New word in my life - DEBT !!!

dancingfairy

Basically you have several options :
increase your incomings , decrease your outgoings or a combination of both. Do you have anything you can sell - ebay? car boot? How about a second job?
You are 26 a month short at the moment so you need to try and cut back a little. Maybe you cut could the clothing for a bit.
Do you have a credit union near you? they might be able to lend you some money to settle the loans etc so you can pay the union back at a cheaper rate?
df

Worried_Comrade

dancingfairy wrote: »

Basically you have several options :
increase your incomings , decrease your outgoings or a combination of both. Do you have anything you can sell - ebay? car boot? How about a second job?
You are 26 a month short at the moment so you need to try and cut back a little. Maybe you cut could the clothing for a bit.
Do you have a credit union near you? they might be able to lend you some money to settle the loans etc so you can pay the union back at a cheaper rate?
df

Could you explain a little bit more about credit union please

WC

dalleDF

Hi Worried. Just wanted to put in my 2p's worth re credit unions. They are brilliant. Look up the Assoc of British Credit Unions, you can find one to join that you have something in common with, either your locality or the industry you work in, for example. Look for one with lots of members, often makes it easier to borrow.

Usually they will lend you money at reasonable interest rates after you have saved a small amount with them for a few months. You have to keep saving while you repay the loan, so you will have a little pot of savings building up for when the loan ends. They look at your ability to repay the loan (you would have to send them a budget probably), not your credit history, so they are great for people trying to escape from high interest rate sub-prime credit cards or payday loans. I took out a loan with my local CU to pay off my credit cards. I borrowed £2500 at 12.8% over 2 years I think, and when it ends I will have £1500 in savings, or I can pay off my loan early using these savings when they are at the same level. I found my CU to be a lifesaver. Might be an option for you to consider. Good luck.

kolin_2

i'd slice the 50 quid clothing, and the 20quid haircut. get your self a pair of clippers and save even more

unfortunately i've heard nothing but Bad about welcome finance.

with the car, you could get a decent ford focus for around 3,000. what about the road tax? that only seems to add up to ~£29 for the year?

kolin_2

Worried_Comrade wrote: »

Could you explain a little bit more about credit union please

WC

i don't want to sound "off" here, but when presented with

increase your incomings , decrease your outgoings or a combination of both. Do you have anything you can sell - ebay? car boot? How about a second job?
You are 26 a month short at the moment so you need to try and cut back a little. Maybe you cut could the clothing for a bit.
Do you have a credit union near you? they might be able to lend you some money to settle the loans etc so you can pay the union back at a cheaper rate?

you're immediate interest was with credit unions. in order to get money lent to you. rather than the cutting back on stuff.

apologies, but thats how it came across. Credit Unions may well be great, but you have to cut back on other things.

Worried_Comrade

kolin wrote: »

i don't want to sound "off" here, but when presented with



you're immediate interest was with credit unions. in order to get money lent to you. rather than the cutting back on stuff.

apologies, but thats how it came across. Credit Unions may well be great, but you have to cut back on other things.

I can see how it may have sounded, but i've just never heard of credit unions thats all mate, just curious as to see what they're about.

My road tax is only £35 for 12 months due to low emissions.

As for clippers :eek::eek:

WC

Tixy

Hi

Don't think this has been covered yet but do you have any joint financial products with your OH (joint overdraft or anything?) If so then you will be financially associated and you will be dragging down her credit rating - you don't want her to find this out at the point she is refused credit. So if you have any joint products then close them and get her to disassociate from you on her credit file (obviously you would have to tell her but it would be worth it IMO)

As others have said you need to cut out luxuries, clothing reduce to minimum, entertainment reduce a little. Your fuel spend is high you need to drive fuel efficently to get the most from your tank of fuel (yes its boring but could save around £20% of the cost so another £20 or so saved - read this article - http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/cheaper-fuel )

Learn about doing online surveys/reviews etc (look on the 'up your income' board) to earn vouchers you can use to buy OHs presents etc.

Does your pension get deducted straight from your salary or do you pay into it seperate? For a short while only you might want to consider dropping the amount you pay in to focus on repaying your debt.

I would also consider opening a new basic bank account (with no overdraft) to use as a current account and then set up a standing order to start repaying the lloyds overdraft each month, otherwise its really hard to clear an overdraft. If the overdraft is with a DCA then you need to write to offer a monthly repayment that you can afford - same for the loan.

Go through everything you have and see what you can sell on ebay/amazon/gumtree/carboot etc.

Good luck with the changes you need to make.

Worried_Comrade

Hi Tixy

I dont have any joint financial ventures with her but that is really good advice because on my credit repot i can still see the details from a previous relationship, should i be getting these removed from Exp ? and if so how do i go about it ??

I have already opened a bank account with no overdraft facility through a different bank

With regards to my pension it is deducted from my wages

Regards

WC

Tixy

If you no longer have any joint financial products you need to complete a notice of disassociation form - here on equifax, https://equifaxuk.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/equifaxuk.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=20&p_created=1149600519&p_sid=2WxvvkSj&p_accessibility=0&p_redirect=&p_lva=&p_sp=cF9zcmNoPSZwX3NvcnRfYnk9JnBfZ3JpZHNvcnQ9JnBfcm93X2NudD0zMywzMyZwX3Byb2RzPSZwX2NhdHM9JnBfcHY9JnBfY3Y9JnBfc2VhcmNoX3R5cGU9YW5zd2Vycy5zZWFyY2hfbmwmcF9wYWdlPTE!&p_li=&p_topview=1 and similar on experian.

Harry_Powell

Worried_Comrade wrote: »

With regards to my pension it is deducted from my wages

Please don't be tempted to stop paying into a pension in order to focus on your debt. All you'll be doing is moving your financial problems from a time when you're young and healthy (and able to work overtime, a second job, etc) to a time when you're old, possibly frail and can't do a damned thing about it (i.e. when you retire).

Too many people, especially on MSE seem to have a 'crash diet' mentality, where they put all their efforts into a single financial goal (such as debt repayment, mortgage overpayments, etc) instead of taking a balanced approach.

It's going to be no joke having zero pension provision when we retire (I'm 25), already the government has set our state retirement date at 68, and they're planning to move this to 70. I for one don't want to die in my job or spend my old age in poverty, just to help the government balance its budget.