Idiotic amount of debt. Please help

PeachPickle

Hi Mark

Welcome to the board, and well done for facing up to the problem - the hardest step in lots of ways. Please don't be ashamed!

Is the £120 for food just for you? You could prob cut down on that, see the Old Style board for help there

If you have to have the car for work can you claim mileage from them??

Money_mark

I live in a shared house. I'd love to live on my own but it's not feasable at the moment.

I might be able to claim petrol back? I get a car allowance from work (which I've included in my wage) but pay for my own petrol and claim it back.

southernscouser

Money_mark wrote:

I live in a shared house. I'd love to live on my own but it's not feasable at the moment.

I might be able to claim petrol back? I get a car allowance from work (which I've included in my wage) but pay for my own petrol and claim it back.

If you share with someone else £30 for both gas and leccy seems a bit high! :think:

Are you on the best mobile tariff? Making the most of free minutes and texts?

Money_mark

I'm on 3 which seems to be the cheapest.

I think the rates are so high because the house I live in is about a well insulated as a tent.

I sometimes wonder if I moved somewhere on my own if I might be able to keep the bills down a lot more. It seems so much more expensive though.

Catseyez

Money_mark wrote:

I owe

£3768 to Barclaycard (Paying a minimum of £80 Per month) 12% APR
£483 to Moorcroft
£9546 to HSBC (Paying £270 per month) Is a managed loan on 16% APR
£11534 to Cahoot (Paying 221 per month) 8.9% APR
£14378 to Egg (Paying £253 per month) 14% APR

So I'm paying back £824 per month.

I hardly spend anything on clothes etc, but obviously have to sometimes. I try to keep going out to a minimum but probably spend 300+ on that (I absolutely know this has to be slashed).

Like you said, £300 is a lot to be spending per month on going out. If you can reduce that, you'll be able to throw the extra money towards the debt.

Have you looked into changing to 0% credit cards?

What about selling a few things on ebay?

d11wtq

HSBC -- Grr. Actually I won't whinge about them too much because apart from this one thing they've been a very understandig bank with me in the past but I notice you also have a Managed Loan.

I've been paying a min payment (or slightly over) on mine for 2 years now and I pulled up my statements online last week. I looked at the amounts paid over the course of 12 months (sep 05 - sep 06) and out of over £400 paid in only £150 was paid off the loan! I could have screamed for not even monitoring that. That's incidentally your highest interest one too and I have it on good word from a credit company that it's my managed loan which prevents me from taking out mobile phone contracts and gaining any other form of credit. Apparently they look really bad against your name so I'd focus on that if you can. HSBC "sweet talked" me into getting one to consolidate a credit card overlimit and my student overdraft -- worse thing I ever did.

Anyway; if you've sat down and faced up to that SOA and had the bottle to post openly on here you've clearly made the decision that nows the time to change your life. It's not gonna be easy but from my experience so far (granted, a much lower sum), once you get started on working out of it you'll find it a rewarding experience to see the amounts fall once you get over the initial feeling that things are moving slowly. As long as the numbers are shrinking you know you're going the right way. I actually find it quite pleasing to tell my friends I'm not going to the pub because I need to save the money because I know I'm taking control of something really important.

Good luck anyway -- you've made an important step by posting here

whambamboo

Money_mark wrote:

Wow, thanks everyone.

Well here goes. It's brutal trying to be honest with yourself here. I could honestly hit myself round the head with a cricket bat.

My actual income is £1722 per month.

Out of this I have to pay £177 directly to my employer for a car loan. I have to keep the car as I do a lot of driving for work. I have 27 months left to pay.

That leaves 1545.

My rent is £420 (It's huge but there is very little cheaper here)
£90 car insurance
£100+ on petrol (now that I have thought about it)
£40+ on my phone
£35 Council tax
£30 Gas
£30 Electric
£120 0n food
£26 sports fees (football team)
£50 Open University fees
£15 Road tax
£10 servicing

I owe

£3768 to Barclaycard (Paying a minimum of £80 Per month) 12% APR
£483 to Moorcroft
£9546 to HSBC (Paying £270 per month) Is a managed loan on 16% APR
£11534 to Cahoot (Paying 221 per month) 8.9% APR
£14378 to Egg (Paying £253 per month) 14% APR

So I'm paying back £824 per month.

I hardly spend anything on clothes etc, but obviously have to sometimes. I try to keep going out to a minimum but probably spend 300+ on that (I absolutely know this has to be slashed).

I'm paying this huge amount of money but my debts increase.

I feel like such a clichéd idiot. I owe my father £3000. He doesn’t ask for any of it back but I would dearly love to start paying him.

Have you got anything you can sell to pay off your debts?

Money_mark

I have nothing I could sell? I really don't own anything of any value.

I have also defaulted on several payments. Is there anyway of reversing this or will it stay on my credit history for years?

Catseyez

Are the football fees for a season ticket or for playing? Any chance of reducing them?

Money_mark

It's for playing. It's the one thing I really want to keep doing. It's simply £ 3two times a week.