My Names Stuart And I'm A Debtaholic :-)

ScrewLooseStu

So here goes. The lightbulb moment is upon me!!!

I am 30 in a few days and have a pretty good life, nice house, nice girlfriend, nice car, reasonable job.

However............................................................

At 21 i was wild and went crazy on credit cards and loans, by the time i was 27 i had amassed some serious debt, i have been playing catchup ever since and don't seem to be managing my finances very well if at all.

I don't lead an extravagant life and have now got to a point whereby my finances are out of control and giving me sleepless nights and affecting my job, relationship and social life (What is a social life again???)

So a quick breakdown:

My take home income = £1450.00 per month

- MBNA £70.61
- Council Tax £92.00
- Carole Nash £90.16 This is insurance for my moorbike which is
being sold immediately so will cease shortly.
- TV License £26.30
- NPower £23.00
- BT £17.50
- Severn Trent £39.82
- Home Insurance £23.86
- AOL £14.99
- Sky £37.00
- Cahoot £161.09
- MBNA £207.66
- Mortgage £802.63

Total = £1516.46 outgoings!! see my problem.

Debts:

A & L Credit Card = £5,667.77 Monthly = £70.61
MBNA loan = £7,000.00 Monthly = £207.66
Cahoot loan = £9,000.00 Monthly = £161.09
A & L Overdraft = £850.00
Cahoot Overdraft = £1,000.0

Total Debt = £23,517.77

Asset's that can be sold = Motorbike = £5,800.00

Leaving debts of £17,717.77

I obviously need to reduce my monthly payments and would appreciate any advice you can give.

My only luxury is Sky TV, i have cut everything else out, i require broadband for my work.

My mortgage is expensive for the next few months but should be coming down by about £150 soon.

Do i consolidate?
Do i go bankrupt?

I have a good credit rating and don't want to be black listed.

Help Help help......

Your advice will be much appreciated.

Stuart

Kelinik

OK I'm pretty new at this and no doubt the pros will be here in a minute but the way I see it first thing is to get your outgoings to less than your incomings. I'd personally lose the sky and that with the end of your bike insurance brings you under. I really can't see a reason to go bankrupt, £17,000 is alot of money but by no means the biggest debt on here and the fab advice you'll get here will get you sorted out in no time.

Can I ask why your tv licence £26.30 a month? I pay £10.99 for a colour licence.

Oh and welcome to the site, its great here!

CLAPTON

before making any comments on the SoA can you just review a few things

income :

can you let a room in the house
can you increase income (overtime or part time job)

spending :
there seem several items missing ...
travel, food, clothes, work related (lunch/coffees), you need some allowance for going out, and if you own a house you need an emergency fund, do you buy any presents/xmas/holidays etc


once you have sold the bike you will be saving the £90 insurance plus at least 100 in lower debt repayments...but you need to get the spending budget realistic before deciding anything about debt managment

anniestar

Welcome and good luck. You will get great support and advice here. You have maid a huge step by posting AND by your efforts in clearing your debts. Well done.

FatJock

Stuart,

Welcome to the board mate. Plenty of people will be along soon to add advice to you and set you on your way to debt freedom.

For what is worth, I was in a similar position myself and am only a couple of months away from closing a major chapter of my life relating to debt. It can be done and you might not like it at first but once you see your debt coming down you'll be happier and able to sleep more easily.

From what you've written i take it that Debt collectors are not involved yet and your keeping up the minimum payments of things. It looks like your over spending by almost £60 a month. Once the bike goes and you mortgage payments reduce it looks like your have £240 'extra' a month to push towards your debt.

I would suggest you post a full SOA. The is a thread for this at the top of the page (I think). If not I'm sure someone will provide the link. also there is a snowball calculator which you can use to establish which debt should be paid off first therefore saving you money in interest.

I wouldn't consider consolidation or bankruptcy at this present moment because it looks like you can sort the debt out with a bit of re-shuffling and some long term planning. You may be able to transfer some of the cc balances onto a 0% or low LOB credit card. This again will help you save a little bit more.

Sorry if this isn't much help but as I've said, more people with better knowledge then I will be along soon.

Cheers,
FatJock

ScrewLooseStu

"can you let a room in the house" Not Possible I Am Afraid....
"can you increase income (overtime or part time job)" Possibly by getting a second job, however i work long hours during the week and therefore i think i would struggle.

"Can I ask why your tv licence £26.30 a month? I pay £10.99 for a colour licence. " I have no idea but will find out, perhaps i took it over a shorter period of time.

You won't believe (Or maybe you will) how hard it was for me to post on here, i feel so weak for letting myself get out of control.

Thankyou for your encouragement.

FatJock

Stuart,

don't feel weak mate. Focus that energy into getting a grip of the finance situation. turn that negative vibe into positive afermation and know that once you've got everything under control and know where your money goes you'll be in a better place.

Everyone on this board knows the feeling of despare when they realise their finances are out of control. A little bit of hard work and before you know it you'll be chipping away at the debt safe in the knowledge your in control.

Stay cool.

Regards,
FatJock

Mrs_pbradley936

Hi and welcome.

You have just taken your first steps towards financial freedom. You said you cannot rent a room out but can your girlfriend move in and help out with the bills? If she does staying in and having a cuddle on the sofa will be much cheaper than going out. You have to get rid of the Sky, you also have to factor in money for food and other essentials.

The worst is over - you are facing up to it, you are not alone because we will all help and support you. Now smile!

*Sparkle*_3

Hello and welcome well done for posting and keep on visiting you have made the right step, just continue posting and listening to everyones fantastic advice, sometimes you might not want to hear what they have to say, but you know its going to help you in the long run.

best wishes

Ps i'm sure you could get a better deal on your broadband, phone and sky with telewest NTL. check out their site.

Wonder_Girl

ScrewLooseStu wrote:

"Can I ask why your tv licence £26.30 a month? I pay £10.99 for a colour licence. " I have no idea but will find out, perhaps i took it over a shorter period of time.

You won't believe (Or maybe you will) how hard it was for me to post on here, i feel so weak for letting myself get out of control.

Thankyou for your encouragement.

Hello Stu and welcome,

You are paying your TV licence over 6 months as opposed the normal 12, this is normal the first time you pay for it and then after the initial 6 months you reduce to the normal £11 odd and are paying 6 months in advance. Don’t ask me why, the BBC are a law unto themselves….

May I ask in addition to Clapton’s if you and your girlfriend live together?

If you need AOL for work then they should pay for it!

Any chance you could get a better deal on home insurance?

Why will your mortgage be reducing?

You neither consolidate or go bankrupt. You get your budget in order and join us all on our journey to complete debt repayment and freedom

You have done a very brave thing, I know it’s hard but believe me you will feel better for it in the end

WG xx

ScrewLooseStu

Thanks for your support people. I can't believe how many responses i have had already.

My girlfriend doesn't live with me but it may be on the cards in the future but you can't rush these things you know

I agree work should pay for AOL but they won't..........

My home insurance is a good deal (I am 99% sure) it is a combined policy.

The mortgage thing is a long story but i needed to be on an ultra flexible mortgage to begin with and to that end you pay high interest. I am changin it to a 2 year discounted or something similar now and will get a better rate.

So no consolidation and i don't go bankrupt, but surely consolidating would help by giving me more disposable income???? I am not good at this.

Please explain....

The Sky should go i agree as it isn't an essential, however if i am making so many sacrifices surely i can manage to keep one little luxury to stop me getting disheartened or is that me being weak again :wall:

Stu