Overdrawn and in need of help!!

alexatoms

Ok, so not exactly an original story, but i've got a rather large overdraft which i'd love to get rid of! I;m with barclays at the moment, and being charged quite high interest rates i think!

Seen the info on alliance and leicester current account, but my overdraft is over £1000, i presume this would affect the 0% part????

I've thought about paying it off with my credit card and then transferring the balance to the capital one card with the 0% on balance transfers till September 2007! I just don't know what to do for the best!

Any tips of information anyone is able to give would be gratefully recieved! :j

Annie_Fanny

Firstly you should really find out how much Barclays are charging you - so that you are armed with this knowledge when seeking a better deal.

If you can match A & Ls requirements for the account - i.e. have a regular wage coming etc - then ring them up and ask them what they can do for you even if you only get the £250 at 0% at least it is something.....just be confident!

How are you actually planning to pay the overdraft off?

CLAPTON

you really need to understand why you are not living within your income before looking for the cheapest rates for overdrafts (although obviously its better to have a cheap debt than an expensive debt).
why don't you post a SoA statement of affairs here and see whether people can suggest ways of reducing your spending?

for details read this post
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=107280

alexatoms

Ok, probably won't be pretty but here goes!

My overdraft is around £1500, in reality it's not quite this much, but not far off and that's a nice round figure!
I took a loan out last year to pay off my overdraft and credit cards, but got the overdraft back when i "borrowed" money from it to buy a car, ok, maybe not the smartest move, but done now i suppose!
I do try and pay it back by £20 a week, but the inevitable happens and i need a bit of extra cash, and it suffers! I'm going to start the diary to keep tabs on my spending to see where i can cut back!

Weekly incoming
£195 paid in cash

Weekly outgoings
Each week i pay £145 into my back to cover
£70 - rent
£25 - loan repayment
£15 - car insurance
£15 - mobile
£20 - overdraft/car repayment

which leaves £50 for
£25 - petrol
£15-20 - food, depending on what i need!
£7 - put aside for my monthly bus ticket!

I'm not sure what my current interest rate is but i shall check that this evening!
So there it is! Should i brace myself? :embarasse

Little_Miss_Winner

Was wondering if you could sell your car, and do without? You already use the bus, so why not all the time?

That way you would save;-
£15 - car insurance
£20 - overdraft/car repayment
£25 - petrol

Thats £70 a week! omg!!! your overdraft would be half as high as you can use the proceedings from the sale to knock it down?

Other than that theres not a lot else you can reduce.

Can you not get another job? You need to earn more, or pay out less. And thats the top and bottom of reducing debt.

Sorry if it seems a little blunt, am in a mad rush, be back later!

pot

CLAPTON

you cannot really afford a car on your income, the car is costing you £70 per week, thats £3,640 per year! And you haven't allowed for car tax, MOT any maintenance or repairs.
your mobile is costing you £60 a month..that £720 a year. Switch to PAYG and only use for emergencies.

you say you are paid in cash ...do you need to save anything for tax or NI?

can you increase your income, overtime or second job?

dottyanne

If it makes you feel any better - my O/D is £4K :eek:

Greenwellies_2

Have a serious look at PAYG mobiles.
I was with o2. I paid £31 per month for 200 minutes and so many texts (hardly text) Hubby was paying £37 for 250 minutes and so many text, but he too rarely texts.
In total we were paying £68. for 450 minutes. I switched to Virgin bundles and get 200minutes for £24. do that each and we're saving £20 per month. In addition to that if you find you have loads of minutes left, you can drop down to a less expensive or more suitable bundle

Have a look into it.

Good luck

GW

alexatoms

The PAYG mobile option is good, i'll check some out and see what i can do! I'd prefer to keep my car, i know it's more than i can really afford, but i'm looking for new better paid jobs (had an inteview yesterday so fingers crossed) but they're not all local, if things get too desperate i'll re-consider.

I don't have to put tax or NI aside, i get pay checks but it's a small business and the boss prefers to pay people in cash!

I suppose my best bet is to try and transfer the OD to another account to at least try to reduce the interest (still haven't checked on my current, Doh!) nad hope i find a better paid job soon, or do as you suggest and find a second job, not attractive but the sooner i get it paid off the sooner i can stop worrying about it!

Thanks dottyanne, i must admit it does kind of help knowing people are in similar situations!