I have been an a***

nimpoppy

Do I gradually try and get the overdraft down, or do I get a loan to pay it off. Or should I set up another account to put spare money in to pay it off in lumps. Or which? Which works best?

moneymaker2

Hi Nimpoppy,

Please don't get a loan. I did that several times before I joined MSE and I regret that I ever did because my debt would be pretty non exsistant now rather than the 72,000 ish thousand that it currently stands at.
I had the problem with my overdraft although it was only £1250 it is now less than £800 because I arranged with them to reduce the balance by £50 per month. I think I pay £5 in interest. Speak to your bank and see what they can do for you. Just please do not take out a loan.

Laura

RAS

You are not permitted to take out a loan to pay off your OD, as you are in a DMP.

You and OH need to do a joint SOA as it is obvious that the stuff he is paying for is the non-essentials that you can cut out.

Exactly what is the OD fee - is this interest?

TotallyBroke

I agree with moneymaker2 do not get a loan out to cover it.

Do not worry about the overdraft at this moment in time.

You need to prioritise things in order of importance.
1. The first thing is to do the joint soa and get OH on board. Open a savings account if you do not have one, this is to put away a monthly amount for the car repairs, insurance etc.
2. Then you need to work out what you have spent over the last 12months and put each amount under headings e.g housing costs and utilities, need spends eg. car and food and then want spends eg tv and sofa and going out etc.
3. Then you need to decide how you can cut back on current spends to maximise your wages.
4. Then you need to work out what debts are costing you the most and start overpaying on the one that is costing the most.

What you can do at the same time is to spend £10 less of your overdraft per month. You do not have to tell them to reduce it just yet, but get into the habit of not using it all and gets you closer to living within your earnings.

Oncebitten47

Hi to all.

I have been reading this thread with interest as I too have been an a** over debts etc.

I work full-time and my OH is the 'Househusband'. However, now both our children are at an age where he doesn't necessarily have to be at home all the day long, he still will not look for part-time work and/or even go and sign on for JSA, something that would at least pay the mortgage each month.

I did contact CCCS but to be honest, because we have NO surplus money left to pay anything, they said I needed to go away and reduce outgoings etc to free up some finances :rotfl:Easier said than done.

Anyhow, having gone down the route of writing to creditors and asking for a reduced re-payment plan from them all, I am now beginning to make slow headway. It's a struggle to say the least even with reduced payments being agreed. Lloyds TSB are my worst nightmare. I have put in for bank charges for the last 6yrs (£2,415.00 worth), and in view of this opened a new account with Barclays to at least be able to be in control of monies in and out. I still get letters from them practically every other day even though I have written with statements of income/expenditure.

Things seem to be spiralling out of control and I can't seem to stop it happening. :mad: Most of the debts are either his or mine through credit cards, bank loans and overdraft. However, two debts are mine alone and he is unaware of them (and before you say it yes I should tell him but I know I can't). One is a loan that I took out back in 2003 and is now down to £2,900 and a repayment reduced to £15 per month for the next six months and the other is a Sainsbury CC which is up to it's limit and cut up now, but still needs paying off.

I know I have been stupid, but I don't go anywhere, buy anything unnecessary, holiday etc etc and still it all slips away.

Any advice would be gratefully received.

TotallyBroke

Oncebitten47 wrote: »

Hi to all.

I have been reading this thread with interest as I too have been an a** over debts etc.

I work full-time and my OH is the 'Househusband'. However, now both our children are at an age where he doesn't necessarily have to be at home all the day long, he still will not look for part-time work and/or even go and sign on for JSA, something that would at least pay the mortgage each month.

I did contact CCCS but to be honest, because we have NO surplus money left to pay anything, they said I needed to go away and reduce outgoings etc to free up some finances :rotfl:Easier said than done.

Anyhow, having gone down the route of writing to creditors and asking for a reduced re-payment plan from them all, I am now beginning to make slow headway. It's a struggle to say the least even with reduced payments being agreed. Lloyds TSB are my worst nightmare. I have put in for bank charges for the last 6yrs (£2,415.00 worth), and in view of this opened a new account with Barclays to at least be able to be in control of monies in and out. I still get letters from them practically every other day even though I have written with statements of income/expenditure.

