think this would make a difference?

CostCutter

tigger115 wrote:

Hi CostCutter
I have been milling over whether to apply for the Childcare Vouchers as they do this at work but have heard of a couple of scarey stories where the tax credits are affected in the long run - will look into this more though.

I applied for a loan with Alliance & Leicester and was turned down for the lower rate - may wait for 3-6 months before applying - do you think this would make a difference?

I'm not sure about the Tax Credits bit yet I am still looking into it myself, but so far I'm kindof under the impression that yes it will affect your tax credits but you will still be saving on your Tax & NI so you would still be better off.
As I say I'm still trying to work it out for myself - If anyone else could let us know from their own experiences on Childcare Vouchers & Tax Credits it would be a great help to me also. :rolleyes:

Regarding the loan, I'm not sure what lenght of time is best to wait, I think the more you apply the more it affects your credit score? but I would think that keeping up with your other payments in that period of time would help alot.

charlotte_dunn

it doesnt look like you have it on your incoming budget but the inland revenue help with childcare costs. i am a young mum with one child. this time last year i had to go bankupt as i had 11500 of debt and on verge of loosing our hose this scared me. I had to go bankrupt as i was not working due to deppression as a result of debt. even tho thius is not a road you might want to go down my advice is keep going budget yous self like you are and try to pay cash for things, utility bills most companies send you a card and you pay through the post office this stops you getting any charges from the bank if the money is not there to pay dd. also i would say dont get credit remember 1 word NO when they ask, i cant get credit anymore but that doesnt stop them asking even when i say im bankrupt they say oh that doesnt matter. and hang in there it really does get better promise.

System

tigger115 wrote:

I applied for a loan with Alliance & Leicester and was turned down for the lower rate - may wait for 3-6 months before applying - do you think this would make a difference?

Not sure if you're aware, but Alliance & Leicester is connected to MBNA - who operate your Virgin Credit Card - so that may be taken into account when processing your A & L loan application.

Perhaps if you applied for a loan using a company with whom you've no debt at all, you may be more successful?

Check this list for companies you've no connection to:-

http://www.stoozing.com/cards.htm

(That's only a suggestion BTW, it might make no difference!)

Dave

PS - Sorry to hear about your ex-hubby's behaviour.