I shouldn't be in debt but I am - HELP

buckles73

Hi,

Really hoping someone can help as going to my bank to get advice is a last resort!

Each month I have enough going out and coming in that I shouldn't be up to the limit of my 1500 overdraft yet I am, this was caused years ago by an ex who overspent and now I just can't get out of the cycle even though I've ditched him and my financial situation has vastly improved.

How do I clear my bank account so I'm not fully in my overdraft every month?

My new partner has suggested moving all DD over to his account for two months and he pays for everything in order for my account to get straight, i.e. the first month it would hopefully go down to zero then the following month I would be vastly in credit then switching it back over to me therefore we would be straight. HOWEVER I'm not sure we could manage on one salary for at least two months.

ANY ADVICE??? Thankyou!!

gonzo127

hi and welcome

the first place to start is to do a SOA (statement of affairs) http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html if you fill this in it should hopefully show you where exactly you stand financially

if you post it up on this thread we will then go through it with you to try and see areas which you could make savings

the second thing to do is to do a spending diary from today and also retrospectively where you write down EVERYTHING you buy from a 20 pence newspaper to a £50 drinking binge as this will show you where the money is disappearing

the retrospective one can be done by getting your last months (or last 3 months) bank statements and then mark off every thing that came out of your account with what it was actually spent on! a lot of people find this a real eye opener and it completely changes the way they spend.

i find that when i go into a shop if i get out my little note book and pen to write down what i am actually buying (before i pay for it) it can 'guilt' me in to only actually getting what i need and not what my eyes tell me i want

Numpty_Monkey

:hello:Hi and welcome along
If you post your, SOA use this linky
maybe we can sugguest ways of sorting out your budget :A

As for swapping the DD's to your OHs account could lead to problems

buckles73

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 1
Number of cars owned.................... 0
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1200
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1500
Benefits................................ 65
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2765
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 477
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 125
Electricity............................. 30
Gas..................................... 45
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 40
Telephone (land line)................... 20
Mobile phone............................ 20
TV Licence.............................. 10
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 50
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 60
Clothing................................ 20
Petrol/diesel........................... 0
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 40
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 15
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 30
Contents insurance...................... 20
Life assurance ......................... 10
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 30
Haircuts................................ 5
Entertainment........................... 80
Holiday................................. 30
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1157

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 140000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 0
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 140000

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 59000....(477)......0
Total secured & HP debts...... 59000.....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
credit card....................1500......40........0
andy cc........................2000......180.......0
Total unsecured debts..........3500......220.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,765
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,157
Available for debt repayments........... 1,608
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 220
Amount left after debt repayments....... 1,388
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 140,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -59,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -3,500
Net Assets.............................. 77,500


Ok, here's the Statement of affairs, it looks okay if I'm right? so I shouldn't be in debt? now this is taking in account of my partners income but really all I wanted to do was clear my overdraft as his account is doing fine.

I'm a childminder so my income is varied from months to month, the above is some guesstimations due to this. My income comes in monthly and weekly therefore at differing times. my direct debits all come out at different times too.

I have approx 1200 coming in per month and approx 1300 leaving per month sometimes the figures change i.e. more in and less out or vice versa. due to my job it's unpredictable but I KNOW I can get myself straight if only I could somehow stop all my dd for a couple of months to get out of my overdraft. obviously sometimes I would still be in it but not by the huge amount I am and I'm sick of panicking!

I don't treat myself at all, never have done. rarely get haircuts, only buy makeup and clothes when necassary, i do treat the kids I mind once a week but it's only a fivers worth. I gave up smoking and drinking over a month ago as did my partner so it's too soon to see the difference there. what can I do to get out of my overdraft?? should I change the dates of my direct debits? is it worth moving some of the big ones over to my partners account temp?

PS I forgot to add a huge bloody loan I have courtesy of my ex!! it's 235 per month.

joedenise

Rather than transferring some of the DDs to your partner's account, could he transfer some money to yours to cover the DDs and thus get rid of your OD? It can cause problems transferring DDs over - you could end up with the DDs coming out of both accounts and be in an even worse position.

buckles73

He currently gives me £300 per month to help with mortgage and sky bill, I have included this in the SOA, I think I need to do it again but not include his contributions at all, just my incomings and outgoings. He provides cash for all our weekend events, Friday treats for my daughter and our holiday. My SOA is quite confusing I think!

determined_new_ms

Draw up your SOA and everyone will give u the benefit of their knowledge lots of helpful ways to cut back. I guess whether you can live off one salary depends on what that figure is and what outgoings you have. Having said that I work with alot of ppl who are on benefits and am constantly amazed how ppl can live on such a small income, so it could be done as long as your rent/morgage, utilities & food can be met through this salary.

