Time to get things under control

marmaladebear

I've been a reader of these forums for some time and think it's time I got my debts under control.

Most of the debt I have is catalogues and a overdraft I built up while I was unemployed for several years.

I'm now back in full time employment and over the last few months I have tackled some of the debts, however some I have just ignored



Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 1
Number of children in household......... 1
Number of cars owned.................... 1
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 993
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 380
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1373
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 300 (includes arrears)
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 150 (includes arrears)
Electricity............................. 30
Gas..................................... 100 (includes arrears)
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 46 (this is telephone/internet and tv, currently contracted until OCt)
Mobile phone............................ 28 (contract too)
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 150
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 60
Road tax................................ 18 (ive put this in even though i dont budget for it monthly)
Car Insurance........................... 30
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 17 (ive put this in even though i dont budget for it monthly)
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 80
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 23
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 15
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 10(ive put this in even though i dont budget for it monthly)
Haircuts................................ 10
Entertainment........................... 30
Holiday................................. 50(have holiday booked for april, this is for spending money)
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1137

Assets
Cash.................................... 600
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 1000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 1600

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
overdraft......................1500......0.........0
catalogues.....................1000......0.........0
loan from dss..................200.......30........0
Total unsecured debts..........2700......30........-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,373
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,137
Available for debt repayments........... 236
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 30
Amount left after debt repayments....... 206
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 1,600
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -2,700
Net Assets.............................. -1,100
Created using the SOA calculator at
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using IE browser.

ok here's the silly bit...

the overdraft is on an RBS account I no longer use, the limit is 1000 so I assume I must be getting huge charges every month. It's been handed to debt collectors, whose letters I frequently ignore:( I currently make no payments towards this and am not sure how to broach it

the catalogues there are several catalogues, the amount is purely an estimate because again they've been handed to debt collectors, whose letters I frequently ignore:( I currently make no payments towards them, I'm sure this means I'll be earning lots of charges:(

I'm sure i'm also due a few hundred pounds to capital one, but haven't heard from them in some time.:eek:

The poistives are that since I have been working I have taken over £1500 off debts to scottish gas and 2 c/cs.

Just wondering if anyone could advise how to tackle the monster overdraft and the catalogues.

Thanks in advance for not being judgemental

Marmalade x

KPR11

Hi Marmalade

Just wanted to say well done on taking steps to getting your life back on track and dealing with your debts.

I can not provide words of wisdom on cost cutting yet (am newbie myself and a reasonable mountain of debt) but I will say that ignoring debt collection letters or any debt will not do your credit history any good and the sooner you try to resolve it the sooner your history will be repaired.

I ignored them when I initially got in to debt and said sod it, my credit history went from bad to worse and it does stay on file - I am just about getting it fixed (3 years down the line).

The other thing I would say is that it is worth joining payment a day - PAD (http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=2177609) which may help you pay off your debts quicker!

I am sure someone more experienced will help you.

Good luck!

DarkConvict

Aside from knocking off clothing, entertainment, and the contracts once they expire i can't see much to save, as there is 1 adult + 1 child.

Where does this go - "Amount left after debt repayments....... 206"

The catelog shouldn't be incurring charges until the terms of the contract allow for interest and charges to be placed by a 3rd party if sold on.

Pay min payments to debts, and make the highest payment to debts with the highest APR, so you get debt free quicker.

homeaway

Hi, I think you should be able to cut your shopping bill down. If you go to the old style saving board you will find lots of ideas there. If you have a lidl or aldi near you then you could reduce your bill by shopping there or if you dont then just carry on shopping at your supermarket but buy their own brand things which will save you a lot of money. After trying that you will find out what things are ok and what things you want to pay more for. It also helps if you menu plan so that you dont waste food.

Triangle

Hi marmaladebear

Well done for making a good start Not well qualified to comment on SOA but would suggest a spending diary? New month tomorrow so great time to start! Jot every single thing you spent in a little notebook and at the end of the month, go through and highlight things that were not 'needed' It's very enlightning!

Good luck

T
x

taxi73

Well done for making a start.
As for the debt collection letters ..the best thing to do is to open them and at least then you can start to deal with them.They can't have more than you can afford.You will know where you are up to then.
I've never had debt collection letters but have heard that they don't add interest on like the banks do.

marmaladebear

KPR11 wrote: »

The other thing I would say is that it is worth joining payment a day - PAD may help you pay off your debts quicker!
Good luck!

Hi and thanks, I did look at PAD, but wondered should I pad the original debtor ie bank and catalogue or should it be the debt collection folks?

I also don,t have a debit card, (just a prepay c.c) should I top this up with any spare money and pad with this?

I shall have a look at the shopping bill, thanks for that suggestion.

A spending diary is also on my plans (tomorrow is a good day to start!) as I'm sure I'll be surprised at how much gets frittered on carp!

Marmalade x

KPR11

I think the best one to PAD first is usually the one with the highest APR but it varies, in my little time here I have seen other people tackle the smallest debt first so that they feel like they are getting somewhere! You could use the snowball calculator to help you decide (http://www.whatsthecost.com/snowball.aspx)

I also noticed from you SOA that you do not have an emergency fund, I think one should have one - however small (I never had one till recently).

I think the idea behind the PAD is to use any money that you normally use on junk towards paying off your debt so if you normally bought a cup of coffee at work then you don't buy it and use it towards debt repayment (that is how I understand it and do it anyway) and it can be as small as 1p

Do you get charged for using your pre-pay cc? It maybe worth getting a basic solo or something like that if you - again experienced memebers might be able to help better.

Hope it helps!