advice please 23K in debt

Little_Bear_4

I am finally starting to take my debt seriously - I added it all up and it comes to 23,600k!!!!
I have the following
6,000 overdraft (Natwest) 10%
12,000 loan (Cahoot) 5.4 (used this to pay off other cards)
Morgan Stanley card (0%) - 3,500 (new so cant increase limit just yet)
Virgin (12%) - has just gone up from 0% - 2,100

my income is take home pay per month is 2000
outgoings:
975 goes on rent
100 on council tax
60 on mobile
86 on gym (its a year long membership that I cant cancel until April!!)!
84 on travel
40 on bills which adds up to -
240 cahoot loan - but when this comes out I retake it out and pay off more onto the virgin card, am also trying to chuck 600 onto my virgin card per month and live on about 250 per month

has anyone any other advice re what I should be doing?

Thanks!!!

jellycat40

Hi there little bear. I see your troubles and feel for you. First cut up the cards. Second see if Natwest will convert to a loan for you so that you feel a little more in control. Can you increase your income at all. Maybe a temp job or overtime. Party plan or something similar would fit in with most lifestyles.

Look on all the threads to see if any of the moneysaving ideas is of any help to you. You could talk to one of the advice agencies such as payplan or debt advice line.

I do know how you feel i too have a huge debt and am anxious. I have had some comfort and support from this site though.

Best wishes

Louise

in*the*red_6

Hi,
Where do you live to be paying such a huge amount of rent?? Would it be possible to rent somewhere cheaper and have more to put towards debts?

Little_Bear_4

Thanks jellycat40

Its just a very long road ahead!!! - but from reading the site I can see that some people have managed it!. Credit Cards are evil which is how this started in the first place. The worst thing is that a year ago I sold my flat and was debt free with 7,000 (thee rest of the profit went on paying off other credit card debt!) - but some how I have managed to rack up 23,000 in a year!

Its very scary but I am determined to do it this time and I hope you manage to too

Thanks again

Good luck

Little_Bear_4

in*the*red

mmm im tied into a years tenancy agreement - but next year (it ends in september) will be moving somewhere much cheaper....I agree was such a bad decision at the time to pay so much

in*the*red_6

Well at least you know that as of April you'll have a little bit more spare and then in September hopefully quite a bit more to throw at the debts.

Have you tried the snowballing calculator? It will give you a debt free date and a record of what you should be paying off to each creditor each month. It's helped me to see my repayments in black and white. The debt free date can always be brought forward by paying off extra bits here and there where you can.

Also, are you ebaying???

tattooed_lady

Hiya, like the others I would recommend the snowballing calculator so that you pay the debts with the highest apr's first and also address the overdraft asap as they are re-payable on demand. Good luck!

Bestthingsinlifearefree

Hi Littlebear,

Good to see you tackling the issue.

You say your income is 2K per month but you have racked up nearly 24K of debt in a year which is = too another 2K a month of income / spending.

So in the last 12 months you have on average spent £4000 per month

Yet your statement of affairs says your out goings -= ONLY £1585 per month.

The first thing you need to do is identify where the other £2500 overspend each month is going e.g car,holidays,drink,socialising,maybe you were not working for a time etc etc.

Can you shed any light on this as basically £25,000 +has gone somewhere in the last 12 months but is not down on your list of out goings ?????

This could info could then help us advise you accordingly.

jcr16

i hope this will help. you say your tied into a agreement with your rent. we rented last year , and signed a 6 month contract. anyway after 2 months we were sick to death of our cars getting vandalised. we had also found somewhere else we would prefer to live. we explained to our landlord the situation and how unhappy we were. and they said as long as they can get some one else to move in when we move out they will end the contract. so it may be worth talking to them. as september is a long time away. and it doesn't look like you can really afford to stay.

hth

Little_Bear_4

hi

thanks everyone - will definitely check the snowballing calculator and also look into the tenancy agreement another alternative I am looking into is for my other half to move in and then share the rent!!

Good point Best Things, 25,000 in 12 months is alot!!! - I went off to work in Australia and sold my flat and got rid of all my furniture etc......but then returned after 6 months!! - had to buy everything again-i also racked up quite a few debts over there so came back around 8,000 in debt! and then probably spent 6,000 maybe more on new furniture

I have been totally overspending until about 3 months ago - when finally stopped spending on the credit cards - mostly on socialising and a couple of holidays until it totally dawned on me how much it had spiralled into! and was like EEEK!!!

Gonna_Do_It

Hey, it's great that you want to sort your debts out.

Yes, like others said, rent seem very high, and would be great to move somewhere cheaper.

Can you change your credit card to another 0% one for the next 6mths or so to avoid extra interest.

You could look at cutting down your mobile phone bill, this is quite high.

Cancel the gym membership in April.

Definitly try the snowball calculator. Do a proper budget and use this website to see how you can cut it down, so that as much money is going towards the debt as possible.

Set yourself goals to help you keep motivated and determind to pay off the debt.

Cut up those cards!!!

Any friends in the same situation as you who you could work with and encourage each other?

Good luck
xx