Graduate wanting to get out of debt! SOA included

askintstudent

Hi All,

Finally managed to get myself a full time job on fairly decent wage. However I have been stupid in the past with money and am now looking forward to becoming debt free.(well eventually)!

Below is my SOA, I am just looking at advice at the minute to see if I can make any further reductions.

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1292.58
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1292.58
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 200* Living at home but this is paid to parents to help with bills etc
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 0
Electricity............................. 0
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 21* Line rental and BT unlimited calls package.
Mobile phone............................ 30
TV Licence.............................. 0
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 11 This is for SKY, I have just managed to reduce this from £22 to £11.
Internet Services....................... 7.5* O2 broadband which I have reduced from £10 recently.
Groceries etc. ......................... 60* Lunch for work and other groceries.
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 100
Road tax................................ 22
Car Insurance........................... 40
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 4.2
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..................... 11
Contents insurance...................... 11
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 6.5* Get haircut every 2-3 months.
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Gym..................................... 32.5* Contract for this is finished in 3 months which I won't be renewing.
Total monthly expenses.................. 556.7

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 5000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 5000

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Citicard.......................1800......35........0
Barclays.......................4000......125.......0
Post Office....................2000......50........0
HSBC...........................1000......0.........0
Natwest........................2000......0.........0
Zopa...........................5000......100.......0
Total unsecured debts..........15800.....310.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,292.58
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 556.7
Available for debt repayments........... 735.88
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 310
Amount left after debt repayments....... 425.88
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 5,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -15,800
Net Assets.............................. -10,800
Created using the SOA calculator at www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using IE browser.

I have made some notes above in red, I have not got my APR rates yet but I will get these asap.

My first priority is to get rid of my overdrafts HSBC and Natwest(wage is paid in here), whilst they are 0% at the moment they are to be reviewed come November time and I would like to get rid of them before that point.

Any pointers whatsoever would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

fermi

Moved to the main board.

savingwannabe

I think your spending is pretty good. The only way i can think to cut back is to get a PAYG phone so your mobile bill falls or to switch to a cheaper tariff.

I dont know about the debt side of things so i cant help with credit card advice.

Can you ebay, carboot some of your old things you no longer use to get extra cash? can you work in a pub at weekends? that will help clear off your debt faster.

Sorry can't think of anything else??

:j

askintstudent

savingwannabe wrote: »

I think your spending is pretty good. The only way i can think to cut back is to get a PAYG phone so your mobile bill falls or to switch to a cheaper tariff.

I dont know about the debt side of things so i cant help with credit card advice.

Can you ebay, carboot some of your old things you no longer use to get extra cash? can you work in a pub at weekends? that will help clear off your debt faster.

Sorry can't think of anything else??

:j

Thanks savingwannabe, I have only just signed the contract but I think its a decent tariff, its just I use a lot of mins so I think £30 is just about right.

I don't think my spending is too bad at the minute and I have cut down on the things were I have been able to.

My problem in the past has been spending my spare money on non-essentials. As my contract is with O2 I have decided to get one of those cash manager cards and load that with say £40-50 a month and thats my limit on non-essential items.

My highest rate of interest is on my Barclaycard, however as my account review for my current account with Natwest is due in November I would like to pay this off first. I am hoping to save £400 at the end of each month and ring NW up and ask them to reduce the overdraft, that way I don't end up spending it!

After that is done I want to pay off my Barclaycard as that has the highest rate of interest.

Any further advice is most welcome. Thanks.

askintstudent

I got a letter yeterday from Barclays yesterday offering 0% on a BT until August 2011, I was just wondering if there is any advantage of me using this at all or should I just go about my original plan? Thanks

askintstudent

Can anyone offer any further advice? Cheers!

OMAR

I was in exactly the same position as you 4 years ago. I graduated with a graduate programme job earning 21.5k......I took out a loan for £15k with Tesco Loans.......and kept paying chunks and chunks off it......closed all my credit cards etc etc......

I got paid about £1300 a month and paid £750 to loan each month, never ever spent anything on myself....then got promoted etc etc and payed more off then transferred it to a 0% card (8k)........might be worth you doing similar?

Hope that helps....

askintstudent

OMAR wrote: »

I was in exactly the same position as you 4 years ago. I graduated with a graduate programme job earning 21.5k......I took out a loan for £15k with Tesco Loans.......and kept paying chunks and chunks off it......closed all my credit cards etc etc......

I got paid about £1300 a month and paid £750 to loan each month, never ever spent anything on myself....then got promoted etc etc and payed more off then transferred it to a 0% card (8k)........might be worth you doing similar?

Hope that helps....

Hi,

I don't think my credit rating will be that good for me to apply for another card. What I plan to do is to pay off as much of my barclaycard as possible as they always offer me 0% deal every 3-4 months, once I have paid off a substantial chunk I am thinking of transferring the other debt onto the barclaycard at 0% and keep doing this until the debt is paid off.

If I am very good with my personal spend on non-essentials I can pay perhaps £400-450 off every month.

My initial thought was to pay off my overdraft every month, however I have found out that everytime a request is put in to lower my overdraft a new credit check is done so I will probably need to pay it off either in one or two big chunks.

DVardysShadow

askintstudent wrote: »

My initial thought was to pay off my overdraft every month, however I have found out that everytime a request is put in to lower my overdraft a new credit check is done so I will probably need to pay it off either in one or two big chunks.

Just pay it off. Don't lower the limit. What's wrong with that?