Financial advice needed

kdee_2

Was going to call title "financial help needed" in hope someone would send me money :snow_laug

Anyway, have about £3k each on two credit cards, nothing else, no loans etc.

What's best way for me to clear the debt?
Also have some o2 and BT shares that I don't particularly want to cash in to pay them off.

We earn about 48k between us but live up to hilt.
Can prob afford £150 a month to pay off debts. In 18 months will have a further £400 a month (£550 in total spare).

Shall I get a loan? a 0% CC? (any directions on that one?)

Any help gratefully appreciated.

(ps: all bills on DD and all extras that come along (eg mot, insurances ,emergency stuff) comes from a fund I currently save into)

fairylights_2

Morning!

Well, first off congratulations on deciding to clear your debt! :beer: I have to say I think you should be able to find a way to eke out a bit more cash to clear your debts, it's probably just a case of watching what you spend your pennies on. You seem to have a contingency fund set up for everything else, can you not put a bit more aside for debt repayments?

Have you done the credit card shuffle to get your payments sorted? Are you actually struggling to meet payments or do you just want to get them clear. Have you downloaded the snowball calculator to see what dent your payments are making into your card debts? http://www.whatsthecost.co.uk/snowball.aspx If your aprs are about 18% (rough guestimate) you could clear those debts in 25 months just paying off 150 a month, factor in the extra you'll be able to pay in 18 months and it cuts down to about 19 months from now - as an idea ...

Are you paying payment protection insurance? My OH was paying ppi on his card and between that and interest he was only paying £8 a month of the actual debts.

Sorry for lots of questions, but hopefully they'll be of some use!

skintchick

Surely if you're on 48k you have more than £150 a month spare?

Post your SOA please!

kdee_2

skintchick wrote:

Surely if you're on 48k you have more than £150 a month spare?
Post your SOA please!

No we don't have more than £150 to spare
SOA?

Thanks Fairylights, will looks into the things you've suggested, hadn't heard of the snowball calculator before. Will definetly use it now.

Xbigman

SOA is statement of affairs. Basicly a list of your income and outgoings.
I think you have surprized a lot of us by having 48k income and only £150 spare with limited debts, as most of us earn less than half that but have a lot more spare or to throw at debts.
In your circumstances it is probably just a case of cutting back on your current spending and you will clear the debt fairly quickly.
Regards




X

southernscouser

I can only second what others have said.

You will probably find you can have more spare cash if you are willing to change your spending habits and depending on how badly you want to reduce your debts.

Have a look at the thread below for more about what info we need to help.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=107280

kdee_2

Xbigman wrote:

I think you have surprized a lot of us by having 48k income and only £150 spare with limited debts, as most of us earn less than half that but have a lot more spare or to throw at debts.

X

Who are the "us" I have surprised? You are making a judgement call about our circumstances and that is a real shame when all I wanted was some help.

The take home pay is "2,200" but we give £800 of that to both sets of parents who are in dire circumstances at the moment. This is not negotiable so please don;t reply telling me that we need to stop or re-look at this.
That leaves only £1400 per month with a £600 mortgage - now down to £800. Our council tax alone is nealry £200 - now with three children, you do the maths!

I am very surprised at the comments "You will probably find you can have more spare cash if you are willing to change your spending habits and depending on how badly you want to reduce your debts." Clearly you made a statement on no facts at all.
All I wanted was assistance not someone to tell me how I should stop spending when clearly, in my case that was not the situation at all.

Thanks to anyone who replied with positive suggestions, but thx I'll not be looking for more money saving help on this particular thread.

southernscouser

kdee wrote:

Who are the "us" I have surprised? You are making a judgement call about our circumstances and that is a real shame when all I wanted was some help.

The take home pay is "2,200" but we give £800 of that to both sets of parents who are in dire circumstances at the moment. This is not negotiable so please don;t reply telling me that we need to stop or re-look at this.
That leaves only £1400 per month with a £600 mortgage - now down to £800. Our council tax alone is nealry £200 - now with three children, you do the maths!

I am very surprised at the comments "You will probably find you can have more spare cash if you are willing to change your spending habits and depending on how badly you want to reduce your debts." Clearly you made a statement on no facts at all.
All I wanted was assistance not someone to tell me how I should stop spending when clearly, in my case that was not the situation at all.

Thanks to anyone who replied with positive suggestions, but thx I'll not be looking for more money saving help on this particular thread.

Kdee,

I apologise if you found my post offensive. It genuinely wasn't meant to be!

Your right, I did make that statement with no facts but I still stand by that we can save you money though. I'm not suggesting you are drinking £100 bottles of champagne or anything like that, I simply mean for example, swapping utility providers, going over to the oldstyle boards for food shopping reduction tips, and stuff like that.

To regards with everyone else, they probaly made the same judgements as me but people on here really do want to help. I won't go into the money you give to the folks at your request but no-one on here would have assumed you would be doing that. Had you not it would of been a totally different scenario.

Anyways, if you do want some advice please do list a SOA. The offer is there and I'm sure I speak for everyone in no offence was meant.

wigginsmum

Do stay, kdee. As southernscouser says, go over to the MS Oldstyle forums and have a look around there. I'm currently reducing my weekly shopping bill massively by using Lidl. Also, read Martin's articles here on the site - they're well worth it. Annd good on you for supporting both sets of parents - I understand that completely.

Jules

kevker

kdee wrote:

Who are the "us" I have surprised? You are making a judgement call about our circumstances and that is a real shame when all I wanted was some help.

The take home pay is "2,200" but we give £800 of that to both sets of parents who are in dire circumstances at the moment. This is not negotiable so please don;t reply telling me that we need to stop or re-look at this.
That leaves only £1400 per month with a £600 mortgage - now down to £800. Our council tax alone is nealry £200 - now with three children, you do the maths!

I am very surprised at the comments "You will probably find you can have more spare cash if you are willing to change your spending habits and depending on how badly you want to reduce your debts." Clearly you made a statement on no facts at all.
All I wanted was assistance not someone to tell me how I should stop spending when clearly, in my case that was not the situation at all.

Thanks to anyone who replied with positive suggestions, but thx I'll not be looking for more money saving help on this particular thread.

Not being funny Kdee, if you don't supply the facts then people can't really help. If you read through other posts, it is standard practice on this forum for people to post statement of affairs. People genuinely do want to help, but the only way they can do this is if you show exactly what you spend your money on. No-one is making judgements or criticising, but the information we were originally given was 48k income and only £150 spare. There was no mention of kids or helping out the parents.

vandanfc

kdee wrote:

Also have some o2 and BT shares that I don't particularly want to cash in to pay them off.

Isn't O2 being sold and all shares are being bought back. You should have had a letter by now about it. I think they are paying £2 a share. You have 2 choices take the money or take a "loan note" - (in effect lending them the money with some sort of payment for the pleasure).

So as you have no choice in the matter use the money towards the debts.

Martin currently also seems to be fond of cheap "whole of life" credit card transfers. May be useful if you can't find a 0% deal.

Vanda