LuckyLuckey's SOA

luckylukey

Hi! I have been reading these posts for a while and thought I would post my SOA as they stand now .This is my first post, so please be gentle! Basically I have been lazy and not paying things off (only paying the minimum!). But my new year resolution was to be debt free before the end of the year, so I am back on track now! I would like to get a mortgage soon, but obviously have to pay off my debt first and then start saving like mad!

Salary 1700

outgoings:

rent 412.50 (monthly)
council tax 47.25 (monthly)
travel 14 (weekly)
food 16 (weekly)
going out and misc 30 (weekly)
mobile 40 (monthly contract)
bt phone bill 120 (quarterly)
elec 77 (quartely)
gas 50 (quartely)
water 50 (quartely)

Am paying off the following cards (since Jan 06)
Argos 750 (paid off!)
Ikea 452 (paid off!)
Virgin CC 1652 (from 2500)
Capital One 580.02 (from 600)
Egg 688 (been naughty and put more money back on this one, but I have paid some back on to it!)
overdraft 800 (natwest advantage gold)


I think thats about it! any ideas would be welcome! or if I have left anything out, let me know!

Emmzi

Ahhh I always like to see a list woith some 'paid offs' on it!!

Are you paying cards off in order of highest APR first? Do you know what the APRs on cards and overdrafts are, and have you used the snowball calculator?

luckylukey

Thanks!
I have cut the argos card up now. (what a relief!)

I am ashamed to say that I have no idea what the APR is on any of the cards! What I have done is split the amount I owe into equal payments of 6 (hoping to pay all of in 6 months!) and thats my repayment plan *blush*

Emmzi

Ahh.. ok.. not so efficient.

The first reccomendation is to fund ut the interest rates, then. Phone customer services (number on card, statement or internet!) for each loan/ card and find out, if you don't have the original agreement/ it doesn't say on your statements.

The idea is you pay off the one that costs you MOST interest first, which free up money to pay towards the next most expensive, and so on.

Where's kevicho? He's better at explaining snowballing than me...

nadnad

luckylukey wrote:

Hi! I have been reading these posts for a while and thought I would post my SOA as they stand now .This is my first post, so please be gentle! Basically I have been lazy and not paying things off (only paying the minimum!). But my new year resolution was to be debt free before the end of the year, so I am back on track now! I would like to get a mortgage soon, but obviously have to pay off my debt first and then start saving like mad!

Salary 1700

outgoings:

rent 412.50 (monthly) 412.50 monthly
council tax 47.25 (monthly) 47.25 monthly
travel 14 (weekly) 60.66 monthly
food 16 (weekly) 69.33 monthly
going out and misc 30 (weekly) 130 monthly
mobile 40 (monthly contract) 40 monthly (is this the best deal for you?)
bt phone bill 120 (quarterly) 30 monthly (have you checked if this is cheapest for you?)
elec 77 (quartely) 25.66 monthly
gas 50 (quartely) 16.66 monthly
water 50 (quartely) 16.66 monthly

total = £848.72
leftover for debt = 851.28 (loads!)

Am paying off the following cards (since Jan 06)
[STRIKE]Argos 750 (paid off!)[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]Ikea 452 (paid off!)[/STRIKE]
Virgin CC 1652 (from 2500)
Capital One 580.02 (from 600)
Egg 688 (been naughty and put more money back on this one, but I have paid some back on to it!)
overdraft 800 (natwest advantage gold)
total debt = 3720.02

I think thats about it! any ideas would be welcome! or if I have left anything out, let me know!

find out your APRs and then we'll know which to pay off first - find out the card with the lowest apr and try to transfer everything to it - or try to get 0% APR. But find out what they are now and we'll work from there.

You'll have it cleared in no time.

Also do you budget you quaterly and weekly outgoings from your monthly pay? ie do you put that all in a separate account?
i assume you haven't forgotten anything major like a car or any insurances?

luckylukey

have just had a root around my papers, and these are the rates for the cards:

Virgin CC monthly interest 0.8696%
Capital one 29.9%
Egg 14.9

So if I snowball, I should pay the capital one CC then the egg CC then the virginCC?

luckylukey

nadnad wrote:

find out your APRs and then we'll know which to pay off first - find out the card with the lowest apr and try to transfer everything to it - or try to get 0% APR. But find out what they are now and we'll work from there.

You'll have it cleared in no time.

Also do you budget you quaterly and weekly outgoings from your monthly pay? ie do you put that all in a separate account?
i assume you haven't forgotten anything major like a car or any insurances?

Forget to day that I smoke (rats!) so thats £5 every two days which is about £75 a month. I dont budget the quarterly payments! If a bill doesnt come in a month, I spend the excess! This is getting worse!

Emmzi

luckylukey wrote:

have just had a root around my papers, and these are the rates for the cards:

Virgin CC monthly interest 0.8696%
Capital one 29.9%
Egg 14.9

So if I snowball, I should pay the capital one CC then the egg CC then the virginCC?

Probably!! Although you need to keep up minimum payments on them all, obviously.

What do you pay for the overdraft? Interest only ? (what rate?) or a monthly fee or..?

I will see if I can work out what the equivalent apr is on 0.8696 a month.. might be more than is sounds.. back later with a sore head.

Emmzi

I make it about 11% Apr, so it looks cheapest..

Have yu tried applying for any 0% credit cards and doing a blanace transfer, so you don't pay any interest? Aim is to pay them off before the interest free period ends.

nadnad

do you have enough on the virgin to transfer the other 2 onto it? its a good short term solution because it'll take a while to get a 0% card. otherwise phone capital one tell them you're going to transfer to another card but you wondered can they do you a better rate - in fact do it with all the cards - whichever comes out the best - try to get all the 3 onto 1.

nadnad

also if I were you I would set up another account - one for all your bills to come out of - transfer say £900 per month (including food and transport) and that'll cover all of them. that leaves you so you know where you stand each month - you know what you have for yourself and you know how much you have for debt payments.