beast way of clearing a overdraft

CLAPTON

changestolife wrote: »

Well i've decided this morning on something so may need your advice if its wrong.
When i get paid on Friday (i get paid last day of month) i'll keep all my payments set to the 1st of every month. Then i will take out a set amount each either in cash or put it in a none overdraft account and then i'll be able to pay my overdraft down in bits
what you think?

Having two account works for a lot of people .. do however be careful because, without an OD on the second a/c you must ensure you don't accidentally over draw and incur charges.

Do bear in mind also, that some months are naturally more expensive than others (xmas, birthdays or if there are any yearly costs like car tax etc). ..which is why
there is no substitute for drawing up a proper budget and keeping a spending diary to see where all the money actually goes.
try
http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html

Also, your salary is quite modest.. maybe consider getting a part time job until you have cleared the OD and build up some savings so you never need to borrow again.

YorkshireBoy

changestolife wrote: »

When i get paid on Friday (i get paid last day of month) i'll keep all my payments set to the 1st of every month.

I wouldn't.

I'd move all my non-interest bearing debt payments back to the end of the month. For example, all utilities, Council Tax, and any insurances etc can be moved back without penalty to, say, the 27th.

That way, you'll maintain a higher (or less negative) balance for longer and hence reduce the amount of debit interest incurred each month.

Every little helps!

talana

carolpinkdreamer wrote: »

Well done. You asked for advice, SOME of it was kind and helpful, and now you plan to act on it. Keep plodding on and it will reduce steadily. You might struggle to chip away at it some months but keep going. You'll be so proud when you see it shrinking.

If by "SOME" you're referring to my post and also Morph3us, then firstly that was directed at the OP rather than changestolife who joined the topic later.

And what part of what we said wasn't helpful or good advice please? The OP asked a general question, he got a perfectly good general answer. As I said before, if he wants more specific advice, then we need to know more specifics from him to begin with.

GrammarGirl

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

I wouldn't.

I'd move all my non-interest bearing debt payments back to the end of the month. For example, all utilities, Council Tax, and any insurances etc can be moved back without penalty to, say, the 27th.

That way, you'll maintain a higher (or less negative) balance for longer and hence reduce the amount of debit interest incurred each month.

Every little helps!

I'd never thought of that before, great idea. It'd also help towards budgeting - knowing you have to keep an amount of money in your account until the end of the month to pay the bills would defer you from spending unnecessarily.

Thanks Yorkshire Boy, will be changing my DDs to the end of the month.

changestolife

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

I wouldn't.

I'd move all my non-interest bearing debt payments back to the end of the month. For example, all utilities, Council Tax, and any insurances etc can be moved back without penalty to, say, the 27th.

That way, you'll maintain a higher (or less negative) balance for longer and hence reduce the amount of debit interest incurred each month.

Every little helps!

I was talking to my dad about this yesterday night and he said that having all the payments at the beginning of the money is reassurance that you know your bills have been paid, having them at the end of the month and you've overspent could be risky. Think i'll keep them at the beginning and see how i get on when i get paid on friday for a month :-)

YorkshireBoy

changestolife wrote: »

I was talking to my dad...

You should always listen to your parents, but bear in mind they may not always be right!

How about you still move the DD's back and withdraw a full months spending money as soon as you get paid, leaving just the bills money in there? Don't use the bills account for anything else until you're next paid. You'll not maximise the saving in debit interest that would be possible with my earlier method (and hence won't clear the overdraft as quickly) but that's the price you'll pay for having no willpower or budgeting skills.

Good luck.

changestolife

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

How about you still move the DD's back and withdraw a full months spending money as soon as you get paid, leaving just the bills money in there? Don't use the bills account for anything else until you're next paid. You'll not maximise the saving in debit interest that would be possible with my earlier method (and hence won't clear the overdraft as quickly) but that's the price you'll pay for having no willpower or budgeting skills.

Good luck.

Thank you so much for your help and i'll let you know how i get on

changestolife

Ok today i got paid. I've made sure all my bills go straight into my joint account wiv my partner so i now know they will get paid. I've wrote down to with draw £400 from bank today so that leaves me getting rid of £80 from my overdraft this month :-)

I know its not a lot but hopefully every month i'll be able to pay off more every month.

I'll let you know how i get on within the month and how much of the £400 i've got left. I know for certain that £40 is going to Petrol (partner pays the other £40) and £120 will go to shopping (again partner pays the other £120) i go to slimming world every week so thats £18 gone so i'll have a bit late for the rest of the month and i know not to go bad

Wish me luck :-)

sammie383

Good Morning CTL,

I hope you manage to get some of your overdraft cleared this month,

I decided in November that I was going to clear mine once and for all, I didn't have much, but I was just sick of being in it all the time, and it was up for renewal on 31st March 09 anyway, and as I was over my guarenteed limit ( but not ever over the agreed limit ) I wanted out of it before they dropped it from £300 ( AGREED ) to £100 ( Guarenteed ).

Anyway, I just got it into my head that I would leave £50 out of every pay packet in it at the end of the month, and I did manage it, today I have just dropped it via online banking from the £300 to £100. ( This is the amount of overdraft I wanted to be left with, as once I am out of this I want it as a buffer for anything unexpected. )

It does look a bit scary, and I am hoping that I will manage fine through the month without it, but I know that Febraury payday I will be extatic, because I will know that all my wages are my own money and not the banks!

It really does feel good to finally have control of it again, because it can be difficult to define between the banks money ( Overdraft ) and your own, once you get into a spiral.

I wish you the best of luck

Sammie x

MORPH3US

@ changestolife....

Might be worth you doing an SOA and posting it up on here if you haven't already to see if you could cut back in other areas and pay even more money off your overdraft.