Who do you bank with? Not that I'm advocating taking further debt BUT Alliance & Leister and The Abbey currently are offering a 0% overdraft for 12 months which may be get you could of the cycle if you use the time wisely. You need to show that you go into the "black" for a minimum of a couple of days a month and they will match your current OD. If you know someone who is already banking with A&L get them to refer you and you will receive a cash incentive (I think its currently £100) and so will they (but a smaller one).

Tips I have used to reduce debt (largely gathered off this site! ) have been:

• doing a comparrison for utililties (just did this and reduced by £35 pm)
• contacting mobile/phone/internet providers and negotiating a better monthly DD (saved £6 PM and an additional £12 pm for 2 mnths - small I know but goes towards paying off the 0%OD quicker and before loose 0% rate)
• checking water rates are right (again reduced by £8.50 pm)
• using a cashback cc to buy things accounted for on budget and pay off in full every month so they end up paying me to spend my own money (only do this if you're sure you can pay it off and not accrue any debt. The interest rates are shocking if you don't pay off in full any month and then u have to wait a further 2 months before you can go back to paying no interest)
• I have been posting on a daily thread to keep me motivated. Any additional money goes straight to debt
• I have started to only take out the ammount of money I have account I can afford when I go out, and leave my purse, cash cards/ccs at home so I won't be tempted.
• Aiming to have no spend days (I have found this the most challenging of all of it), it means I have to plan out what I need to do so I can group together to get the maximum NSD (I'm up to 2 in march ), so go shopping, fill petrol tank, etc all on one day...

You can do it with a little delayed gratification, two months of living extremely frugally is a very short period although it often doesn't feel like it! Good luck!

dangers

Are you minding for as many children as you can? Do you work p/t or f/t? Does the child in your household get included in your numbers allowed, or are they over 8?

buckles73

OK this is my own personal SOA without taking in account my partners salary or his credit card debit.

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 1
Number of cars owned.................... 0
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1200
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 65
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1265
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 477
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 125
Electricity............................. 30
Gas..................................... 45
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 40
Telephone (land line)................... 20
Mobile phone............................ 20
TV Licence.............................. 10
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 50
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 0
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 0
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 40
Contents insurance...................... 30
Life assurance ......................... 10
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 20
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 917

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 140000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 0
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 140000

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 59000....(477)......0
Total secured & HP debts...... 59000.....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
loan...........................10000.....235.......0
credit card....................1500......35........0
Total unsecured debts..........11500.....270.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,265
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 917
Available for debt repayments........... 348
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 270
Amount left after debt repayments....... 78
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 140,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -59,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -11,500
Net Assets.............................. 69,500

Little_Miss_Uni-Debt

Hi,

My suggestion would be to get a simple new bank account - one without an overdraft or any direct debits set up on it. I use Natwest. Or I hear the Co-op cash-minder is good too.

Then each month simply pay in (from your new account to your over-drawn account) 1 payment enough to cover :- The Direct Debit bills for the month + any interest charges your bank add on (probably around £15) THEN anything else you add into your account is paying off your overdraft.

You can then actually treat your overdraft as a seperate bill each month and not all mixed up with paying bills etc.

You also have your own personal account that you are in control of and is in credit. As good as direct debits are - you never know what will be taken, when!

buckles73

I am trying to mind for as many as I can and I always have done. not a lot of business at the moment and I've just found out i'm 8weeks preganant HURRAH! so can't take on anymore under 4. I'm advertising for before and after school now and holidays. unfortunately some the children I have do not require holiday care so I'm out of pocket with some of them but my partner suppliments me through these periods and we budget severely during these times. My child does get counted as she is five but like I said I do have some vacancies and am shouting out in the area to get them filled, the local school does a great deal during holidays that I'm going to try and beat!

I believe we have the power to be out of debt (i mean in our current accounts, the debt I have with the loan is out of my hands and I'm making the payments every month, am sending bad thoughts to my ex for this debt and shaking my fist at my past self for agreeing to it!).