Experian report.....very confused......

wannabedebtfree_2

Thanks, I have written two letters to try and claim back charges, they total about £300 + interest, so its worth a try. I can assure everyone that my SOA is as tight as it can be, the only thing that I could honestly cut back on is £16 per month for Sky (but we don't drink/smoke/go out - so its our only treat) and I am currently going to Slimming World, which is £45 for 12 weeks, but I am probably saving that much money on chocolate per week anyway!!!

Its true what totally broke said, yes my car would have still needed repairs and new tyres, but if I wasn't spnding out so much per month on personal debt I might have had some spare money, the point I am making at the moment is that I have nothing........literally nothing.....I went to Asda the other day and spent £58 on food and felt sick for the rest of day, I only really have £30 left over per week for food, so I have to find that extra £28 from somewhere.........I will post my SOA in a moment, get my diary out and go through it for you all to ponder over.........

wannabedebtfree_2

Income:
My wages = 958 (take home - monthly)
Partner wage = 66 (weekly)
Child benefit = 33.20 (weekly)
Child Tax Credit = 84.00 (weekly - this has recently dropped due to an increase in my earnings, hopefully in April it should go up to £95ish)


So weekly = £404 (sounds pretty good!!) monthly = £1750


Outgoings:

Rent = 78.00 (weekly)
Council Tax = 31.00 (weekly)
Phone = £13 (average per month)
TV Licence = £13 (monthly)
Water = £70-90 (per quarter)
Gas = £7-10 (weekly)
Electric = £10-14 (weekly)
Car ins. = £27 (monthly - includes breakdown cover)
House ins. = £8.50 (monthly)
Sky = £16 (monthly)
Broadband = £16 (monthly - we don't have the tv/phone/broadband offers in our are yet, so this is really the cheapest I can get for what I need it for)
Petrol = £20-30 (weekly - depending on extra journeys)

So thats £188 weekly £814 monthly
DEBTS: :eek:
Nationwide CC £6400 (17.9%) = £200 (monthly)
Littlewoods CC £2633 (27.9%) = £200 (monthly)
A&L CC £454 (21.9) = £25 (monthly)
My Egg CC £2200 (17.9%) = £55 (monthly)
Joint Egg CC £3400 (17.9%) = £90 (monthly)
Partners NWest CC £4100 (5.9%) = £105 (monthly)

So thats £675 per month.........and its a lot more than £15k, but I am not going to touch the NWest card as thats a balance transfer rate for life

So £675 + £814 = £1489

£1750 - £1489 = £261 for EVERYTHING else, food, clothes for 4 of us (which happens rarely) and I haven't even taken the rest of the car running costs out yet (tax, MOT, servicing etc) hence I should only be spending £30 on food, which is proving very difficult......I know it should be possible.....I have an allotment so I grow my own veg etc.........I buy cheap brands for most things (I won't scrimp on toilet rolls or breakfast cereals) I'm drowning.......

GeorgeUK

It may be worth looking to see if you can get that virgin credit card. It was the minimum payment of £25 that saved me and then i could make a dent in the other higher interest debts.

Have you checked the comparison sites to see if you are getting the best deal on utilities and insurance? Can you ask to pay the council tax over 12 months rather than 10?

TotallyBroke

You need to work out when payments come in and go out of your account. You need to live week to week even though your wages are monthly. You need to class your wages as a weekly wage of £221 and work out your expenditure accordingly.
So we are now half way through week 3. What will be paid before Sunday of this week out of the £404 that you have/had? What will have to be paid out of next weeks £404? You can be slightly better off in a 5 week month compared to a 4week month. Write everything down (I can send you a budget sheet if you want) use the monthly wage to pay monthly debts and use the weekly money to pay for weekly things.

