Postgraduate on part-time wage, advice required please!

Kajimba

Hi everyone! I'm new, so please forgive me if I make any mistakes.


I've completed a SOA, but I should make these additional points.
My income fluctuates, so I took the amounts after tax off my P60 and divided by 12. I work part time in a shop, contracted for 12 hours at £6.04 p/h. However, my average is 20 hours, including 5 sunday hours at £9.06. This job pays weekly in cash.

The other £190 is an average for teaching I have done at the university. This is likely to drop.

I'm about to start the fourth year of a part-time PhD, tuition fees are 1040 per year. They are paid up front or in three installments: first of Oct, Dec and March.

I have a no fee, 0% interest overdraft available up to £-1500. Currently it's 200 overdrawn, and the overdraft has been going down by about 25-50 each month. I suspect this is not due to inaccuracy of the SOA, but due to my covering for sick people at work! However, doing this has slowed down my PhD work and does n't seem to be very healthy. I was diagnosed with IBS, but there's a possibility I'm diabetic. I have no idea if either of these would entitle me to any kind of help?

I'm also wondering if I should use my bank overdraft to pay off my smallest credit card debt, since it would 0% instead of 21.9%. The thing is, the overdraft is really meant for full time PhDs, but the bank never reduced it from when I changed from full to part time.

The credit card debts and overdraft (which was originally fully overdrawn) are historic from 2007/8: I ran up debts trying to do the PhD part-time and took four months to find a part-time job. Capital One was a balance transfer and I have never purchased on it. I opted to close the Eggs after their last rise in the interest rate, so they are both paying off only.

Any help would be much appreciated.:)







Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 4 (there are 3 housemates, finances completely separate)
Number of children in household......... 0
Number of cars owned.................... 0

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 500
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 190
Total monthly income.................... 690

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 275 (This includes all utilities, TV, etc)
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 0
Electricity............................. 0
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 20
TV Licence.............................. 0
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 65
Clothing................................ 10
Petrol/diesel........................... 0
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 65
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 10 (I took the last bill for my glasses and divided by 24, then rounded up)
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 10
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 10
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Fees ........................................86
Total monthly expenses.................. 551


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

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Egg............................1036......29........21.9
Egg Money......................1375......32........16.9
Capital One....................2400......72........12.23
Total unsecured debts..........4811......133.......-



Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 690
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 551
Available for debt repayments........... 139
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 133
Amount left after debt repayments....... 6

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 0
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -4,811
Net Assets.............................. -4,811

Created using the SOA calculator at
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using Firefox browser.

RAS

What are the limits on those cards?

Any of them balance transfers?

Any of them increased their rate recently, and you have not used the card at all?

Kajimba

Hi RAS,
thanks for replying.
Capital One limit is £5,700. This was a lifetime balance transfer from a Virgin Card (now closed).
Egg Money limit is £1500, that was debt ran up in 2008. Originally it was 4%, they increased the rate at about the time there was a scandal about Egg cancelling cards. Then tried to increase it again this year, so I opted out.

Egg Card limit is £2000, again a similar thing with the interest rates.

Kajimba

Hi, forgot to add, I also have a dormant (?) Barclaycard, no balance on it.

I'm really thinking the best option is to use my overdraft to pay the smallest debt off. Then maybe see if I can transfer the other Egg balance to Capital One.

Any help with the SOA would be appreciated, though I guess it's my income that's the problem!:eek: