MY SOA - Can i ever get rid of these cards?!

nick86

Hi all, I am really keen to finally get these debts paid off and hoping for advice on these quickest and cheapest way to do it. I know there are many people in far worse positions financially but it still gets me down on a daily basis!

Incoming:

My Salary - £1137.00 monthly
Benifits - £0

Outgoing:

Car Insurance - 52.00
Phone Bill - 35.00
2nd Phone bill - 25.00
Min Payment Cap One - 58.00
Min Payment Barclaycard - 45.00
Credit to HSBC Overdraft - 25.00
Account fee - 5.00
Credit Expert - 7.00
Rent + Bills - 400.00
Food - 100.00
Petrol - 100.00

Debts:

Barclaycard Initial Visa - £1862.00 27.9%

Capital One Visa - £1179.00 34.9%

HSBC Overdraft - £945.00 19.9%

Barclays Overdraft I live out of and my salary just puts it in to credit, end of the month would owe £1000 and APR is 14.9% on £700 of it.

My credit rating should be ok, the credit accounts all opened years ago, 1 missed payments in 2007 but none since. Did have defaults but are now over 6 years old but was declined for a phone contract in Feb for some reason.

I am considering a loan to clear these cards and just have one fixed payment and this would be my preferred option. I would like to transfer the cards to a 0% deal but as both cards are near their limts and havent paid more than the minimum for nearly a year I dont see myself being accepted.

Any advice welcome!!

Nick

DayDreamSaver

Hi Nick - you've taken the first step, asking for help here. Your situation might not be as bad as others - but its yours and its just as real as anyones. In answer to your question will you get rid of these cards then - YES!!

A couple of things in your outgoings I didn't quite understand about - why do you have 2 phones, and why you were 7 pounds to experian every month? I think you can also get free bank accounts even with poor credit.

Good luck!
DDS

nick86

Just to add in reply one of the phones is an old contract with 5 months left to run. I stupidly took out a second contract as I lost the original phone and wanted a new phone. I pay the fee to credit expert just to keep an eye on things and make sure no payments are registered as late etc. The bank account has a £5 fee but i do that for the phone insurance and also the first £300 of my overdraft interest free which saves a few pounds a month in interest.

I forgot to add my cigarettes at around £80 a month and yes I am trying to give up!!

DayDreamSaver

Also:

Have I done my maths right? Income = 1137, outgoings = 852, means you have 285 left each month? Have you included ALL your expenses and do you have this money?

If so, I would throw it every month at your capital one card as its your highest APR. It will soon be gone and you can start on the next.

DDS

KathysBoy

nick86 wrote: »

Just to add in reply one of the phones is an old contract with 5 months left to run. I stupidly took out a second contract as I lost the original phone and wanted a new phone. I pay the fee to credit expert just to keep an eye on things and make sure no payments are registered as late etc. The bank account has a £5 fee but i do that for the phone insurance and also the first £300 of my overdraft interest free which saves a few pounds a month in interest.

I forgot to add my cigarettes at around £80 a month and yes I am trying to give up!!

I would cancel Experian. If you really want to keep an eye on things use the online facility to view your statutory report. It costs £2 and provides all the information you need. ( I haven't used the Experian version, but the Equifax version is fine).

nick86

Thanks i will look into that, i didnt realise there was anouther way to check your credit report.

Just to add I have probably done this wrong as I have only listed my fixed outgoings, the rest of my money is spent on clothing, repairs to my car and mountain bike, medicines and toiletries. I am left with around £35 a month which I have been putting on the HSBC overdraft as it was £1200 and hasnt been into credit for 2 years!

Thanks for the advice so far!

Lula-Hula

Hi & welcome to the wonderful world of DFW.

If you havent already checked out the snowball calculator then i suggest you have alook : www.whatsthecost.co.uk

For purchases such as car insurance & anything else you buy online you can use www.quidco.co.uk or www.topcashback.co.uk .

To earn a bit of extra cash or some vouchers try signing up to do surveys.

Ebaying or carbooting is a good way to declutter your home & again earn yourself some extra money.


For cheap meals have a look at the Old Style money saving board.

Good luck

property.advert

If you can cut the cards up and get a loan for less than about 25% per annum from your bank then I'd consider it. But, you are obviously continually overspending and I would not consider asking for this until you have cleared your overdraft, even though that is not your highest interest debt.

With about £5000 at around 25% average, you are paying about £100 a month in interest (very rough calc) and you'll take donkeys to clear your debts. Fix up a 5k loan over 3 years at 20% and you have one payment of £186 a month.