How do I do this then?

nimpoppy

Hi Chaps

I was wondering how go about paying off my debts? Do I pay a bit off each or do I pay one off as and when I can.

Serious lurker here and on Old style and have taken your tips and reckon i could afford to pay about 200 ish off each month. I have a number of small debts and some larger ones.

Oli125.24Very127.88Littlewoods90.98Freemans514.43Vanquis2100Halifax797Overdraft5000Capital One190

This means that I will be debt free in 44 months. (that seems like a really long way away)

What is my best option?

gonzo127

first thing first is find out what APR each on is so you can concentrate on the highest one first

that being said there is a lot to be said for motivation of paying some off totally so the
cap one could be gone in one month
Oli in month 2
very in month 3
and littlewoods in month 4

so 4 debts gone in 4 months - this could be a very good motivator to tackle your bigger debts and will also free up a little bit of money due to not having the 'minimum' payments required for those debts - this will only work however if you cancel your accounts with the companies who you have paid off! otherwise you might end up being tempted to 'just get one thing' and that can snowball!

nimpoppy

I must cancel the accounts as soon as possible. I realise that now! have paid them all off 3 times and got them back up.

**confuzzled**

I agree with gonzo...for me paying them off and seeing them gone is a huge motivator:)
Have you used to snowball calculator here?

savingmummy

You need to do a SOA this will show what comes in and what goes out each month. It will also show what you can cut down on, stop or try and reduce if need be. http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html
As pp`s have said find out the APR`s on all debts then you can prioritise what one needs to go.

most people have a surplus each month this can be thrown at debts x

GeorgeUK

I agree, paying the minimum to all and throwing everything else at the one with the highest APR will result in you paying less interest and therefore getting rid of the debt quicker.

Are you in a position to apply for a 0% creditcard? The virgin creditcard is still one of the best giving you 16 months. Might be worth applying if you aren't looking to do too many credit searches in the next few months.

nimpoppy

I am afraid not, also the temptation would be too high.

velrist

Is there any chance you could post up the APRs and minimum amounts for each of the debts as well as the balances you posted? It would make it a lot easier to advise.

If you take the typical rates, they come in the following order

Vanquis 40%
Very 39.7
Capital One 34.9
Littlewoods 29.9
Freemans 29.9
Oli 29.9
Overdraft ?
Halifax ?

If those are correct for your personal circumstances then I'd make the minimum payments on everything and with what is left I would pay off Very, Capital One, Littlewoods and Oli over the next 3 months (in that order) to simplify the number of bills you need to pay and then concentrate on paying off your Vanquis account.

Chances are your overdraft and halifax are costing you less than 29.9% APR but you need to check if you're paying additional bank charges on your overdraft as that can make a big difference (a standing monthly charge is fine though). If you're regularly being charged for bounced payments then that's a different story altogether.

Hope this helps.

Wendy