A Chronic Case of Overspending......

waddy80

Shelton,
Just wanted to say welcome to the boards!

Just wanted to give my support and suggest traawling the boards for bargains to de-crease your food etc outgoings. I know i have saved over £400 on grocery billsin the last 4 months.

I also agree with everything else said above - and admire you for taking control of your situation!

masueuk

I would urge you to make sure if you do change pet insurance to check the following.. after all if insurance is cheap but poor cover its money wasted.
1. Is it a whole life policy
2. Is the cover for vet fees in particular renewed each year, ie many sound good, £5000 cover for vet fees,, but over a lifetime with some conditions that can get eaten up quickly.
3. Is the cover of a condition for a set period or life.. the cheapies tend to cover a condition for a year or just over,,, again no use for a chronic condition.
4. What is the effect of age on premiums, fixed and variable excesses.
5. Ask your vet's insurance administrator if they find any companies easier to deal with. The nit picking ones tend to be the slowest to pay.

We have three dogs, one insured with Petplan, which is expensive but has never failed to pay out quickly (albeit his excess is high now due to age). The other one insured with E&L... took them over a year to pay out for a claim of £3000 ...... yep... not £300 but three thousand. Luckily for us the vet was one which gets paid by insurance first then bills you for the remainder... but it made going there very embarassing, we had paid for cover but it didnt pay up. As a word of warning, many vets list animals as uninsured if they have E&L ...

I have been told by some that M&S is worth a look, also More than... but really, think about what you would do if your pet needed a really expensive treatment which was on going. Would money be the thing which ended its life, even if treatment was possible? Many people can deal with that, which is fine for them, personally I couldnt, I would sell a kidney and anything else it took, but then I am just a barmy old debtor so what else would you expect.

Just in case no one else has given you a hug today ... consider yourself HUGGGED

Shelton_2

hi maseuk, Im currently paying for Petplans Supercat insurance which means that they are covered for unlimited vets fees - these are reinstated every year and are for the life of the cats. Ive got 2 siamese cats and they have both had bouts of illness previously which i was able to claim for and received the money fairly quickly. Our vet actually recommended them as the best people to go for. Will definately have a look at the M&S and More Than ones though and see if they are any better / comparable but cheaper. Thanks for the hugs by the way - feeling a bit overwhelmed by the hugesness of it all at the moment!

wigginsmum

I'm with Direct Line and pay £46/month for 7 cats (including an old one). We've just had to claim £3k for a broken leg, and Direct Line settled directly with the vet. Might be worth a look.

Shelton_2

thanks wigginsmum - will give them a ring today and see what they say. Sounds a lot better value for money than what Im paying for at the moment.

dlb

Hi another newbie here,
One thing i did notice you are on orange, im sure you can now get you internet free if you have a orange phone contract, Worth finding out could save you £14.99 a month if this is right.

Shelton_2

Brill - going to give them a call today and see if i can swap my broadband to orange. Thanks for your advice!

wannabedebtfree_2

Shelton wrote:

In the last 3 months I have cleared and cancelled 3 credit cards and cancelled them with the provider so that I cannot respend and this is my aim for the other cc'sCut up the credit cards right now, you don't need to wait for them to paid off to stop using them!!. The loans are almost less of a worry even though the total on those is actually higher as you cant spend money on a loan in the way that you can keep spending on cc's once you have cleared them.Just keep the one with the lowest APR for emergencies if you don't feel you can get by without one, but really you should get rid of all of them, the temptation to spend will be gone immediately when you have to use cash!!! I have recognised my weaknesses where money is concerned and I am literally trying to watch every penny i can now. That is excellant, a spending diary makes a big difference, and as of last week I withdrew £45 to last the week, got the bank to change it into £1's and £2's and its amazing how much longer it lasts than having notes, which once you break into them get spent quickly, if you only have a few £'s on you, you can only spend a few £'s!!

I know that your debt is high, and must feel like a mountain to climb, but what other household bills does your hubby pay from his salary apart from the mortgage? Would it not be worth adding up all household bills, and debts, and splitting it evenly down the middle each month? I thought marriages were all about a partnership, and it seems only fair that if he has benefitted from your debt (you say a lot of it was household related) that you both pay for it. You might find that you both pay off your debts quicker when working together.

xx

Shelton_2

Had a loan from Northern Rock for £12k approved yesterday @ 5.7%. Monthly repayments will be £214 - Can use this loan to pay off those rancid MBNA credit cards which are currently costing me £450 pcm in repayments. Its over a 6 year period but at least that way I know that it will actually be reducing the debt and I can terminate my relationship with MBNA. Removes all temptation to transfer bals to their cards for limited periods and then spend elsewhere - this has been my downfall in the past! Do you think Ive done the right thing?

molit

Just wanted to say well done, and yes think you have done the right thing with the loan - but cut up the cards now!:T . Also, have a look round for information about reclaiming unfair bank charges - e.g. costs for going overdrawn, late payment etc if you have paid them in the past