My SOA as promised...

LittleL_4

Hi,
Well here it is, hope you can help me......please!!!!

Virgin c/c £5,600 (balance £5,411) ?% about 16% I think?
Barclaycard c/c £3,800 (balance £3,403) 19.9%
Monument c/c £3,500 (balance £3,300) 0% til August
Abbey c/c £2,300 (balance £2,007.71) 14.8%
Morgan Stanley c/c £2,100 (balance £2000) 14.9%
Capital One c/c £1000 (balance £700) 29.9% (oh my gawd!!!!)
Egg c/c £3000 (balance £2800) 14.9%
Harvey Nics Store Card £1500 (balance £300) 24%
Overdraft £550 (balance £550)
Clydesdale Bank Personal Loan £5000 (balance 4yrs of payments left) 12.9%
TOTAL £25,471.71

Income of about £1100 - £1200

General Outgoings
Half of Rent £297.50
Council Tax £80.00
Moblie (contract) £50-60 pcm
Petrol £80.00 (using O/H car at present, which is good)
£10.00 American Life (Health Insurance)
£18.00 RCN membership (I'm also a registerd nurse but kinda gave it up when I started my own business) I now work for a nursing agency on and off, probably more on now!!!
£5.99 to equifax (credit expert, joke!)
Food £80.00 pcm
£20 Gas and Electricity
TOTAL £651.49

I am currently paying about £550 towards my current debt on the cards etc...

Therefore there is a deficit of around £100.00 pcm.........Sh.t!!!!!
What am i gonna do????

Please please help!!!!
lesley
xx

moo842

hi there

i'm no expert but your mobile bill needs to be reduced asap, what is the £5.99 to exifax?
is that just half of the council tax?
what about gas and electric?

brranger

if you joined Equifax to get you credit rating cancel it naw as you have it no need to keep paying them for nothing as its only £2 a time to get a report if you desperate, Try and fit in more nursing with all the redundances they will be dragging in agency left and right.

OberonSH

I reckon that food bill can come down if that's just for you. Moneysaving Oldstyle board should be able to help there. Mobile can definately be chopped! Do you have a home phone at all?

What about interent access, car insurance etc? Do you need the RCN membership, or is it optional? If not, then that and insurance could be frozen for a bit.

Have you considered ebaying, amazoning and carbooting? Then your profits could get chucked at one of those horrendous APR cards!

southernscouser

Hi Lesley!

A couple of things. You have your wage as £1,100 - £1,200! I'm assuming your income varies?

If so we should base it on the worst case scenario. So we'll say income is £1,100!

OK, you pay half of the rent but I'm assumoing you are paying all of the council tax! How come?

£50-£60 a month on your mobile is twice to much! What price plan do you have? Change it so you get maximum inclusive minutes and texts! You should get a pucker tarrif for about £30! Saving £20 - £30!

Do you pay the minimum to all your debts? If you do have any money spare make sure you pay it towards the debt with the highest APR! Are you familiar with the snowball calculator?

You also say your using OH car at present? I take it you have your own then? Do you really need it? Can you sell it?

Broken_hearted

Get rid of capital one ASAP as they are fleecing you. Its your smallest debt and it will make you feel a lot better and save you £22 a month.

tesuhoha

Yes I would agree with that. Its the first thing I thought when I looked at it. Get rid of that first and then work on the next highest APR.

LittleL_4

Hi everyone,
I told my O/H that I can't afford to go on holiday in July, but maybe later in the year. I haven't told him exactly how much debt I'm in but he could tell I'd been crying and gathers it's alot. He wanted to get a take-away and a bottle of wine tonight and I said no!!! So I cooked a nice meal for under £4.00. Baby steps first... Oh, and last night we went to the cinema and took our own food and drink, probably saving £8 quid.

Having posted my SOA today can anyone suggest what I can do about my c/c debt? Thanks to everyone who responded, I'm gonna look into reducing my mobile phone bill. Cancel my equifax thing, and possibly cancel my RCN membership. Hopefully that'll give me an extra £40 a month. I half the council tax, yes it's so much more up in Scotland. I also sold my car for scrap a few months ago so I'ts kinda been a blessing I don't have it anymore.

I'd also like to sell on e-bay but don't laugh, how do you do it? And maybe do a car boot sale as suggested. I'll do anything to get out of this mess, well nearly anything...

And yes, I can't believe the interest I'm paying on the capital one c/c. That's gotta go, first and foremost. I'm familiar with the snowball effect but was wondering about the high interest I'm paying on some stuff. I'd really love to switch them all onto a 0% but don't know which one to choose etc... help!

Thanks
lesley
x

tesuhoha

Its quite easy to sell on ebay once you get started. You have to open a Paypal account and you have to register with ebay. After that is just a case of taking photos of your stuff with a digital camera, transferring them onto your computer and then listing your item. (follow the instructions) When it comes to the photograph, ebay browses for your pictures so you just click on the right one. With dvds you can get a picture from ebay and with computer games you can just copy and paste from google images but be careful about your descriptions.

tesuhoha

Just go to the ebay site and it will explain everything for getting started.

homersimpson_3

1. unless absolutely essential- get rid of mobile phone.
2. you could probaly get health insurance cheaper- ask yourself why do you need it? (some of them are good and if good I would have some health insurance policy- you can get more out of them than you pay- see Martin's article)
3. rcn - why is this essential?- will employer pay?
4. get rid of equifax
5. food bill could be reduced
6. interest rates on credit cards and store cards are frightening- 30% on capital one, nearly 25% stores cards etc - have you tried to transfer some of the balances on higher ones to lower ones or get credit cards to reduce interest rates. pay off the ones with apr first and then target the next highest apr etc.

told my O/H that I can't afford to go on holiday in July, but maybe later in the year

Can you really afford a holiday when your debts are so high? where's the money coming from to pay for it? if you have savings why are you not targeting these towards the debts? your paying more in interest than any possible savings could make in a bank or building soceity.

I haven't told him exactly how much debt I'm in but he could tell I'd been crying and gathers it's alot.

why haven't you told him? what are you afraid of? he may able to offer a shoulder to cry on, make some useful suggestions etc (he knows you far better than any of us)

He wanted to get a take-away and a bottle of wine tonight and I said no!!! So I cooked a nice meal for under £4.00. Baby steps first... Oh, and last night we went to the cinema and took our own food and drink, probably saving £8 quid.

well done- even baby steps are brilliant. did you pay for cinema tickets if so why? you can get some for nothing or pay £11? per month for monthly pass and go as many times as you want.

I half the council tax, yes it's so much more up in Scotland

is is worth claiming council tax benefit?

I also sold my car for scrap a few months ago so I'ts kinda been a blessing I don't have it anymore.

is bus pass cheaper than petrol for boyfriend's car? why is car essential?