jenkofreeze's Statement of Affairs (edit)

jenkofreeze

bargainbetty wrote: »

I would start by calling all of the card providers and asking for a rate reduction and about balance transfers...... then try to shift money about to get as much on the lowest rate interest as possible. You pay the same amounts, but you are clearing debts instead of servicing interest.

I HAVE thought about calling Egg and asking them to ctransfer the remaining amount owed to a loan (which they have offered before and I'd hope would be at a more beneficial rate)

Haven't thought about calling them up and just asking them to reduce the interest rate. Is that likely to work? I Don't miss many payments but because I have so many cards it only really takes a nibble out of the balance and goes to that month's interest

Well apart from the one card I am focussing on clearing at the moment

jenkofreeze

bargainbetty wrote: »

I'd also reduce the amount you are spending on clothes until you get some of the debts down..... it hurts, but these things must be done.

Hiya bargainbetty, I'm sure you are right! It's just getting myself into the correct frame of mind - that I can't afford to spend that amount!

I can get that figure down,I need to keep it to essentials like socks that will last for a while

jenkofreeze

Gemmzie wrote: »

That SOA is a bit hard to read, could you stick the debt bits in http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html or the whole lot if you don't mind. It's much easier to see payments

Eventually I want fewer debts so I can have them fit into a nice signiture like yours!

jenkofreeze

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1300
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1300

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured loan repayments................. 0
Rent.................................... 140
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 50
Electricity............................. 30
Gas..................................... 20
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 15
Mobile phone............................ 45
TV Licence.............................. 10
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 17
Groceries etc. ......................... 110
Clothing................................ 50
Petrol/diesel........................... 0
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 40
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 20
Contents insurance...................... 20
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 567

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 0
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 0

No Secured Debt

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
mint card......................1100......35........21.9
marks & spencer card...........1981......49........24.9
barclay card...................2771......55........25.5
Marbles........................9350......235.......26.9
Virgin.........................5810......140.......24.9
lloyds tsb.....................4900......99........22.5
egg card.......................4300......90........24.9
Total unsecured debts..........30212.....703.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,300
Expenses (including secured debts)....... 567
Available for debt repayments........... 733
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 703
Surplus(deficit if negative)............ 30

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 0
Total Secured debt...................... -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -30,212
Net Assets.............................. -30,212

Created using the SOA calculator at https://www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission.

bargainbetty

It never hurts to ask them to reduce the rates. Before you consider the loan, think about another option. What you could try, and I know some people might shoot me for suggesting it is this...

Call the card providers and find out if you would qualify for a 0% balance transfer or low-life-of-balance deal. You do incur a charge of 2% to do this, but you'd save money in the long run.

Example. You have £1100 on a Mint card and £1981 on M&S, both at stupidly high rates. Call Mint and find out if they do transfer deals. At this point, anything below 7% would be great for you on life-of-balance. Then transfer your Mint balance onto your other cards....

Next, transfer all you can back onto the new low rate Mint card. It will all be on the lovely low rate - but you must clear it all out first or you end up paying a stack of interest on the existing balance. Depending on your card limits, you could empty your M&S card onto the new low rate.

2-3% fees would be charged, but you're probably paying more than that in interest each month.

Then, you call M&S, ask about great balance transfer rates.... and empty one of your other debts onto it...... so the circle continues. It depends on your card limits and what deals you can get. They are doing 0% for six months, which then rises to 15.9% - still less than you are paying!!

This won't reduce your overall debt, but more of the money you pay will be servicing the debt rather than the interest, which will bring it down.

I hope this helps.

Gemmzie

jenkofreeze wrote: »

Eventually I want fewer debts so I can have them fit into a nice signiture like yours!

And you will! They aren't actually mine though, I cleared £3k in six months thanks to this site - that's with a part-time income and running a car!
The signature is my parent's debt and we cleared £7k last year and nearly £12k this year!