New year new me

dmac_74

I have sat at my computer all morning working out my debts and incomings and outgoings and also getting the courage to write this down and get it out in the open.

My light bulb moment for my situation was Boxing Day and that helped as i finally told my parents about my debt and that was a big relief

The light bulb moment for actually doing something about it was today when I worked out my debt and looks like it could be paid of by May 2010 (My 36th Birthday)

I got into debt when I was 23 (Nearly 9 Years ago) and now I want to do something about it

I tried to get a consolidation loan but no one wanted to know (don't know whether it was the amount or whether it was because i did not want PPI)

My debt at it highest was £16,500 and is now £16,050 as per my signature at the bottom of this note

Loan = £5500 (Barclays) was 10,000 and 2 years left to go
Card1 = 4050 (Morgan Stanley)
Card2 = £6500 (MBNA)

My income is £1384 per month

My outgoings are

Account Fee (overdraft and benefits) £12
Holiday (including OH as I owe them) £180
Credit Cards £200
Overdraft £10
Rent (Due to be increased to £400 or 450) £350
Life Insurance £9.54
Mobile (Redemption reduce this to £4) £30
Loan £275.39
Car Insurance £33.91
Other mobile £13.99
Other £81.49

This totals £1196.32

This leaves £188.68 left for the month

I have now set up an amoutn of £150 to go into 2nd account and will use this to live on for food and expenses for the month (Will see how this goes)

I know that I will now have to really think about what I am spending my money on from now on and will be making a note of everything to see where it is going

At present I am not sure of the interest rate on the cards but will post later or tomorrow when I have the details

I will also post later what I have done so far to sort out my finances and ask for advice on anything else i could do

Thanks for reading and will write again soon.

P.S. This is a great site and thansk to my MUM for showing me the light

the*dark*one

Well done hun for actually having the courage to come here and start doing something about it. Good luck and someone will be along shortly with advice on how to cut your monthly outgoings to a minimum. :j

climbgirl

Well done for beginning to sort it out, it's a good start!

Just a couple of points about the budget - for a budget to work you need to list ALL your outgoings and not have unspecified lump sums for things like 'other'. What is 'other' exactly? You need to account for food, clothing you'll need to buy/replace, christmas/birthday presents, things like that. These are all things that people say surprise them and are unexpected, but are actually relatively regular spending that they just failed to include in their budget. A good budget needs to cover EVERYTHING!

Also, one thing that leaps out is the holiday spending - I'm not sure if this is a debt or not but £180 a month on a holiday is a hell of a lot to be spending if you're that much in debt....

ms_london

My income is £1384 per month

My outgoings are

Account Fee (overdraft and benefits) £12
Holiday (including OH as I owe them) £180
Credit Cards £200
Overdraft £10
Rent (Due to be increased to £400 or 450) £350
Life Insurance £9.54
Mobile (Redemption reduce this to £4) £30
Loan £275.39
Car Insurance £33.91
Other mobile £13.99
Other £81.49

This totals £1196.32

This leaves £188.68 left for the month

**************************************************

Account Fee - Do any of these "benefits" actually benefit you? £12 a month is a lot, and you'll probably find that they are useless!! Thats £144 a year!! Wouldnt you rather have this money??

Holiday - is this the total money you owe? £180, or £180 a month. If so, whats the total??

Overdraft - £10. Do you have anything on your OD, or this a fee incase you need one? Couldnt you find a bank account that offered a free overdraft (usually a limit) - £120 a year!! If you do have an OD, how much is it? You need to start living WITHIN your means, so cancel it now.

Rent - When is it increased? How come you dont know which figure? A £100 is a lot of difference? Are you bills included? (water, council tax, gas, electric).

Car Ins - Do you budget for tax/MOT/servicing/petrol? Could you save money monthly so that when your Car Ins is due for renewal you can shop around for a better deal and then pay the full amount (saving you a bit of money!!).

Why do you need another mobile? could you cancel/sell on ebay.!!

Other - £81.49. What does this include?

Loan = £5500 (Barclays) was 10,000 £275.39
Card1 = 4050 (Morgan Stanley)
Card2 = £6500 (MBNA)

Do you have PPI on your loan/CC's at the moment? It might be worth calling your CC's and cancelling the payment protection? It might only be £10 a month but this is £10 a month that can go towards reducing your balance? If you have it on your loan this might be more tricky, but can be done (if you see other posts on here).

Do you pay £100 each to each of the cards, or split it differently? I would imagine that this only just covers the interest each month? So your balance isnt reducing by a great deal? Could you ask them to reduce your APR? Perhaps threaten to leave & say you have been offered X% elsewhere, and see what they say?

Assuming that you dont owe your OH a lot more for your holiday, this will soon give you a further £180 a month to throw at your debts, so you can increase your CC payments to say £200 each a month. I still think it's possible to reduce your outgoings a bit more each month - all those odd £10 here and there soon add up, even if by cancelling these it means you can throw an extra £50 a month at your debts this is worth it - every little helps!!

Well done on having your "lightbulb moment" - its just a shame its taken you between boxing day and today to actually do something about it, afterall, time is money :0) But well done, I am sure it wont be long before you are debt free.

Ms_London xx

dmac_74

Hi

A little background on my holiday situation.

