Im i newbie - Debt Free Wannabe

smiler33

Hi everyone

Ive been lurking for a while but have decided now is the time to face my demons and get my debt sorted. My amounts are not as huge as others but are still a frightening amount for me :eek: as I am self employed and have only been paying the minimums for far tooooo long :mad:

So here goes:-

Car Finance Outstanding = £3000
Credit Card 1 @ 29.9% :eek: = £900
Credit Card 2 @ 21.9% = £3000
Unsecured Loan = £4800

Plan is to get rid of car and lease - slightly higher in monthly payments but at least no more MOTs or servicing etc. Car is a necessity for job.

Im a council tax rebate - plan to attack CC1 first and then try to increase monthly payments.

Also hope to stop smoking . . . . .

GeorgeUK

Is the car on HP or via a loan?

smiler33

Hi its a personal loan through black horse

GeorgeUK

It might be worth posting up a statement of affairs to see if there are any savings that can be made in your expenditure.
http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html

Do you have any CCJ's, defaults or late payments on your credit file?

If not, you may be able to get a 0% credit card offer from somewhere like Virgin.

di3004

smiler33 wrote: »

Hi everyone

Ive been lurking for a while but have decided now is the time to face my demons and get my debt sorted. My amounts are not as huge as others but are still a frightening amount for me :eek: as I am self employed and have only been paying the minimums for far tooooo long :mad:

So here goes:-

Car Finance Outstanding = £3000
Credit Card 1 @ 29.9% :eek: = £900
Credit Card 2 @ 21.9% = £3000
Unsecured Loan = £4800

Plan is to get rid of car and lease - slightly higher in monthly payments but at least no more MOTs or servicing etc. Car is a necessity for job.

Im a council tax rebate - plan to attack CC1 first and then try to increase monthly payments.

Also hope to stop smoking . . . . .

Hi there and good luck with this.;)

I have only recently started sorting out the creditors lol......:D

Do you mind me asking if you have payment protection insurance with the personal loan?
Because some without realising have had the protection added to the loan, where it may have been worthless to you, and if this was mis sold for any reason, you can try reclaiming on this, where if successful a chunk of the PPI could be refunded back to you or at least off the loan where your repayments then would be far cheaper.

Didn't actually mean to post this on here as there is also a reclaiming thread for this on this site too, but thought I would mention it meanings your a newbie.;)
Let us know if you need more information on this.

Oh again in regards of PPI (Payment protection insurance) it can be that of a loan, credit card, store cards, catalogues.
Surprising how many have been mis sold the insurance, where if reclaimed and successful you could be way better off.;)

tealady

Hi and welcome. If you are trying to stop smoking pop into any chemist to see if they do stop smoking courses or classes. I quit via Boots a couple of years ago and got 8 weeks of nicotine replacement for 1 weeks prescription cost

Deep_In_Debt

NHS do stop smoking for free...unfortunately, I wasn't ready for it at the time but it may be worth checking them out as they may run "courses" free in your local area.

poorandindenial

Yup, if you are looking to give up then give the PALS office at your PCT a ring (just type your local area name and PCT into a search engine to find it - they are generally at borough or county level) and they should be able to help you with details of what is on offer in your area. Or google 'quitline'

smiler33

Hi everyone

Thanks for your advice.

I have no PPI on any of them - always thought it was a waste of time especially as self employed - they always seem to find a clause to get out of it :mad:

My biggest lender is Barclays :eek: and at the moment I only have a couple of late payments on my file - one month late on the car payment and one month late on one of the credit cards - no CCJ's or bad credit. So far anyhow.

Also on top of these debts I owe Mr Tax Man who hasnt really chased so far and an over payment from the tax credits going back 4 years from a relationship breakup which they seem to be completely incompetent at dealing with. One letter says I owe £2000, another says £300 and an appeal letter states I only owe £80!!!!! But they are still carrying on with it so I just keep appealing it. The paperwork from Tax Credits could warm a house for a couple of winters;)

Really need to look up the stop smoking clinic details at my local health centre . . . . .

GeorgeUK

I would definately post up a SOA as mentioned before. It'll help you to see where spending can be cut or where you may be able to make savings.

Have you been stung by the PPI before?
Don't think there's a time limit for reclaiming if you think any has been missold in the past.

sarahs999

Welcome. Why not come and join teh '£20k in a year' challenge - you can still join and you can nominate your own amount. It's given me a real boost to get on and get rid of my debts.