help which way to turn advice needed

jonnym8083

ok first off all i am in very bad debt. i need advice as i am getting do down and so stressed out. i am in debt due to gambling. i currently have an excellent salary of about £2000 a month but due to so many debts it gets eaten up. the gambling issue i am working towards by visiting a weekly group which is fantastic and really helping me. my debts are as follows
overdraft with barclays £1000
overdraft with halifax £1000
credit card with tesco £1500
credit card with halifax £1000
credit card with vanquis £500
payday loan with wageday advance £200
payday loan with quick quid £600
payday loan with payday uk £250
i also owe family £2500

when i look at what i have just written and all my debts i feel sick with worry. currently i am not over any limits but are all maxed out. cannot get a loan due to credit file. i have had no ccj's so i suppose it not that bad but don't know which way to turn.
i have thought about a dmp but then will i get a defualt on credit file?
also i work for the fsa and not sure how my work would see a dmp as i not sure whether i have to declare or not. someone can you please help me find my path to being debt free thank you

talana

Well done for beginning to tackle the gambling issue.
That's obviously the root cause, and without things changing there, your situation isn't going to improve.

As for the debts you've listed above, can you start by filling in an soa so we can see the full picture of your outgoings, debts payments etc? One important part of that is to find the apr's you're paying on each one.
Here's the link:
http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html

Once you've done that, people can offer some informed suggestions.

jonnym8083

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 0
Number of cars owned.................... 1[
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1800
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1800
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 225
Rent.................................... 400
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 0
Electricity............................. 0
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 30
TV Licence.............................. 0
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 19
Groceries etc. ......................... 20
Clothing................................ 20
Petrol/diesel........................... 60
Road tax................................ 10
Car Insurance........................... 98
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 10
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 20
Haircuts................................ 10
Entertainment........................... 40
Holiday................................. 30
Emergency fund.......................... 20
Total monthly expenses.................. 1012

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 0
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 0

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 0........(0)........0
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 5009.....(225)......
Total secured & HP debts...... 5009......-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
overdraft......................1000......30........19.5%
overdraft......................1000......30........1.2% monthly
credit card....................1500......45........1.87% monthly
family.........................2500......100.......0
payday loan....................200.......50........0
payday loan....................250.......62.5......0
payday loan....................600.......120.......0
credit card....................500.......20........34%
credit card....................1000......50........27.9%
Total unsecured debts..........8550......507.5.....-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,800
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,012
Available for debt repayments........... 788
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 507.5
Amount left after debt repayments....... 280.5
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 0
Total HP & Secured debt................. -5,009
Total Unsecured debt.................... -8,550
Net Assets.............................. -8,550

talana

Is this just your personal soa rather than for the household?
Council tax, elec, gas, water, groceries are already taken care of, are they?
Car insurance seems huge, what car do you drive?
Anyway, I shall take your soa at face value assuming you can account for the above items.

As it stands, you appear to have £280 per month left over after meeting all you outgoings and minimum payments. Is that realistic, do you actually have that money at the end of the month? If so, then it's simple enough to start paying off some of your debt. The 3 payday loans are the first ones to focus on, you could wipe them out in 3 months or so.

You could also add to that £280 per month left over. Don't budget towards a holiday, emergency fund or clothes for a while (focus on the debt, that's the priority), and suddenly you have £350 per month.

With a bit of willpower and determination you can knock these debts into touch in double quick time.

jonnym8083

well the left over money has been going on gambling basically although the future is looking bright. would you not then suggest a dmp at all? do you think i can manage?

talana

jonnym8083 wrote: »

would you not then suggest a dmp at all? do you think i can manage?

No I wouldn't. If you avoid the gambling you can manage easily.
It's still important that you find out the apr's on all those debts so that you know the correct order to tackle them. But if you put that left over cash to paying off the debt, and snowballing them correctly (hence the need to know the apr's) you could be entirely debt-free in 12-18 months I reckon.

Once you have the apr's we can plug the figures into the snowball calculator and find out exactly how many months it will take.

As I said before, a bit of willpower and determination and you can kick the gambling and kick the debt. :j

daily_2

If you stop gambling, and stop payday loans, and other types of credit with extortionate apr's, then you should be able to pay off the debt over the next couple of years.

jonnym8083

i have updated soa with monthly and yearly interest rates thanks

talana

Description....................Debt......Monthly.. .APR
overdraft......................1000......30....... .19.5%
overdraft......................1000......30....... .15.5% (ish)
credit card....................1500......45........25% (ish)
family.........................2500......100...... .0%
payday loan....................200.......50........0
payday loan....................250.......62.5......0
payday loan....................600.......120.......0
credit card....................500.......20........34%
credit card....................1000......50........27.9%
Total unsecured debts..........8550......507.5.....-

OK, well I've converted the monthly rates into approximate apr's.
And I'm assuming the family aren't charging you interest on that loan, so 0%.
The payday loans will be some extortionate rate, so let's say 1000% for sake of argument.

Plugging all that into a snowball calculator, it tells me you can be entirely debt-free in 14 months from now by tackling the debts in order (highest apr to lowest apr). So pay the monthly minimums on all, and throw all extra cash at the highest apr debt, in this case one of the payday loans (let's say the one with a balance of £250) which you can clear in a single month bearing in mind your £280 surplus). That then frees up an extra £62.50 a month, and you then chuck everything at the next highest apr and so on.

Add the £50 that you currently budget to holiday and emergency fund into your pot, and the debt-free date comes down to 12 months!!
If that's not motivation for you, I don't know what is.

Ames

There's also a gamblers support thread on here,

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1090463&highlight=gamblers+support+thread

GeorgeUK

Another thing to bear in mind with the creditcard APR's - if any were used on gambling sites, the APR will be higher than for ordinary purchases. Might be worth calling the banks so you have a clear idea of how much is owed and at what rate so that you can tackle it more effectively.

If you haven't missed any payments on your cards, it may be worth trying to clear the one with the lowest balance if it has a decent limit. After you get a nil balance, it may be possible to get a balance transfer offer as an existing customer which means that you won't need a credit check - you may be offerred a low interest rate for life of balance offer or something else you can use.