My OH's family go on about 4 holidays every year (They can afford it and only for 1 week or 5 days at a time.
Therefore it is normal for my OH to want the same or there abouts

The holiday payment of £180 is for 5 months and covers what I owe to OH £300 and holiday £600

We have also subscribed to a Holiday club which is £76 per month (Part of Other) and the other amount (5.49) is a direct debit I will be cancelling when I can get to the bank and find out what it is

In the last 2 weeks I have transfered £3970 from my MBNA to my Morgan Stanley at a 6th month interest rate of about 2 or 3% and then this will go to 15.9% (I Think) but is less than MBNA

The balance on my MBNA was £10,300 with a limit of £10,300 and this has now been reduced to £6500 with an APR of 1.45 per month (Which I think equates to abut 18% per annum)

I currently pay £120 to MBNA and £80 to Morgan Stanley per month (£200)

I have cancelled the other mobile so only 1 more payment left and the main mobile I cancelled and got the new on at 3.99 per month

With the rent situation. When I moved in with my OH I was in debt and did not have a lot of money so I paid a reduced amount and now we argue about money and I am not contributing to half of everything so this is why my rent is going up and I am not sure what everything is per month as I have never owned a house or paid monthly bills

BUT I have said that if I am paying half then I would like to see if I could get cheaper rates for Gas , electric etc but she says no as it is her house her rules

So in all I have tried to make an effort by cancelling direct debits not needed and transferring balances across CC's

I would like to know that If I have applied for a loan with MBNA instead fo the card and they said no and then I have transfered £4000 off that I coudl still get them to reduce the APR or if I have done thsi that it will have to stay as my situation does not as bleak as it did.

I have not budgeted for anything to do with the car but will look at this today to work out costs for insurance, MOT and serviceing

I will keep you posted later with any updates

jen_jen_2

account fee - as said before what use is it?
life insurance - do you have any dependents? why are you insuring your life, what do you need to leave money behind for if you die (harsh reality but is it necessary?)
holidays - OH wants 5 holidays a year - let her and just go on one or two with her (still very generous holiday allowance) i am not in debt and did not go on a proper holiday last year. her family will still be with her and if she cant understand you cant afford it at the moment then perhaps not the girl for you (again sorry if being harsh)
Detail all your bills food gas etc i think its reasonable for you to ask OH to get cheapest deals also think final decision should include her, perhaps you can show her how much she will save if she switches and she will be persuaded.
and finally good luck to you, keeping that diary of spending will show you where you can make savings and then throw all that saving at your highest debt.

Kevicho

dmac_74 wrote:

Hi

A little background on my holiday situation.

My OH's family go on about 4 holidays every year (They can afford it and only for 1 week or 5 days at a time.
Therefore it is normal for my OH to want the same or there abouts

4 Holidays a year!, i havent had one in the past 6 lol

I think your OH needs to realise at this point in time paying off your debts is worth more than holidays, maybe she can cut down to one or just go with her family

dmac_74

OH's parents and us do not go on the same holidays

OH is in debt but is like what I was like and sticks their head in the sand hoping it will all go away ( I now know that it wont and and sorting my situation out)


The OH is in debt on cards and overdraft but is not worried about it or thinks about it as she has more left on her card if need be (Bad idea as this is getting moer in debt each month)

She lent me £400 before xmas as I was down to my last fiver and she could afford it (Kind off, just put it on the card) I am paying her back but does not pay of CC but spends it instead of taking money out of her current account

Also as she owns the house (Has a mortgage) she has equity and could help herself if need be.

because I am in debt and could not do what anyone else can do (Go out) she treated herself to a new mini (Nice car) and now she is saying things like if I leave she will have to sell the car and this will then clear her debts as the car is paid for and then she will not have a mini any more

I am thinking so what I don't care

We split up on boxing day which is when it all came out to my parents that I was in debt and she agreed to help which is why I am now going to pay for half of everything so she has nothing to grumble about

But because she does not realise her situation she carries on spending and I just let her carry on (I should show her thsi site and then she might realise her state of affairs)

I don't mean to go on but once I start it all just comes out and I need to get it out as I have had enough

If I leave I will have to rent somewhere else and don't know if I coudl find anywhere else that gives me the freedom I have now that is cheap enough for me to be able to live

Sorry I will go now and thanks for the support

P.S. The account cost of £12 is a waste of time as I do not benefit so thsi could be reduced to £2 which is the overdraft cose so a saving of £10 for me

in*the*red_6

It's a difficult situation as you have had you "lightbulb moment" and your OH clearly hasn't. She's offered to help you but the help is going to get you into more trouble as a couple because she's still seeing credit as her money and blaming you for being in debt! She will also run into problems with seeing equity as a way out too as it will only add to her debt if she goes down that route.

You need to think carefully whether the relationship has a future. Debt does put considerable strain on any relationship but it seems you are still acting very much as individuals and not a couple. If you were a couple, sharing a house and everything else, it would be "our debt" not mine and hers.

skintchick

I am confused as to whether your relationship is ended or not?

Can you clairfy?

If it is, then you need to move out and have control over your bills. Don't know where in UK you are, but I rent out my spare room and my lodger pays me £350 a month all in, except phone calls. Could that be an option for now?

dmac_74

We split up and then got back together later that day and had a good conversation about sorting things out.

Based arround the heathrow area so coudl find something but have not looked as I need to look at whether this relationship is up to saving with all the past history

Due to my OH being in a joint mortgage with previouse boyfriend then putting it all in her name when they split she is VERY reluctant to put in joint again and I have no savings and not a very good credit rating i am not in a position to go into a joint mortgage

So everything is hers and mine