In Debt & Desperate

milliemonster

andromache - what a refreshing post!

Boyfriendgirl

spam.jam wrote: »

hello
im sorry im not an expert about debts, i just wanted to say hello and well done for coming to the right place and taking the time to sort out your soa. someone with a lot more knowledge will come along to help in a while. (one thing that helped me in the beginning was working out which debt was costing the most in interest and pay that one off first) good luck

Thank you for your kind words - I was shocked when I looked at the APRs on my credit cards - particularly the one I have the most on! Will clear the Barclaycard and Argos card first - hopefully this will give me the incentive to keep going.

Boyfriendgirl

tealady wrote: »

Hi When your insurances are due for renewal go to a comparison website (or several would be better) to get the best quotes. Then see if you can buy it via a cashback website which will be even better.
Check out www.petrolprices.com for fuel prices in your area.
The Old style boards have great ways of cutting back on the groceries.
Hope this helps.

Thank you I will look into this - especially the petrol one in the short term. My car insurance is due for renewal in April and I think I have already paid for this year. Home insurance I have just renewed with existing supplier and this was the cheapest I could find.

tealady

Hello. I would also have a peek at the Up Your Income boards as well, there are things there that your daughter could do as well as yourself.

Boyfriendgirl

Numpty_Monkey wrote: »

Hi Bfg:hello:

A few extra thoughts to go along with what the others have said
I don't know much about cars but your insurance and maintence cost are high, check you are getting a deal with the insurance read Martin's:money:article about insurance
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/insurance/

Look at getting a landline and internet bundle package , i pay £16 a month for line rental and broadband, free evening and weekend calls

The OS board is great for getting your shopping bill down
MoneySaving Old Style

YourSOA says you have a surplus at the end of the month but I bet you don't,
keep a spending diary write down everything you spend, papers, magazines,snacks,drinks all the little things.

If you have a surplus try snowballing your debts, use this link
http://www.whatsthecost.com/snowball.aspx?country=uk

HTH and good luck keep posting:A

Numpty Monkey - thanks for your reply. See above re insurances - I feel a bit wet behind the ears admitting that I don't know whether I have paid all my car insurance this year! So I have looked it up and it will be finished on Jan 9th. That means I wont have to pay Feb, Mar & Apr next year til the new renewal.

As far as the landline is concerned I took out an 18 month contract with Waitrose my internet provider and have just been living here 11 months to date. Again I will bear it in mind in May next year.

I will start a spending diary - should I put everything into it? Including bills? Everything that goes in and out of my bank accounts?

What do you think about transferring balances from smaller balance credit cards with higher interest rates to bigger balance ones with lower rate in short term? Or is this trying to pull the wool over my eyes?

I will have a play with snowballer!

Thanks again x

dancingfairy

Hi. Sorry but I missed why you have 3 mobile contracts? one for your daughter, one for you and one for who? perhaps you could renogitate on all of them - if you save 10 pounds on each one that's an extra 30 a month. You might even be able to get even better deals. Find out how many minutes you are each using and then reesearch which companies are offering the best deal for that many minutes then phone your current provider and say co. x are doing the same minutes for 20 a month less - what can you do for me? It might not work but a lot of people have had success with this method so worth giving it a try. Also if they are all on the same network maybe you can get combined deals or use some kind of friends and family arrangement where you can phone certain numbers cheaper etc.

Transferring cards to lower interest rates will defnitely give you a bit of breathing space and you might find that once you empty a card you will then get an even better deal to bring the debt back to them. This will only work if you are not wracking up more debt and deal with it so it depends how disciplined you are - as long as you realise it will help but will not be enough on it's own to sort all your probs.

With the spending diary it's up to you how you want to do it. I would probably stick to everything you spend cash one (yes everything) and anything you put on a credit card/visa card - you will be able to see the bils clearly on your statement and you can ask you bank for any direct debits/standing orders so I am not sure it would help to have them in a spending diary - it may just complicate things, but it is up to you really.
Having feb. march and apr will off the car insurance will really help you throw extra money at your debts and I am sure now you have admitted the problem you will make gret inroads into it.
Good Luck
df x

RAS

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly.. .APR
CC1 - MBNA.....................5000......59........0
CC2 - HSBC.....................2000......60........15.9
CC3 - Halifax..................6000......130.......22.5
Loan from parents..............14000.....200.......0
Overdraft HSBC.................650.......0.........0
Overdraft Alliance.............250.......0.........0
Store Card Argos...............300.......2.........27.9
CC4 - Barclaycard..............260.......6.........24.9

I had assumed given the nice round numbers that the 0% deals on MBNA and the HSBC card were balance transfers? If so you need to check the conditions as you may finding that adding more debt would either incur a higher APR on the additional debt or result in you paying more interst on the whole balance.

