Please can someone help me? I am at my wits end and this is getting serious!

Libero_2

Hello and thank you for reading this. I am basically at my wits end and cannot see a way out of the mess I seem to have got myself into. Basically every month I seem to spend shed loads more than my income without even eating properly or buying new clothes.

Basically my income is £29,000 p.a which works out around £18850 pm take home I think.

Outgoins are as follows:
Rent £450
Egg Loan £123.36 (£5970.42@7.7pa finishes 2nd June 2011)
Loan from friend £63.30 (£949.5 finishes Nov 2007)
Graduate Loan £81.16 (£1641.50 finishes Apr 2008)
Student Loan £153.06 (£612.24 finishes 10th Dec 2006)
Barclay Loan £185.46 (£7742.07 finishes Feb 2010)
Virgin Credit Card Min Payment £50.42 (£6490.09)
American Express Platinum £0 available balance £4800
Mint Gold Card £9.32 (£9.32 remains with available £5400 balance)
Travel to work £142.70
Child Maintenance Payment £225
Overdraft £11 (currently £1831.58 OD)
Council Tax £18
Car Insurance £45.80
Car Tax £13.33
Petrol £30
Gym £20
O2 Mobile £35
Dry cleaning £10
Groceries / food etc £200
Football club fees £15
Electric/Gas bills £15

Total £1896.91

Total owed £25246.72

All these loans are unsecured as I have no assets ie not a homeowner. I don't believe my credit rating is very good although I have not missed a payment for anything for a number of years. This is why I could only get a loan from barclays rather than the northern rock one which was much more competitive. I have tried to get everything off of credit cards and onto loans so I know what I will pay and when it will end and I do not and will not use the credit cards again.

I am obviously rubbish with money and have never had anyone to offer any advice to me as in family etc so I feel very alone in this matter and would really appreciate any help I can get. I basically want a life and want to get out of this mess. Is there a way?

Many thanks in advance.
L

BONJOEY

firstly, can you review your loans, with the loan providers, usually every 6 months they can be reviwed to see if they can lower your interest rate, or up the limit and combine other loans,

do you have to pay 20 pound a month for the gym?
can you lower your contact for your mobile phone, this can be done after 6 months?


could you transfer the virgin balance onto one of your other credit cards, and ask if you can have a good transfer rate beforehand

you have a lot of loans, couldnt you combine these into one loan with a lower payment?


you will definatly get some good advice from people from this forum, hope someone can help xx

shopsalot

Hi Libero - dont worry, it doesnt look pretty but there are others out there in the same situation.

My advice would be to put all of this in a spreadsheet before youdo anything else so you can see at a glance where you stand.

From this build a spending cash budget and cut up all of your cards so the situation doesnt get worse.

Next I would call all of the cards which still have available balance and ask what they would offer for a balance transfer - hopefully fixed fo rthe life of the balance - lowest i have seen at present is 5.9 (but there may be lower out there) - to give you a guide of what you can expect.

use this information to see if you can do balance transfers to combine any debts.

Once you have done these things you can draw up a "debt free" pln - this is great motivation to start selling stuff and cutting back to make that debt free date shrink!

It seems a daunting task but the satisfaction of taking control is huge.

I have an example of my spreadsheet I would be happy to send you - just PM me with your email address.

Good Luck

(PS - I recently cancelled my gym subscription and took up running - fastest calorie burner - and its free!)

Libero_2

The £20 for the gym is half price because it is subsidised and I do need it to keep fit for football.

I can transfer the virgin balance to both american express card 4.5pa (i think) for life but there is a fee and I think I can transfer to the mint one too but again a fee in incurred and I think the offer may only be open for new customers at present.

BONJOEY

worth a try!
also how long have you had barclay loan?

lynzpower

hi there :wave:

here are some thoughts from me

Rent £450
Egg Loan £123.36 (£5970.42@7.7pa finishes 2nd June 2011)
Loan from friend £63.30 (£949.5 finishes Nov 2007)
Graduate Loan £81.16 (£1641.50 finishes Apr 2008)
Student Loan £153.06 (£612.24 finishes 10th Dec 2006) ( OK so not long left, this 153.06 could then be snowballed- ie paid to another debt)
Barclay Loan £185.46 (£7742.07 finishes Feb 2010)
Virgin Credit Card Min Payment £50.42 (£6490.09)
American Express Platinum £0 available balance £4800 ( close this, this is probably why you were turned down for other products as you have too much AVAILABLE debt)
Mint Gold Card £9.32 (£9.32 remains with available £5400 balance) ( again, this is a tiny amount, pay it off and close it down)
Travel to work £142.70 ( why do you have to run a car as well? I take it this is a train fare??)
Child Maintenance Payment £225
Overdraft £11 (currently £1831.58 OD) ( could you move banks to one with an interest free overdraft? )
Council Tax £18 ( very low?)
Car Insurance £45.80
Car Tax £13.33
Petrol £30 DO YOU ABSOLUTELY NEED THIS CAR its costing you at least 90pcm
Gym £20
O2 Mobile £35 ( move tihs to the lowest tariff if you are still in contract)
Dry cleaning £10 ( do you abolsutely need this?)
Groceries / food etc £200 ( just for you? this can be reduced, me & OH do 100pcm between us including packed lunches etc, its not that hard with a bit of planning)
Football club fees £15 ( essential??)
Electric/Gas bills £15

Do you live in a houseshare?

