What Path to take?

Bothered!

Well done for posting SOA :T

are the loans on a good rate ?
also car insurance is that for both of you ?

NickToye

So what are the options for killing this debt, its not as bad as some i've seen, so i'm fairly optimistic that I can sort this sooner rather than later.

I do understand that my clearing one debt, it will allow you to clear others quicker because more funds have been released by the clearance of one debt.

Are there any schemes that can help with clearing the debts, and one's that are not going to leave me languishing without the opportunity to get a mortgage in the future.

NickToye

The smaller loan is on a good rate yes (if that's not a contradiction in terms), the Car Insurance is in my wife's name and i'm a named driver. She's just passed her test and I have 9 points so my premiums are sky high.

Bothered!

Ok , best thing is to estimate how much you have to address the debt and use the snowball calculator. here is the link http://www.whatsthecost.com/snowball.aspx

NickToye

Cheers,

If I can devote 1k per month to my debts I can clear them in 25 months. Something to shoot for.

So I guess this is better than consolidating.

moozie_2

Hello there and welcome :wave:

Hope you find the boards useful. Here are some observations on your SOA.

Rent: £595.00
C/Tax: £115.00
NPower Gas: £30.00
NPower Electricity: £25.00
House Insurance: £31.65 Is this the lowest you could get? There are links on the left of this page about insurance and utilities which you may find useful
TV Licence: £32.87 (Per Quarter)
BT Phone: £40.00 This is very high, you should be able to make a good saving. Have a look at the link on the left about phones
Appliance Rental: £12.95 What are you renting? Would it be cheaper in the long term to buy the appliance?
Sky Digital: £42.50 Maybe consider moving to a lower package while you are paying off your debts?
HP Car: £164.23
Life Insurance: £30.00
Car Insurance: £61.20
Orange Mobile: £35.00 approx
Wanadoo Broadband: £26.99 You could get this as low as £13.99, shop around
Choice Catalogue: £100.00 approx

lynzpower

Hi there Nick
You dont mention buildings insurance - is that included in the 31.65 ?
You also dont mention food or petrol costs? Are these covered by your wife?
And alspo to mention, could you go to PAYG on orange for a short while, probably saving you at least 15 a month to chuck at your highest debts.

nabowla

The bad news is that becoming debt free is not easy. You're going to have to make some real sacrifices even though you're on a good wage. The more you can reduce your monthly bills, the more you have to throw at the debt. You might not want to be condemned to Eastenders rather than the variety of Sky but you have to think "can I really afford this?" Would you really prefer watching TV to buying a new house? That's what it comes down to in the end - if you're spending money on TV packages then it's going to take longer to clear your debts and longer to buy your first home.

Yes, this is harsh and, yes, it's going to be a bit painful in the short term. The good news is that you can make real savings if you're prepared to think outside the box. For example, why not cancel the Sky package and become a DVD tart (shopping around the various DVD rental companies to take full advantage of their free introductory periods)? You save £40 per month and get free movies instead of Eastenders - can't be bad! Shop around to reduce the utilities bills - phone, gas, electric etc. The various boards on here will point you in the direction of the best offers and other users are quick to point out if they've come across any catches. I switched to a third party provider for my home phone 18 months ago using advice from MSE. I was really, really nervous as the scheme seemed too good to be true - free local and national calls at evenings and weekends, plus £20 credit from a referall. 18 months on and I've not had to pay a penny for my phone calls, just the monthly line rental to BT. It really did work.

Don't even think about a consolidation loan. It'll add even more interest to your current debts and you'll actually be worse off, not better. However, if your credit rating's good, why not investigate switching to a credit card that offers 0% for six or nine months? You'll have to be disciplined and cut up the old card straight away but this would give you six months to throw money exclusively at the debt rather than wasting some of it on interest.

The key to clearing your debts fast is changing your attitudes and being creative. Go on, be brave - you can do it!

NickToye

lynzpower wrote:

Hi there Nick
You dont mention buildings insurance - is that included in the 31.65 ?
You also dont mention food or petrol costs? Are these covered by your wife?
And alspo to mention, could you go to PAYG on orange for a short while, probably saving you at least 15 a month to chuck at your highest debts.

I rent so building insurance is covered by the landlords.

Actually food and petrol costs are not included, but these can vary, depending on the situation, petrol is average £70 per month, and food about £100 per month.

My wife is in a good contract with Orange because believe it or not she was paying more with PAYG,

@Nabowla, thanks for your recommendations, but some of them we can't live without. I'm a sports fan, and a comedy fan, so Sky is something I can't live without - and seen as I don't go out 3 times a week drinking, I think its ok to have a small luxury - We are downsizing it though.

NickToye

I've just knocked my Sky Movies off, so I'm now saving £6.50 per month, not loads, but something.