DFW newbie - Where do I start?

karan733

Hi all

I have been burying my head in the sand about my debt for years, and my circumstances mean I really need to sort myself out (finally?!)

When I was at uni I opened up an account with HSBC which offered me a 0% overdraft till the end of the course, and ever since then I have hovered around the £2000 overdraft limit even though the interest period has now ended. Then last year they reduced the interest free part to £1000, so everything above that is now charged interest. So in short, I've lived in my overdraft since 2005 and now Im not sure where to start with getting out of it.

What has got my moving is that I have applied to go on an internship programme in New York for 12 months starting in August, but the course fee is £6000. I dont have this at present so was looking at the Career Development Loan from Barclays, but I dont know if living in my OD for so long will have affected my credit rating.

I have bought items on finance before and always paid off as agreed, but I dont have a credit card, morgage or loan so I dont know if Barclays will lend to me. Even if I do go I want to have my house in order so that it doesnt hang over my experience while I'm out there.

I was looking around the house last night at the bike, the ps3, the car (through the window ) and trying to figure out what I could sell to clear this, but I'm getting panicky everytime I think about it. I thought if I post here, I cant keep burying my head in the sand as I'd have to answer to you all as to how im getting on!

Any tips would be very welcome!

Wee_Jo

Hi Karan! :hello:

Well done for posting and confronting your worries. I think the first thing for you to do is figure out exactly what's happening with your finances. So to do that it's best to post a Statement of Affairs, which details out exactly what you're spending, owing, saving, etc each month. It is a bit scary to do, especially if you haven't focused on your finances for a while - and it also takes a bit of time because you need to go through statements, letters, etc in order to get exact amounts - but it will help you and it will enable the friendly people here to assist you in figuring out where you can make improvements! Here is the link: http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html

Jo