Things seem to be spiralling out of control and I can't seem to stop it happening. :mad: Most of the debts are either his or mine through credit cards, bank loans and overdraft. However, two debts are mine alone and he is unaware of them (and before you say it yes I should tell him but I know I can't). One is a loan that I took out back in 2003 and is now down to £2,900 and a repayment reduced to £15 per month for the next six months and the other is a Sainsbury CC which is up to it's limit and cut up now, but still needs paying off.

I know I have been stupid, but I don't go anywhere, buy anything unnecessary, holiday etc etc and still it all slips away.

Any advice would be gratefully received.

Hi, copy this into a new thread for yourself and use https://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html to do the incomings and outgoings. You will need to be honest with us if you want the advice and help.

Dinah93

Oncebitten47 wrote: »

Hi to all.

I have been reading this thread with interest as I too have been an a** over debts etc.

I work full-time and my OH is the 'Househusband'. However, now both our children are at an age where he doesn't necessarily have to be at home all the day long, he still will not look for part-time work and/or even go and sign on for JSA, something that would at least pay the mortgage each month.

I did contact CCCS but to be honest, because we have NO surplus money left to pay anything, they said I needed to go away and reduce outgoings etc to free up some finances :rotfl:Easier said than done.

Anyhow, having gone down the route of writing to creditors and asking for a reduced re-payment plan from them all, I am now beginning to make slow headway. It's a struggle to say the least even with reduced payments being agreed. Lloyds TSB are my worst nightmare. I have put in for bank charges for the last 6yrs (£2,415.00 worth), and in view of this opened a new account with Barclays to at least be able to be in control of monies in and out. I still get letters from them practically every other day even though I have written with statements of income/expenditure.

Things seem to be spiralling out of control and I can't seem to stop it happening. :mad: Most of the debts are either his or mine through credit cards, bank loans and overdraft. However, two debts are mine alone and he is unaware of them (and before you say it yes I should tell him but I know I can't). One is a loan that I took out back in 2003 and is now down to £2,900 and a repayment reduced to £15 per month for the next six months and the other is a Sainsbury CC which is up to it's limit and cut up now, but still needs paying off.

I know I have been stupid, but I don't go anywhere, buy anything unnecessary, holiday etc etc and still it all slips away.

Any advice would be gratefully received.

Those two debts are there cos he prefers to sit on his bum all day and if he had a job as well you'd have had money free. Tell him about the debts and make him see why you are struggling. It seems like you're doing all the making and worrying about money, while he just refuses to help. Being stubborn sure is an easy way to a cushy life for some people! (I know I sound harsh, but my ex was of this type and I just paid for him rather than have the same fight every single day but it was me left in £16k of debt when I found out he'd been having an affair on my money!).

OP, to pay off my OD I put a little each month into a saver, then once I had the full OD ammount I paid it all off and asked the bank to remove my OD. If you pay a bit off each month yet are still overspending you won't actually pay anything off at all!

moneymakestheworldgoround

Tixy wrote :

Income 1923
Outgoining incl secured 1496.83
Avail for unsecured debts 426.17

Debt repayments 615.78 (if lx direct is £260pm repayment?)

Overspend each month 189.61

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

As OP has now said the LX direct balance is £260 and reps are £12, this makes new figures:

Income 1923
Outgoing £1496.83
Avail £426.17

Debt reps £367.78

Spare £58.39


I dont think you need to do anything drastic like take out a loan. Simply tweaking the outgoings, and keeping a spending diary would enable you to save a few more pounds each month to pay off the debts quicker. The catalogue and sofa are nearly finished so the spare each month will then be (£58.39 + £51) £109.39 which is a healthy amount to use to snowball the debts effectively.

I may be wrong with that though !

It doesnt look horrific to me - just a small amount of overspend on a few items and very easy to pull this back and make the situation positive.

RAS

moneymakestheworldgoround wrote: »

As OP has now said the LX direct balance is £260 and reps are £12, this makes new figures:

Income 1923
Outgoing £1496.83
Avail £426.17

Debt reps £367.78

Spare £58.39

The catalogue and sofa are nearly finished so the spare each month will then be (£58.39 + £51) £109.39

Unfortuately there is another £77.50 that she omitted from the second SOA, but once those two items are paid off she is in balance.

What is not clear is which payments are her half of a joint payment and where she is paying the whole sum for items and OH paying other items in the budget.

Which i why we need a joint SOA.