The unborn baby and my £20,899.96 Debt.

Jeffers84

Hey Everyone,

As you can probably tell from the title, I have just found out that my partner is expecting our first child; which we are both seriously chuffed about, however it has brought around a whole lot of challenges that I have never addressed, until now, or so I hope... the main challenge that awaits me is being able to afford this little one.

I have included a break down on my debt, my Income and my Expenditure. I have been to my bank to address this and all they could tell me is I am not in serious enough debt to bother them and I am in too much debt to consolidate or apply for a 0% interest CC to help myself. -great!

Being in the best situation to cater for this baby is my main goal, it's not an ideal situation nor is it planned, but I will do everything I can to help my child have the best start to life.

So here is the break down.

Debt
HSBC CC= £3499.96/Limit £3500 11/02/10
HSBC OD =£1350 11/02/10
LLOYDS CC = £1450/Limit £1500 11/02/10
LLoyds OD = £150 11/02/10
Barclays Interst Free Advent computer training course £5950 over 3 years @ £165pcm.
Black Horse Loan £23.36, total balance unknown guestimate £500.
Ford Finance £160pcm Aprox £8,000.

Total Debt: £20,899.96

Monthly Expenditure: Already stripped back to basics.

Phone £25
CC repayments £135
Car £160 + £12 servicing + Petrol £120
Course £165
loan £23.36

Total

£640.36

Income

£1109.04

Reminaing Funds

£468.68

I know this isn't the worst of debts and I have got myself into this situation, I am lucky enough to live rent free and have my housing bills paid for me, which is a great help.- I don't want this to continue as my future with my child is the most important thing to me.

I know I can afford to pay off more money, but I don't know where to start, where to focus on and if there is a better option for me.

All help and advice will be gratefully taken! Of course the next set of winning lottery numbers would be smashing too!

If you have managed to stay with me so far then thank you for reading my little story, please do help me if you can!

Thanks,

Jeffers84

brians_daughter

whats the interest rates? have you used the snowball calc to see the best course of action?

brians_daughter

http://www.makesenseofcards.com/snowcalc.html

Once you know the interest rates and term outstanding(if a loan) you can do the snowball really quickly. It should spur you on. You have at least 6 months before you need to start buying things (i imagine if you only just found out) and babies are ~or can be relatively cheap ebay, freecycle etc

do it and post back, let us know!

Once baby is here you will need to re-assess it. Are you planning in moving out (assume you live at home if rent paid etc) ideally you should try and pay off as much as possible before moving, and pay as much as possible between now and baby being born. Also, you and gf will get child benefit £20 per week and tc if you qualify

brians_daughter

oh, and congrats on your wonderful news!

Jeffers84

Thanks for your help on this one, I am contacting my CC/Loan and finance companies to discuss the rates and limits to see if there is a way around this via them and a balance transfere or something.

I will report my finding back here, once I have called them, thanks once again!

P.S. You are right I am still living at home!! - Thanks Dad!

niccatw

Hey Jeffers

COngratulatioins :j Both on the baby and tackiling your debts

I agree with Brian's daughter. I'd also suggest maybe opening a bank account just for bills, d/ds - without overdraft - to help reduce your two overdrafts (assuming one of them is maybe your current account and you go in and out of it, making it hard to rack where things are at?)

A spending diary might be a idea too. I know you've cut back a lot, but if there's still money you can't account for, then it'll help. It'll probably also be invaluable in helping budget once the wee one comes along too

And read some of the DFW diaries for inspiration - it's amazing what we can do when we put our minds to it!

Good luck