Ive been Silly

pickleiamin

Guys
Like most people on here, Ive been a little bit silly. Ive been blind, in ignorance etc. Call it what you want, however I need and want to change and sort myself out.

I am like almost everyone on this forum in debt and want to get out of it.

My debt is with 4 credit cards and 2 loans.

One loan has just ended the other ends in Jan so that leaves me with 4 credit cards.

I am at work at the moment so will post the detais of the Cards when I get home, 3 of the cards are close to max and one has £500 which ill get closed ASAP. One of teh cards has been balanced transferred and I am paying 0% interest on it for another 10 months.
I have started to sort myself out in the following way

1) I have moved in with my gfriend who owns her own house and is good with money & making cheap meals

2) I have cancelled gym membership and magazine subscriptions

3) I have balance transferred one of the cards (as mentioned above)

Whats hitting me at the moment is, I am not budgetting, this ill sort out this evening with a spreadsheet. I am therefore getting hit with bank charges and thats hitting me. My O/D is £100 FYI and ive gone to £300 o/D for the last few months FYI.

At the end of the month I will be fully moved into my gfriends and therefore getting my deposit back which will help the above.
Is there anything ive missed that could help me out better each month? I understand I need to budget. With regards to my CC I applied recently for another 0% BT card and got declined. I am worried now that if I go for anotherill get declined and this will hit my credit score.

Ill try and post some information when I get home as this is breif.

Thanks for the help

alona1

Hiya,

Well done for posting and welcome to the board. The experts will be along shortly but it's an idea to fill the SOA in and post it so we can help with suggestions:

http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html

Good luck and congrats on moving in with the GF x

pickleiamin

alona1 wrote: »

Hiya,

Well done for posting and welcome to the board. The experts will be along shortly but it's an idea to fill the SOA in and post it so we can help with suggestions:

<link removed because im a noob>

Good luck and congrats on moving in with the GF x

Thanks for the reply and the congrats.

I shall post that up this evening. Moving in with the gfriend will wipe out the council tax & utilities bills (well when Ive paid them) which will be a good help to me.

I have started a budget diary to see where my money is going, I have started bringing in sandwiches into work and basically doing what I should have done ages ago. BUT, its a start

Thanks again

dancingfairy

Hi. You've made a brilliant start so far. A few things I'd suggest are 1) go through all your outgoings and bills (the spending diary will help here) and see do you want/need to keep things -some things you will want/need to keep but can you get them cheaper? I'm sure you girlfriend will already do this with gas/electric , contents insurance etc but you never know and there's also those personal spends.
2) Pay minimums on everything and chuck any spare money at the card with the highest interest rate first is usually the best way - however if there are any small balances you may want to clear them first just to give you that boost to tackle the rest.
3) the card with 500 space on it - it might be worth phoning them up and see if they can offer you any balance transfer deals for the other debts?
Good Luck
df

pickleiamin

Right my SOE

This has cheered me up slightly. It outlines I do have to budget. The past I have gone to the bank and taken money out blindly and spent it on god know what.............another reason for a diary.

I have added comments next to stuff. I am moving in wiith the gfriend so no council tax etc. I will be however paying my remaining balances on my utilities until Nov / Dec.

I have to cut down blind spending.

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 1
Number of children in household......... 0
Number of cars owned.................... 0

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1780
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1780

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 400
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 0
Electricity............................. 30 (will end in Nov)
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 30 (will end in Nov)
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 35
TV Licence.............................. 0
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 15 (end in Dec)
Internet Services....................... 15 (end in Dec)
Groceries etc. ......................... 20
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 0
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 55 (can be reduced by biking to work)
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0 (get dental through work, I dont pay for prescriptions due to an illness)
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 10
Entertainment........................... 50
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 660


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 Card 0%....................4320.25...90........0
HSBC Card .....................3788.66...90........28
BCard..........................4900......90........28
Loan...........................1319.5....263.9.....0 (ends in Jan)
HFax...........................450.......25........16
Total unsecured debts..........14778.41..558.9.....-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,780
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 660
Available for debt repayments........... 1,120
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 558.9
Amount left after debt repayments....... 561.1

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 0
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -14,778.41
Net Assets.............................. -14,778.41



So, there it is folks.

I have let myself down this month mostly and sent my brother some money as he was struggling, this has caused two payements to bounce so ill be charged on top of the charges by the bank.

Is there a way I can get these charges stopped for a couple of months until things are better?

Dave101t

so you have 1000 pounds to put towards your debts which are only 1/2 that amount? double up your payments, pay them off twice as fast then never use them again.

pickleiamin

That was my next question.

When I have got rid of my loan and the other utility bills in the new year, how do I go about tackle the CC debt.

andrea1968_2

Use the snowball calculator and throw every available penny at the card with the highest interest. Just pay the minimum on the other ones and once the first one's been paid off do the same with the next hightest interest rate. Your debts will soon start to fall and you'll be sorted before you know it.
Once they're all paid close all but one of them, never take it out with you, never spend more than a few pounds on it and pay it back in full everymonth, that way you're credit history will remain in tact - but just don't go back to having a balance on it.

Good luck

pickleiamin

Thanks

I am feeling better already. I am going to check my bank every day if I can, I will also come on here every day and see if I can pick up tips and bargains. I have registered with Quidco and I am going to try and use that where I can.

Time to set a signature up I think

One thing. When I have paid off the CC will the APR change? I.e I have high APR due to being a numpty. Will that go down once its on zero, or will I have to basically work my credit history back up?

andrea1968_2

Tricky one-I would say that depends on the lender. Sometimes you have to be a bit cheeky and phone them up and ask for a better rate. I did that with an RBS card, told them I wasn't happy with what I was being charged, said I would have transferred another balance to them if it had been a better rate (which I had no intention of doing) but they gave me a better APR anyway, paid off my balance a few months later and closed it. I'm not saying that will work, but you don't lose anything by asking.

Once you've paid the balance off the APR doesn't really matter as long as you pay any purchases ioff in full every month - ie no interest to pay, but you really have to be good and stick to that otherwise its right back to the beginning again and you're in debt before you know it.

If you don't really trust yourself not to spend hand your cards over to your other half and that way the temptations out of reach.

SpagBol

Just checking: will the £400 include all of your utilities and council tax once you move in with your girlfriend? I would use any amount that has previously gone on your utility bills to pay off one debt and then snowball as the others have suggested that way you won't miss it too much!