When does the 0% deal run out?

If however the maximum limit on the lower APR cards allows you to BT more debt to them, and there is an advantage even after the transfer fee - likely to be 3%, then do it as it reduce your interest payments amd means that your money is oaying off the capital debt.

Regarding your daughter, if you are giving her £300, is she getting money from your ex as well?

You really do need to sit down with her and explain the situation. Also your new partner needs to talk to his sonand explain that there is not a lot for treats at weekends. it is going to be footie in the park rather than an awayday match, sort of thing.

Boyfriendgirl

urg123 wrote: »

HI Boyfriendgirl

Welcome to the Boards. I have a few comments ideas and I am sure that there will be others along soon.

Most of the spending is tight - so I can see why it is a struggle. You have identified some of the main issues.

Can you contact the mobile companies and ask them if they will reduce your tariffs? Someone on this board told their provider about their financial situation and said they were about to go bankrupt. The provider agreed to a much lower tariff - it's worth a try!

Have a go at trying to reduce your grocery bills - have a look a the old-style board.

Okay this is the hard part - a good proportion of your income is going to your daughter. I know this is a difficult one and I can see the income from the lodger actually covers it. Can your ex-partner contribute? Can your daughter get a job? It does silly that you are getting further and further into debt while trying to keep your daughter out of it.

Other things that you can think about are ways to make money. Selling things on Amazon and Ebay. A second job for a little while. There are lots of other ideas on these boards.

Pay off some of the smaller debts i.e. the barclaycard and the Argos storecard as soon as possible. It'll make you feel better to get them off your list.

There are lots of ways in which you can deal with the debt - have a good look at the boards. It can get obsessive. I am sure others will be along to add their ideas and comments.

Good luck with your debt free journey.

URG x

Urg, thanks for the advice.

I will contact the mobile companies - I have 3 contracts - mine, my partners and my daughters - all in my name! I see above a suggestion to get them on a combined contract - will definitely try to do something with them.

I don't really want to reduce my daughter's money much as I originally raised it because she was no longer getting a grant because of my increase in income. As soon as I got the wage rise she lost out on £2,700 of grant - my wage rise wasn't even that much! She has to repay that £2,700 from last year anyway. She already works part-time to help out. I know she doesn't waste money - she is far more sensible than I as concerns money.

Debt free? That sounds like an un-obtainable dream from here! Fingers crossed and good luck with your own journey x

RAS

Hi

Can you ask your daughter to check the situation regarding her grant? Maybe talk to the Student Union.

and another thought - Alliance used to offer a £1000 interest free OD for the first year. When does the 0% run out. If you have a few months on it and the limit allows, pay off one or two of the very high interest bills with that account first. Move them on before the deal ends.

Boyfriendgirl

milliemonster wrote: »

Great advice from Urg, nothing immediately springs out from your SOA and you are doing well in that you still have a surplus each month.

Although, it says in your SOA you pay your daughter £300 a month and theres another £150 a month child related expenses, what is this for? is there any chance you can cut this down? or your daughter can get a pt job while she is away at uni?

If you take away the loan from your parents, your debt isn't that bad, can you negotiate with your parents to pay them back less while your daughter is at uni? so you can throw this money at your interest charged debts for a while?

I fully understand the 'noose around the neck' feeling that debt gives you and you just want it paid off asap, but your daughter isn't going to be at uni forever, if you can encourage her to get some pt work herself and reduce what you pay back your parents for the time being (£50 a month?) then this can free some money up to throw at your debts to get these down.

Hi Milliemonster, thanks for responding. I'm not sure whether I've written this before as my replies keeping timing out but the £150 towards my partner's son should not be on there. This is money he is paying his son's mother and not part of my debt. Also thanks for the positive thoughts about it not being forever. It does feel like a huge weight on my shoulders that does not get lighter with time. x