Advice please

itengineer

Dear all I am looking for some advice on how best to pay off my debt before it gets too out of control.

My better half is hopeful that we can buy a house this year and get a mortgage. I have a family member that is offering to help with a deposit but I do not want them to know about my debt.

My worry is that I will not get us a mortgage with a good rate, etc.

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At the moment my monthly income is around £1400 per month.

I have calculated outgoings as

Rent 200
Utils 45
Sky 45
Mobile 25
Gym 45
Car 274
Council Tax 143
Diesel 100
Food 200

A total of £1077 out..
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I was out of work for a month or two due to illness and have also been too lax in keeping my finances organised and sensible.

I have managed to rack up the following debts-

Student overdraft £1750 0% currently

Halifax credit card (0% but expires end June 2010 - this month) - £3700

Tesco credit card (0% transfer till end of this month, 0% purchase till next Jan) - £1800 total balance (£600 of this is balance transfer)

Barclays credit card - £900 (split 395.95 purchases at 0% till July 2010 and 514 at 0% to July 2011)

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Other credit is my car which is on a contract hire agreement. I have had problems with this recently as the payments bounced for 2 months - I had changed bank accounts and they did not update my details as per the letter I sent them.
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I want to clear everything and sort it all out. I am hopeful to start paying the credit cards off at £200 or so per month, my worry however is that these debts are going to spiral as the 0% deals end.

Help!!

LuckyBiscuit

I think you really need to do a full soa to see what you have left available and use the snowball calculator(i think that's what its called) to work out what to pay first, as its best to clear the debts with the highest APR.

More knowledgeable guy's will be along soon..

Good Luck XXX

Tixy

Hi and welcome

Do you live alone currently? are all the costs above just for yourself? It looks like you might possibly have ommitted some costs such as tv licence, water rates, road tax, car insurance car maintenance, MOT & tyres etc (budget 1/12 of the annual cost each month), presents, haircuts, clothes, entertainment etc.

I would suggest if you have some or all of those costs you might be better posting up a full statement of affairs using the recommended link here- http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html
This will give you a clearer picture of how much you have spare each month and can afford to put towards your cards etc.

You could also consider cutting back eg cut SKY to basic package or switch to freeview only. If £200 food is just for yourself this could easily be cut in half which would allow you more money to pay towards your debts.