You also need to work out what you spent £58 on with shopping and what you can do with it. (Admittedly there is only me and 2yo ds but I have only spent £18.09 this month on shopping. At the end of the week I will only need to get bread and maybe milk and that will do me until next payday. Ok I do have washing powder and toilet rolls and nappies to last me a while but I only buy what I need. I live quite close to the shops so I am able to go in daily. I pick up a lot of reduced to clear that way and base tomorrows dinner on what I bought today.) Do you have anything left over that you throw away. Cut back on buying it if you do or blend it and freeze it in ice cube trays and use it in a different way. For example if the bread is going hard. Make breadcrumbs from it and use it to make stuffing, thicken up a soup or bulk out a shepherd's pie. Veggies going soft blend and freeze in ice cube tray. Use in cooking instead of stock cubes. Fruit going soft blend and freeze, mix with water to make a squash for a drink or mix into plain yogurt. Milk on the turn make cheese sauces and freeze.

Only pay minimum payment on all debts anything spare put onto the Littlewoods cc as this is costing you the most.

TotallyBroke

I notice you buy branded cereals I don't blame you for not buying own brand I don't either apart from muesli. I eat my muesli breakfast at work but as I have nowhere to store milk I mix mine with water. After a couple of days you don't notice the difference. If your family eats this then it will save milk. If you don't, try it tastes good and gets a 5aday portion into you.

wannabedebtfree_2

Thanks people........I will look into the Virgin card, but I have a feeling that its MBNA, and I already have an A&L card, so I will need to double check everything. I am trying very hard, and I do take everyones advice into account but having suffered depression several times in my life I don't want to wind up back in my own little bubble and its heading that way fast....

READING_EAGLE

TO wannabedebtfree

I hope the following helps

DEBTS: :eek:
Nationwide CC £6400 (17.9%) = £200 (monthly) 3.1% min payment what is your credit limit?
Littlewoods CC £2633 (27.9%) = £200 (monthly) 7.6% min payment this needs to be transfered to one of your other accounts
A&L CC £454 (21.9) = £25 (monthly) 5.5% min payment what is your credit limit
My Egg CC £2200 (17.9%) = £55 (monthly) 2.5% min payment what is your credit limit
Joint Egg CC £3400 (17.9%) = £90 (monthly) 2.6% min payment what is your credit limit
Partners NWest CC £4100 (5.9%) = £105 (monthly) 2.5% min payment what is your credit limit, when was this card taken out if less 3 months could transfer.


If you transfered A & L CC to one of the other cards you would have approximately £12 extra to pay off one of the other cards.

Set up Direct Debits for all but one of the cards (Littlewoods if you are unable to transfer balance to the other cards or the ). The minimum payments would then be automatically taken and the extra £1 or £2 can be snowballed to pay off the highest interest card you have. As soon as that card is paid cancel the direct debit to the next card you wish to pay, as all have similar interst rates I would pick the smallest outstanding amount, so you can start to snowball quicker, the last card to do would be the NATWEST as this has the best rate of interest.


Reading Eagle
1st Jan 09 CC debt 39497
1st Feb 09 CC debt 39005

READING_EAGLE

To wannabedebtfree

If you are able to get the virgin card 0% for 16 months the min payment I believe would only be £25 per month. Allowing for the fact you would transfer at least £2633 from LITTLEWOODS after 16 months the amount outstanding allowing for 3% balance transfer fee would be £2311 BUT using the extra £175 against your NATIONWIDE inaddition to the £200 you already pay at the end of 16 months this debt will be £1111:T
£9033 debt reduced to £3422 in 16 months

I hope the above helps

GeorgeUK

Just to add to that. I think (not sure anymore) when i applied for my virgin card i was asked what other cards i had and they only asked for 2/3. If you don't mention the A&L card or at least not as one of the first 3 then you may have a better chance of being accepted.

You can have about 3 credit checks in a 6 month period before your credit score is affected so that's something to watch for.

Also, if you manage to clear on of your cards you may be offered a promotional rate of 0% for 6 months or a low interest for life of balance transfer. This may also help you to move some of the higher interest debt to a lower rate - and there is usually no credit check for these transfers.

wannabedebtfree_2

Good thinking people, I am going to look into some more credit cards, but will it go against me that all of my debt is already on credit cards?? I like the thought that I could reduce it so quickly.........