A right old mess !

dealwithdebtdot

I am happy to help further, if I can, not sure what you are asking for.

Pobby

Hi my mess. How are you doing regarding the gambling? There is tons of help for people wanting to quit. Are you seeking any?

Just to let you know that there is another way and I have met many a person who has run up debt through gambling. They are recovering gamblers right now and dealing with the debt they have very well. Once you have quit you will find that you can reduce what you know rapidly. Lots of good advice here

Jesthar

Hey mess,

You've had some very good advice already, but as I'm single and living on my own (although sans child ), here's my input:

my_mess wrote: »

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 1
Number of children in household......... 1
Number of cars owned.................... 0

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1225
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 200
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1425

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured loan repayments................. 0
Hire Purchase (HP) repayments........... 0
Rent.................................... 190
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 90
Electricity............................. 50 - see if you can reduce your useage, my bill is well under half of this
Gas..................................... 40 - see if you can reduce this too - mine is less than this and my heating, hot water and cooker are all gas
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 20
Telephone (land line)................... 20
Mobile phone............................ 10
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 15
Groceries etc. ......................... 200- this can possibly be as much as halved; my monthly food bill is usually at most £70, and I eat very well. See the Moneysaving Old Style section of the board for many food budgeting ideas
Clothing................................ 20 - if you have plenty of clothes, this can go essentials only for a while
Petrol/diesel........................... 0
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 58
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 40 - details of this would be helpful
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 20
Haircuts................................ 10
Entertainment........................... 60 - this could be cut back on
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 50 - right now, your debts are your emergency!
Total monthly expenses.................. 905

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

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt....Monthly...APR
loan...........................6000......155.... 17
A&L card.....................7100.... 150....... 0
Egg card.....................2400.... 65........ 0
Barclaycard..................1922...... 45........6.5
Total unsecured debts....17422...415

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,425
Expenses (including HP & secured debts) 905
Available for debt repayments........... 520
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 415
Amount left after debt repayments....... 105
Well, on paper, you have money left over each month - great start!

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 0
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -17,422
Net Assets.............................. -17,422


Created using the SOA calculator at www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission.[/font]

As I noted above, on paper you have around £100 spare cash each month (£150 if you reallocate your emergency fund, and maybe as much as £250 if you manage to reduce your food bill, entertainment budget and utility bills.

So, the first important thing is to start keeping a spending diary, and write in it EVERYTHING you buy - you need to work out where all your theorietically 'spare' cash is going. And the second thing is to use any spare cash you DO have left over to pay extra off whichever debt which allows overpayments has the highest APR - are your A&L and Egg credit cards really 0% APR, as if so and you can't overpay on your loan then your first target will be Barclaycard.

You have to be aware this is going to take a while to clear, even with overpaying, but if you overpay it will take a lot less time! Oh, and whatever you do, don;t go taking out a consolidation loan, it's NOT worth it.

Now, was there any other specific help you need to help you get started, because we'll do what we can!

~Jes

[Deleted User]

Hey My Mess

I don't really have anything to add to the advice already given, but didn't want to read and run. Well done for being honest and dealing with your debt, doesn't matter how you got there. Good luck, if I think of anything I'll let you know.

my_mess

Lots of thanks to all who took the time to read and comment.
I have changed the rate on the A&L card , as I had it set at 0% and it's actually 16.9%. They have recently reduced it from 20.4%

The Egg card is 0% for 12 months, then goes up to 16%

Should I throw everything I can at Egg to try and clear it before the 12 months is up, or concentrate on the big A&L card ?

I am making a small start - coming here, facing the mess etc....

dealwithdebtdot

my_mess wrote: »

Lots of thanks to all who took the time to read and comment.
I have changed the rate on the A&L card , as I had it set at 0% and it's actually 16.9%. They have recently reduced it from 20.4%

The Egg card is 0% for 12 months, then goes up to 16%

Should I throw everything I can at Egg to try and clear it before the 12 months is up, or concentrate on the big A&L card ?

I am making a small start - coming here, facing the mess etc....

I would overpay on the A&L then, and try and put the barclycard debt on the egg card if you have enough limit.

You are paying the most in interest on the A&L, if you can pay £305 a month off that it will be done in 3 years.

If your credit rating is good, dispite the debt level you may be able to get another 0% card in 12 months to try and hold the rest of the debt off interest.

When does the loan finish?

If you can make any of the savings people have suggested it will all help, and earn anything extra that you can....but not by gambling.

I wish you well.



I suspect you will have to leave the loan as it is.

Jesthar

my_mess wrote: »

Lots of thanks to all who took the time to read and comment.
I have changed the rate on the A&L card , as I had it set at 0% and it's actually 16.9%. They have recently reduced it from 20.4%

The Egg card is 0% for 12 months, then goes up to 16%

Should I throw everything I can at Egg to try and clear it before the 12 months is up, or concentrate on the big A&L card ?

I am making a small start - coming here, facing the mess etc....

You're doing very well! :T

No, don't throw any extra money at the Egg card, always overpay the debt with the highest interest rate. That means either your loan (if it allows overpayments), or your A&L credit card (which you can definitely overpay on easily!). Those debts are costing you a lot in interest, whereas the Egg debt is just sitting there getting reduced for 12 months.

my_mess

Ok - I've taken on all that everyone has said and made a bit of a plan.
After hours of reading this forum, I have (or will be) doing the following:

- checking online banking daily
- keeping a spending diary
- do daily clicks on cashback sites
- sign up for survey sites
- do free scratchcards
- trawl the house for things to sell on ebay (I'm a terrible hoarder)
- dig out my slow cooker and make use of the recipes and tips on the OS board
- ban myself from gambling websites !!!
- small a small payment to my A&L card each day (in addition to the monthly payment)
- made a sealed box for odd coins (to be opened on my birthday in October !)

Not bad for a beginner.....right, now to get on with it

kittiej

Don't forget to keep coming back to MSE to let us know how you're doing.

Also useful to remotivate yourself for the times when you feel like "what's the point"?

Good luck, (although is it wise to do the scratchies? Sorry just wondered)

my_mess

Right, am going to start a diary !
Thanks to everyone who has given advice so far.