In Debt At The Age of 19

Old_iron_balls

Ok just skimmed through the last four pages and i think everything has been covered.
Just want to add..

a) your 19, you have your age on your side. well done for taking a stand and dealing with your debts now rather than 5,6,7,8 etc years down the line.
Pat on the back for you fella.

b) paying friends to stay over. ive never heard of anything like it before. they need ditching asap !
again, congrats for realising this is WRONG. they are not freinds - they are leaches.

c) GO FOR IT & GOOD LUCK :beer:

davels

Hi David,

If it makes you feel any better, at 19 I had about £40,000 worth of debt. Guess what it took to get me out of it? Well, I got my girlfriend pregnant.

That was the biggest slap in the face I could have possibly received. Your debt is still managable, well done, and I mean really, well done, for facing it so early. I had to wait until a drastic life changing thing like a child kicked me in the nads and told me to sort it out.

Follow the great advice your getting from these guys. My advice - and timeline to follow would be...

1) Work on getting rid of the overdraft. Not only will it be £600 of debt gone - but its a HUGE psychologcal relief when its not there. As you pay off £50 at a time, call your bank and get them to reduce it by £50. As you never actual go through a process of 'making a payment' on your OD, you have to do this manually.

2) It may seem a long way off - but think about your 3 year plan. Are you really going to have all of those credit cards in 3 years?

3) Snowball. As per the advice above

4) Live below your means... I expect you've been living rather comfortably... I would probably think your similar to me in your "I MUST HAVE THAT NOW!" attitude... or perhaps not. I don't know you

If can achieve just getting rid of that overdraft in the next 6 months it'll be a huge barrier out of the way.. perhaps use the backdated element of your pay rise to hit it hard.

I hope this helps. Keep us updated

asandwhen

OK sell the mobile phones on ebay - if they are new phones then you should get a few bob for them - with the money pay off money from your credit cards you may think that this is strange and you want to pay off the mobile contacts but remember there is no interest on the mobile contact there are on your credit cards - if you need a mobile phone buy the cheapest pay as you go mobile (£20) - use the backdated pay and the £200 you were going to give to your friend and you will find that you only have 1 credit card left - the snowball your debts -

pollypocket

Try this-

Sell mobiles and use to get the credit card that is over its limit back within its limit.

If you have any friends that you class as proper mates talk to them(or family if comfortable with it) - you are being well and truly bullied ! I know its hard accepting that but you deserve so much more! Lose the losers that you have paid - you will make more friends!

Look at your mobile contracts and work out best way to use your SIMS(some have better deals on texts/calls) If you decide that you are just gonna keep one talk to your provider and see what deal they will offer you - I managed to get a fiver knocked off my bill AND 250 texts per month. Had to talk to people in disconnections to get the better deal but happy with what I got. If not bothered bout staying on contract go on PAYG. (I found that on PAYG I spent more - look at how you use your phone and shop around - genie SIMS good if text a lot - 300 free a month - try ebay really cheap)

Look at what you have got to sell - ebay and car boots are good. Dont sell the stuff that is special to you! You will end up regretting it - I am sure tho that you will have a load of stuff that you not bothered about - Believe me mate people on ebay buy some random stuff!!!!

Write a list of your debts, APRs, credit limits etc. - if you have got a large credit limit on a card get it reduced (may make it easier when going for CC with 0% balance transfers)

Keep posting on here - I have only been reading and posting for over a week and I feel loads better! Still waiting for all my credit files to come back reckon I owe about £ 52,000. I have got a sister of your age and she is in the same boat as you - YOU WILL GET IT SORTED!!!

P

sans_2

I've never heard of anything like paying friends to be your friends! Get rid of these 'people'. With friends like these who needs enemies??

Gonna_Do_It

Hi David

I think that it is great that you have come on here and asked for help and realised at a young age that you are in debt.

I really wish you all the best off luck in paying it off, if you follow the advise on this thread then you will be fine.

Just please don't be pressured by your mates for them to make you spend YOUR HARD EARNED MONEY, if you say no they will respect you more that if you just keep paying them money to stay over, plus you will feel great about yourslef and in control of your money.

Let us know how it goes, keep us posted :rudolf:

Jorgan_2

Well done for realising you have a problem. Pay your "mate" the £100 you actually owe him and tell him thats it, debt cleared. If he never speaks to you again then its probably the best £100 you will ever spend.

lallyaya

As you have already had so much great advice i'd just like to say well done for taking a big step to deal with it and I wish I was in your shoes!

I'm 28, my debt at its highest was £28K and is now around £23K, I wish I had got into debt early when I was scared of it and had learnt a valuable lesson.

Def ditch those friends and don't worry you will find more and they will be worth it. I used to think that I had loads of friends when in reality I had loads of accquantances [sp]. I ended up ditching the fair weather friends and was worried about being a sad loner, but the small group of new friends I have met are the best, I can always rely on them and I treasure each one more than all my accquantances put together. More time alone can also help you evaluate what it is you want and what is going to make you happy.

Sorry if i'm wrong or being out of line but I think you need to be a bit more comfortable with yourself, I used to try and buy a new me and money ran through my fingers like water. I now realise that I used to equate things like a better newer top of the range phone with being a better, cooler person. I now realise that it means nothing and i'm far happier in my own skin.

Good luck!

Lally
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tryingmybest_3

lallyaya wrote:

As you have already had so much great advice i'd just like to say well done for taking a big step to deal with it and I wish I was in your shoes!

I'm 28, my debt at its highest was £28K and is now around £23K, I wish I had got into debt early when I was scared of it and had learnt a valuable lesson.

Def ditch those friends and don't worry you will find more and they will be worth it. I used to think that I had loads of friends when in reality I had loads of accquantances [sp]. I ended up ditching the fair weather friends and was worried about being a sad loner, but the small group of new friends I have met are the best, I can always rely on them and I treasure each one more than all my accquantances put together. More time alone can also help you evaluate what it is you want and what is going to make you happy.

Sorry if i'm wrong or being out of line but I think you need to be a bit more comfortable with yourself, I used to try and buy a new me and money ran through my fingers like water. I now realise that I used to equate things like a better newer top of the range phone with being a better, cooler person. I now realise that it means nothing and i'm far happier in my own skin.

Good luck!

Lally
-x-

Very well said Lally!

Alexandros_2

I registered just for this thread...

Who are these friend? I really don't understand. Do you know them well? Why would they not spend time with you if you didn't pay them £50? Is that the opportunity cost of them visiting you instead of going to work or something? That's about the only slightly rational reason I can come up with. I don't want to sound too harsh, but PLEASE DO NOT PAY £200 to this so called friend. It is not worth it. You will be much happier if you find real people, real friends. In addition, you will end up being bitter spending all your time trying to make back the money you spent on people to spend time with you. I doubt these guys actually like you if they take money from you like this. It's completely and utterly ridiculous!!!! You have debts, clear them. You will be much happier. Do the honourable thing and drop these friends. You WILL find other people worth your time.

I really hope that you read this thread again before spending your money. It actually hurts me to think you will do this.

Good luck.