By the end of the year, your S loans 156 this will leave you an extra 156 per month. Pay this to your highest APR debt.

I personally think that you need to take a slash & burn approach, making everything as cheap as possible. You need to reduce the amount of debt open to you at this time and have a look at your credit rating to see if theres anything outstanding you are not sure of.

What can you sell to bring extra money in, can you get a part tim job ??

Ataneh

Hi there, I am new on the forum, but I am sorry to hear about your plight.
Why are you driving a car when you still pay to travel to work? Your car expensenes already sums up to about 100qs?
How about talking to your friend to pay a bit less for the time being...

You just have to tighten your belt, yes life is !!!! when something like that hits you. But if you think about it, I guess you are still better off than the guy who sleeps next to a dumpster.

all_hours

Income That's a typo is it £1850 or £1885?

Outgoings 1896.91

You've only got a small deficit. You could close the gap by cutting back on your grocery shopping. Is that £200 just for you? Look at the oldstyle board for cutting back on food and household spending.

Your student loan ends in December so you'll have an extra £153.06 to put towards your other debts.

There are things missing that you should include. Haircuts, christmas birthdays, clothes. You should budget to include these so you know exactly what you need - otherwise when you need to pay for these you'll end up putting them on a card or overdraft.

Can you post the APRs for all your cards and loans?

You've got travel to work and car expenses? Do you drive then commute?

You can check your credit report online. If you sign up for the 30 day trials for experian and equifax via quidco you'll get some cash back. Don't forget to cancel before the 30 days are up or you'll end up being charged for it.

CLAPTON

note : i've just editted this because i have realised i've misunderstood your salary

as i see it

your income is 1850 ........is this correct ..it seems a bit high if gross income is 29000
your spending is 1219 before paying any debts
amount available 630 to pay the minimum debts payment

but actual debt pmt 675

so your monthly shortfall is £45 which is small

Firstly can you increase your income , overtime or part time job?

Secondly reduce spending
a. after the year end you will have paid off the student loan so saving you £153 per month
b. do you need a car ...it is costing you nearly £100 but you also spend 142 travelling to work? and you haven't included MOT, RAC/AA, servicing
How much would the car be worth.
c. you can't afford 35 for the mobile ...use PAYG and only make mimimal use
d. assuming you are paying for only one person you should be able to reduce your food etc shopping to about 100.

queries : does council tax really only cost you £15?...are you sharing ?
again does elec/gas only cost £15.

you dont show anything for going out, clothes, etc...how realistic is your SoA?


So
if you can increase you income then by reducing spending as suggested you may be able to be able to produce a significant amount to snowball your debts..

if you can't increase your income, but if you can sell the car and use the surpus say about £200 to snowball the debts. By the new year you will then have over 300 spare to snowball

Floss

Start a spending diary to see where your cash is going
Cancel gym & run - look for weights etc on Freecycle if you really need them
Get rid of car
Cut down on your food bill - shop more efficiently & plan your meals

lil'H

Hello and welcome! Looking at your SOA you have a good income, low rent and managed carefully you shoudl be able to start keepign within your income and clearing the debts without too much of a problem. Would really help if you could post your APRs for each card and the limit on them, you then need to transfer to your lowest APR cards from your highest. Fill up your lowest APR card to limit and work upwards from there. Also try asking if they can lower your rate, or give you a BT offer, many will if they think they will loose you otherwise.

Reordering your debts just by date reads:

American Express Platinum £0 available balance £4800
Mint Gold Card £9.32 (£9.32 remains with available £5400 balance)
Student Loan £153.06 (£612.24 finishes 10th Dec 2006)
Loan from friend £63.30 (£949.5 finishes Nov 2007)
Graduate Loan £81.16 (£1641.50 finishes Apr 2008)
Barclay Loan £185.46 (£7742.07 finishes Feb 2010)
Egg Loan £123.36 (£5970.42@7.7pa finishes 2nd June 2011)
Virgin Credit Card Min Payment £50.42 (£6490.09) (over ten years left if paying minimum)
Overdraft £11 (currently £1831.58 OD)

So total debt = £25, 246

First I would ring Mint, you are about to finish paying and so tell them you want to cancel or could they do you a low rate balance transfer with them. I did this last week and they offered me 0.9% with a 1.5% fee up to a max of £40. Pay your highest rate card (hopefully this may be the Virgin as it's a big amount) off as much as possible to mint IF they give you a lower rate. (This is where it helps to know rates). Again do the same with American Express, if they can't offer you good deals to balance transfer, simply ask to cancel your card, as your credit rating is effected by avalible credit not just debt.

You currently have nine debts, and with some juggling you may be able to cut some of these own considerably with regards to interest. The more you can move to lower interest the quicker the debt willbe gone basically. Currently you are paying £666.08 a month to debts, as each one gets paid off you need to allocate the money to the next highest interest debt.

In terms of paying mroe off, savings could be made on following:

Travel to work £142.70 are you using season tickets etc, may work out cheaper
Car Insurance £45.80 What car do you drive, this is v expensive maybe get a cheaper car to insure, and put money from sale -new car to debts, or get rid entirely?
O2 Mobile £35 Do you use all your package, could you downgrade?
Dry cleaning £10I'm presuming this is perhaps suits for work, of not maybe needs to be rethought?
Groceries / food etc £200Definately needs cutting, plan what you need and stick to it when you go to shops.


Hope this helps, you will get loads of support here, try putting your debts onto your sig, that way you can keep track and it's an extra spur on.

lil'H