help on where to start

PONDSAVER_2

Right then here's my debts along with aprs and min payments...here goes

` balance apr min payment
mbna £2,854.53 24.90% 65
mbna pauls £972.21 24.90% 20
citi £2,000.00 20.00% 65.07
barclaycard pauls £2,208.96 20% 53
accucard £1,991.15 17.20% 45
egg £2,296.19 15.90% 40.85
egg pauls £2,083.53 15.90% 85
smile £987.26 10.90% 19
egg loan £9,594.55 6.70% 213
kays catologue £321.00 0 55
littlewoods catologue £176.10 0 55
a&l loan £7,500.00 230
b&q card pauls £871.36 ? 35
overdraft £861.00 9.9aer 0
hsbc overdraft £522.00 0


So should i pay the higher interest ones with more first and stick to minimum payment with the others ?

I am going to try and ring round to see if I can get them to lower my aprs the mbna ones are shocking.

I am already an avid ebeey but my profits generally go on purchasing from ebay.....

What a shocking day - just told hubby and he is now white as a sheet

southernscouser

Definately pay the debts with the highest APR first. Have you seen the snowball calculator?

Any idea what your credit rating is like? Can you give us a history of late payments, CCJ's, defaults?

Mirtos

Hi.
Just wanted to say that now you're on here, these guys will sort you out - seriously, my finances are 10 times more controllable in just a couple of months since consulting these forums.

You can do MUCH better on interest rates - shop around and see what you can find. check my sig - even if you cant get 0% cc, there are some pretty low rates around (around 5%).

You say the kids enjoy swimming classes, but you could take the whole family once a week for half that cost - the kids would probably love having mum and dads undivided attention as they learnt to swim!

It seems harsh at first but once you get things under control, you'll be better able to judge what is and isn't needed.

good luck.
xx

gallygirl

Just my 2p worth to add to the suggestions:

Do you REALLY REALLY need 2 cars?

both you & OH should keep a spending diary of every penny - you'll end up resenting every penny you spend!

You and OH are in this together which is v good. Take all the advice from here, phone the card & debt companies and keep us posted.

Oh, hello by the way!:T

PONDSAVER_2

Thanks everyone
to answer a couple of points yes we do need two cars we both work full time me 9.30-5 i take the kids to school 3 miles away then go to work - hubby 7-3 then pick the kids up and comes home.

We have No CCJs or defalts but do have some late payments here and there. I just asumed withthe ammount of debt we are in we won't get any better interest deals.

I thought of just ringing up places like mbna to try and get a better interest rate - i will give it ago in the morning and see.

I am also going trough statements to see if I can reclaim any charges that I can just throw at the debt.

I will definately keep track of this now I want to be able to save for kids college and weddings ( 3 girls!!!)

PONDSAVER_2

just done the snowball calculater and my debt free date is april 2010!!!

PONDSAVER_2

ok so i did the snowball thingy wrong I put in the amount i wanted to pay each month but that is on top of what you would be paying isn't it? I think I will have another go.

halloweenqueen_2

Have you found the date out yet?

PONDSAVER_2

I nearly have - I have been rung MBNA and got my husbands interest down from 24.9% to 14.9% nad mine from 24.9 to 16.9% - also rang A&L for balance of loan which is £10126.60 which shocked me - obviously this is the interest at 11.5% - plus I cannot over pay if I want to but I can request a settlement figure at anytime to close the loan down. I will have a go at the snowball again on my lunch break -it is also my mission this week to list aload of stuff on ebay and declutter my house a bit.

Even the first DFD of may 2010 shocked us as our eldest will be 15 then and nearing college/uni and we wanted a nice little sum to help her out there and not hold her back in anyway just cos we couldn't afford it.

halloweenqueen_2

Good luck to you, you may find once you get cracking and throw everything you can at your debts that that date creeps forward so it won't take you as long. If it does take you that long at least in 4 years you will be debt free and have tackled your debts, good for you!