My SOA - I am 22 today!! new start for me, advice appreciated!

wendz86

hi Happy Birthday, Just thought i would say hi as i am the same age as you. Just finished uni last summer, is great you are sorting it before is too late

mooomin

Happy Birthday!!

Some ideas for you (Most of which have been said!)

• Spending diary. Really useful to keep an eye on what you are frittering on - and I speak as a professional fritterer myself
• The PAD thread is really good - you make one payment a day to your debts, even if it is just a teeny tiny one
• A lot of your debt is on store cards. Have you looked at the Crazy £100 Clothes Challenge. I joined this one - I have said I will spend no more than £100 on clothes in a year :eek:

Well done for posting your SOA and Happy Birthday again!

littlepinkstars44

loaner wrote: »

what is your overdraft limit?

£1400 on my RBS account, which is 0% and doesn't need to be paid back till Oct 2010

and the BOS one i am paying off, as its not longer a student account as i've had it for 4 years (even though i'm still a student) I have an arangement to pay £50 a month to this.

littlepinkstars44

wendz86 wrote: »

hi Happy Birthday, Just thought i would say hi as i am the same age as you. Just finished uni last summer, is great you are sorting it before is too late

thank you!

littlepinkstars44

flying_fresian wrote: »

Happy Birthday!!

Some ideas for you (Most of which have been said!)

• Spending diary. Really useful to keep an eye on what you are frittering on - and I speak as a professional fritterer myself
• The PAD thread is really good - you make one payment a day to your debts, even if it is just a teeny tiny one
• A lot of your debt is on store cards. Have you looked at the Crazy £100 Clothes Challenge. I joined this one - I have said I will spend no more than £100 on clothes in a year :eek:

Well done for posting your SOA and Happy Birthday again!

thanks!
OMG only £100 in a year? I couldn't cope with that! lol

LollyLou_2

Hi Littlepinkstars44! Happy Birthday to you!

Well done on joining this site and becoming savy with your cash! I wish I had been as sensible as you when I was 22 - then I wouldn't still be paying off my credit cards at the grand old age of 31! You've made such an important decision - getting your finances sorted now and under control. Stick with it and you'll make things so much easier for yourself in the future.

You mention in your posts that you think your credit rating is low? Have you applied for your credit report from Experian? If not then you should do this ASAP to see where you stand. You also said that you have missed/late payments - have you thought about setting up direct debit or a standing order so that you avoid late payments? This won't be helping your credit file.

Good luck with your DF journey - keep us posted.

littlepinkstars44

LollyLou wrote: »

Hi Littlepinkstars44! Happy Birthday to you!

Well done on joining this site and becoming savy with your cash! I wish I had been as sensible as you when I was 22 - then I wouldn't still be paying off my credit cards at the grand old age of 31! You've made such an important decision - getting your finances sorted now and under control. Stick with it and you'll make things so much easier for yourself in the future.

You mention in your posts that you think your credit rating is low? Have you applied for your credit report from Experian? If not then you should do this ASAP to see where you stand. You also said that you have missed/late payments - have you thought about setting up direct debit or a standing order so that you avoid late payments? This won't be helping your credit file.

Good luck with your DF journey - keep us posted.

thanks, yes i have had a free credit report from both Experian and Equifax. I have 4+missed payments on alot of my accounts, from 2005-2008. And a default on one (though am not sure what this is)

I would set up a direct debit, but i get paid from work on a different day every month, and my loan and bursary comes in a different day from that too! So i'm never sure when to put a date on it, as i hardly ever have any money in the bank, except for pay day, and the day i get my loan/bursary in. It's usually mostly all gone 3 days later!
So i never usually have enough left to even make min payments...eek! I know it sounds so bad when i actually type it out!

netwinkle

Not much to add but just wanted to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY:beer: and well done for getting on here and tackling things so early on - I wish i had sorted my debt years ago rather than racking it up!

SLife_are_Rubbish

I find it great that you are paying your way at home by paying rent of £150 to your mum. I know it might be hard, but have you tried talking to your mum about your storecard debts?

Does she know that you are paying over £210 in interest each year to these cards? If so, depending on her circumstances, she may consider allowing you a reduced rent for a few months so that you can whack payments into those store cards to reduce the costly balances.

Once the store-card balances are gone, you can then repay your mum the same rent with a little bit extra to make up for her generosity !!

All the best !

littlepinkstars44

SLife_are_Rubbish wrote: »

I find it great that you are paying your way at home by paying rent of £150 to your mum. I know it might be hard, but have you tried talking to your mum about your storecard debts?

Does she know that you are paying over £210 in interest each year to these cards? If so, depending on her circumstances, she may consider allowing you a reduced rent for a few months so that you can whack payments into those store cards to reduce the costly balances.

Once the store-card balances are gone, you can then repay your mum the same rent with a little bit extra to make up for her generosity !!

All the best !

Yes, my mum knows how much debt i am in. My mum doesn't work, so the £150 i give her evey month barely covers food, electricty and gas for the month!
I only used to pay £100 a month, but that had to go up to £150 in October, as my mum just couldn't afford it.
My step-dad works full time, but they are both in debt too, and have their own bills to pay. Plus i have a 12 year old brother, so as you can imagine he's always asking for money! lol

Great idea though, will keep it in mind incase my mum finds a job, she is thinking about getting a job Mon-Fri, now that my little brother is in secondary school!