Any help welcome

x_raphael_xx

Hi, everyones been so helpful to others with great ideas to save money, so Ive decided to post my monthly SOA to see if any of you can help me.

Incoming ~ £975.80 (take home)

Outgoing -
£40.00 ~ Credit card (minimum payment £5)
£44.19 ~ Bank of Scotland
£85.64 ~ HFC loan 1
£49.98 ~ HFC loan 2
£100.00 ~ Mum (Owe £700 so will be paying for 7 months)
£61.70 ~ Council tax
£22.95 ~ Water rates
£10.54 ~ TV Licence
£40.00 ~ Gas/Electric
£18.84 ~ Dog insurance (Looking for cheaper at the mo, but essential as she's had problems before that would have cost over £200)
£18.00 ~ AXA life insurance
£15.00 ~ Mobile
£23.49 ~ Telewest (Broadband & Digital TV)
£50.00 ~ Car (I save this every month and pay insurance in full each year.)
£10.00 ~ eSavings
£60.00 ~ Grocerys (Usually £30-£45 a week, but challenged myself this last month and spent £66.02!)
woops almost forgot to add the rent! ~£355

Equals £1005.33

Balance -£29.53!!:eek:
When I finish paying my mum thou balance will be +£70.47

So any ideas please!

moozie_2

Hello there, let's see...

x_raphael_xx wrote:

Hi, everyones been so helpful to others with great ideas to save money, so Ive decided to post my monthly SOA to see if any of you can help me.

Incoming ~ £975.80 (take home)

Outgoing -
£40.00 ~ Credit card (minimum payment £5) How much do you owe in total, what is the APR and are you overpaying in all 4?£44.19 ~ Bank of Scotland Ditto
£85.64 ~ HFC loan 1 Ditto plus how many months left
£49.98 ~ HFC loan 2 Ditto plus how many months left
£100.00 ~ Mum (Owe £700 so will be paying for 7 months) Can you reduce/postpone this payment and give priority to the interest incurring debts?£61.70 ~ Council tax
£22.95 ~ Water rates
£10.54 ~ TV Licence
£40.00 ~ Gas/Electric
£18.84 ~ Dog insurance (Looking for cheaper at the mo, but essential as she's had problems before that would have cost over £200)
£18.00 ~ AXA life insurance Does this mean you have dependents?
£15.00 ~ Mobile
£23.49 ~ Telewest (Broadband & Digital TV)
£50.00 ~ Car (I save this every month and pay insurance in full each year.)
£10.00 ~ eSavings
£60.00 ~ Grocerys (Usually £30-£45 a week, but challenged myself this last month and spent £66.02!) Well done!
woops almost forgot to add the rent! ~£355

Equals £1005.33

Balance -£29.53!!:eek:
When I finish paying my mum thou balance will be +£70.47

So any ideas please!

This is a great start but there are things missing, such as: car running costs, presents, haircuts etc. It would be helpful to have the full details of your debts to have the fuller picture.

Have you considered additional employment and/or selling stuff online? It looks like you need to supplement your income to make sure you meet all your commitments. Postponing your repayments to your mother would help with that for a bit.

Good luck!

K9cuddles

Try M&S for better pet insurance.

x_raphael_xx

Wow thanks for the quick reply!

• There is £1420 to pay on the credit card (£1700 limit), APR is 17.9%, the minimum payments are coming up as around £3 at the mo so I'm overpaying on this one.
• Bank of Scotland ~ 17.9% APR, 23 months left, Not overpaying.
• HFC loan 1 ~ 21.8% APR, 27 months left, Not overpaying.
• HFC loan 2 ~ 28.5% APR, 24 months left, Not overpaying.
• Mum ~ One of the conditions of borrowing was that I dont miss a payment! Also she hasn't got money security either, so I want to make sure I pay it back as quick as possible.
• No dependants, but life insurance is one of those 'get your money back plus, after 15 years if you dont die'! Also if i cancel now I won't get anything.

moozie wrote:

Hello there, let's see...

This is a great start but there are things missing, such as: car running costs, presents, haircuts etc. It would be helpful to have the full details of your debts to have the fuller picture.

Have you considered additional employment and/or selling stuff online? It looks like you need to supplement your income to make sure you meet all your commitments. Postponing your repayments to your mother would help with that for a bit.

Good luck!

Car running costs ~ aren't very high, I walk to work so petrol is only £20 ish a month (car is actually off road at the mo, cos Im saving the money up to buy insurance!)
Presents ~ Only buy for close family (mum, dad and bro) and my best friend. Usually try to make presents.
Haircuts ~ Best friends mum cuts my hair!! Don't colour or anything either so no hairdresser bills. I also dont get my nails done, or wear make-up, so no costs there!
Additional employment ~ I can get extra hours at my current job, if I can work 1 shift extra a week I can take home an extra £170 a month.
Selling on eBay ~ I have a big pile of stuff in my front room ready to photograph and upload!

