Need a bit of advice please...

Tikk

Hi All,

Just after a bit of advice regarding which way to turn with regards to my debts. I am 22 and own a house jointly. I can afford my repayments and never miss one but things are just far too close every month and I am rarely left over with anything to spend generally.

Here is my SOA to sum up my current finances (included my partners also)

Monthly Incomings:

My salary - £1,050.00
Partners salary - £800.00

Total - £1,850.00

Monthly Outgoings:

Mortgage/Rent - £415
Council Tax - £89
Electric - £30.00
TV License - £10.99
Sky £60
Phone - £20
Food - £300
Car Insurance - £40
Petrol - £110
Other Insurances £40

Total: £1,114.99

Debt:

Barclaycard – Balance £3,100 (limit £3,500) 2,850 of that is at 6.9% , £250 at 17.9%

HSBC Loan – Balance £6,291.88 APR 13.9% Length of term 60 months, 46 months to go
Monthly payment of £136.76

Barclays Loan - Balance £23,226 APR 8.9% Length of term 120 months, 115 months to go
Monthly payment of £300.05

Total Debt: £31,627.88
(monthly payments of £436.81) and I only meet the minimum payment on the CC.

Any advice would be much appreciated on which way to turn, I have tried Loans recently but I am that much in debt already they all reject me.

Thanks

Tikk

SaveMoreMoney

1) Cut Sky if possible - it may be desirable, but is it a necessity ?

2) Food bill looks really high.............do you take a list with you when you shop ? That can easily be £200 initially a month (and then lower).

SaveMoreMoney

What was the Barclays loan of £23K for ? - as this was only started 5 months ago.

CLAPTON

your SoA figures show a monthly surplus of about £300 which presumably just disappears.

to find out where it goes i would suggest you both start a spending diary where you write down absolutley everything that you spend. e.g in your list you have nothing for going out, odd haircuts,
also think all the yearly or one off spends...car tax, MOT, servicing, AA/RAC membership perhaps, what about holidays or xmas presents, are you buying things for the house? etc.

i think if you do this you will find out where everything goes. then you can see what you must cut back on.

really with your level of debt sky at 720 a year is unaffordable.

can either or both you and OH increase income...can you work over time or get part time job.

Tikk

SaveMoreMoney wrote:

What was the Barclays loan of £23K for ? - as this was only started 5 months ago.

It was for debt consolodation, I had 2 or 3 seperate loans which I combined for the 1.

duncans-mum_2

Sorry to say the same as the others, but the Sky is a lot. I used to have full package for £42, you must have some extras. Sky was the thing I was most reluctant about (I'm ashamed to say) but after reading some threads on here tried my luck ringing them to cancel. They gave me three months at half price and suggested I make a note of what I watch most, so then I can reduce my package accordingly. I did this and when I rang to reduce it, they gave me another deal for three months still on full package. Doesn't always work but well worth a try. Also I agree with the food, some careful planning will go a long way. There are two of us and we don't spend anywhere near that, and we never go short. Well done in trying to sort it out, and the best of luck.

Also, your other insurances, are they a necessity, and will they actually sort you out when needed? And probably obvious but have you tried to get car insurance quotes form anywhere else. You may only make small a small saving on this or that but every penny makes a difference.

In_Search_Of_Me

Well done for posting & recognising the problem beforeit really gets out of control! Suggest seeing if you can cut food bill/day-to-day spending and start keeping a diary of what you spend...makes a huge difference! Have you got stuff you can sell on ebay? Anyway of getting part time work/extra income? It will be a hard slog and unsure from comments what the part your partner is playing in both accruing the debt and paying it off? You'll get lots of support here and most people are at various stages of their debt free journey! Welcome aboard!