I will check out M&S for pet insurance thanks K9cuddles.

southernscouser

Although it's good to overpay on credit card minimum payments in your situation it's not. As your expenditure outweighs your income it will mean you are just going to get further into debt.

Is there any chance of increasing your income? Maybe a part time job?

Also if you live on your own are you claiming the single persons council tax allowance?

moozie_2

x_raphael_xx wrote:

Wow thanks for the quick reply!

No problem, that's what we're here for

• There is £1420 to pay on the credit card (£1700 limit), APR is 17.9%, the minimum payments are coming up as around £3 at the mo so I'm overpaying on this one.

Perhaps this is a typo but even if your minimum payment was 2% of the balance, they would be £28.40

x_raphael_xx wrote:

Car running costs ~ aren't very high, I walk to work so petrol is only £20 ish a month (car is actually off road at the mo, cos Im saving the money up to buy insurance!)
Presents ~ Only buy for close family (mum, dad and bro) and my best friend. Usually try to make presents.

I appreciate what you are saying - you keep costs to the minimum - but these are still costs and when you are overspending on your SOA without including them, things can only get worse when you do include them.

I really think you need to look at a regular increase of your income to help you become debt free. Plenty of ideas in the forums for additional jobs, hope something takes your fancy

lil'H

x_raphael_xx wrote:

• There is £1420 to pay on the credit card (£1700 limit), APR is 17.9%, the minimum payments are coming up as around £3 at the mo so I'm overpaying on this one.
• Bank of Scotland ~ 17.9% APR, 23 months left, Not overpaying.
• HFC loan 1 ~ 21.8% APR, 27 months left, Not overpaying.
• HFC loan 2 ~ 28.5% APR, 24 months left, Not overpaying.
• Mum ~ One of the conditions of borrowing was that I dont miss a payment! Also she hasn't got money security either, so I want to make sure I pay it back as quick as possible.
  

Hi there! :beer:

Just wanted to mention that your interest rates on your debts are all pretty high. Firstly I would try ringing your credit card companys and say you are looking at leaving if they can't do you a better interest rate. Then (whatever they say) see if you can get a 0% balance transfer deal anywhere, try MBNA for 12 months currently. Even with the BT fee you'd be saving, especially if you can switch again at teh end of the year. Any reduction you can get on interest rates means that your payments will go further to reducing your debts. By my calculations taking the first card you mention you are being charged £21 a month interest, so your £40 payment is only reducing your debt by around £19 each month. The lower the interest rate the quickert the reduction. Again your HFC loans, is there any catch in overpayning? If not and if you can't get lower interest rates anywhere the rule is that you should concentrate on paying the highest interest rate debts off first. Make sure your money is working for you not for the lenders.

Hope this helps,
Lil'H

lil'H

Also what is eSavings, £10 a month? Sorry if I've missed something

lil'H

x_raphael_xx

woah! just did quote for m&s pet insurance, about £26 a month! Ive seen cheaper pet insurance with Argos and a website called healty pets. Ill try them.

Lil'H ~ I did look at switching, but my credit score is so bad that Im usually refused (due to a few missed payment a way back) or offered an even higher interest rate (33%). And I dont want to get stuck in the cycle of getting longer term loans to pay off debts.
My credit card interest rate has been lowered, Abbey increased it to 24% without informing me and Ive just had it brought down to 17.9%.
I was shocked when the minimum payment went down from £30 ish to £3-so I will check that out, maybe it is a typo, hope not!!

Also with HFC loans, there is no penalty for overpaying-and they adjust the interest if you pay the settlement early. But because of the way they work if I overpay they will take less the next month as Ive already paid part of the next month.
What Ive been doing is putting any extra onto my credit card, bringing this down, and when I have enough to cover the settlement figure (I will check every few months as it changes due to how balance and time left) I will pay from the credit card.

eSavings is my on-line savings account, I can postpone payment into this if need be (which it prob does!)

southernscouser ~ I am claiming single person discount, its the only thing these b*****ds will give me, I've looked up working tax credits etc too but Im not eligable.

K9cuddles

x_raphael_xx wrote:

woah! just did quote for m&s pet insurance, about £26 a month! Ive seen cheaper pet insurance with Argos and a website called healty pets. Ill try them.

Oh that's ashame.. they are really good cover. I had herd they were realigning there premiums.. obviously not for the better!!!:rolleyes:

tyllwyd

If you are saving £10 per month, do you have a reasonable pot of money? Could you use that to pay off some of the debt and get your monthly budget back on track, together with the £10? Then when your mum is paid, you can start saving again.