Newbie here

dancingfairy

Hi again - also I would probably not pay off the MBNA - with 4000 available you should be able to pay off some of you loans (hopefully there is not early settlement penalty) as this will then free up more each month to tackle the other debts - a snowball effect if you like. I think I would pay off egg and barclaycard loans as this will free up over 200 a month to get the other debts down.
df

gfplux

After so many years without curtains are you sure buying them now is a good idea.

rachelww1

Thanks for all you replies.

I did think about paying off the loans with the settlement, but I reckoned that it was more sensible to pay the MBNA card completely, as the balance hasn't changed in about 3 years. At least this way I know its gone. The egg and barclaycard loans only have a couple of years left to run.

I have no idea why my water bills are so high. I've always paid around that much. Water supply is £272.41 p.a and waste water is £305.32 p.a.

The MPI we got when we took out the mortgage, but we have needed it (it paid the mortgage for 6 months last year after my husbands accident). It also includes the contents insurance, and the buildings insurance is part of our rent payment.

I'll tackle the phone company. The dd went up in April to pay off a shockingly high bill. I'm sure we've more than paid that off, so I'll see if they can reduce it.

I'll have a look at the car insurance. My husband's in charge of that one and uses the same broker he's used for years - not any more!!

We already have a seperate spending account with no od. I have a spreadsheet and know exactly how much money is in the bills account all the time. I transfer £200 per week into the spending account. This is for shopping, petrol, clothes (i buy clothes at the supermarket usualy so that becomes part of that weeks food shop), going out, school trips, presents and anything else that isn't a bill. This week we have to buy a new battery for my husbands' car so will have less for the usual stuff. Once it's gone it's gone.

The credit cards are all safely cut up, so no more spending on them.
And we will be getting the curtains, as my mother-in-law has very kindly offered to buy them for us for Christmas.

Am off to look at my spreadsheet, to see how much extra I can throw at my Barclaycard this month.

pennypusher

Hi it would be a good idea to check the apr's on your loans and credit cards to see which would be best to pay off first. If you have any space on any of your credit cards with 0% interest you could see if it's worth trying for a balance transfer so you pay less interest.

Have you checked your mortgage lately, you may be able to get a better deal - be careful you don't get charged for leaving early though.

Are all your trips in the cars necessary - can you save petrol by using the cars less or combining two trips in one?

£20 per month for maintenance doesn't see enough when you think of MOTs, tyres, service etc perhaps this needs to be more.

Check your Insurances through a comparison site to see if you can save money. Hope these ideas help.

rachelww1

I'm going to dig out the credit card paperwork tomorrow, but I know that none of them are 0%. My LBM came the other week when I reached the limit on my Barclaycard. I then phoned my Natwest credit card and asked them to send me a new card (I had cut the old one up about a year ago). They did, but then they reduced my credit limit by £1000 without telling me first. I got very upset with them (quite glad they did it now though ) and they said the reason was because of my credit score. I checked my score last night, it's 999 (excellent)!!

Dont thnk we can do anything about the mortgage. Because we part rent part buy, the mortgage was quite hard to get in the first place. Only a handful of providers were interested last time.

I will stop using my car to go to work, unless I know I'm being sent out. I live within walking distance, but I'm terrible in the mornings and only just manage to get the kids to school and me to work on time when I drive. I only put £10 a week in my car at the most. Hubby has to drive to get to his work and spends between £30 & £40 a week.
Unfortunately we cannot get rid of one car, as part of my job is to be able to drive to visit clients as an when required. We also live in a village and the public transport is not fantastic.

£20 per month probably isn't correct for car maintenance, but as I said, the shopping bill is reduced that month for when things happen (like the battery) as it all comes out of the £200.

The car insurance brokers phoned today to say the insurance was due. I'll be checking on the comparative websites during the next few days.

I've told my hubby how much unsecured debt we have....he had no idea, even though he hardly ever sees any of his pay check. He's agreed to throwing anything spare at the credit cards, and has forgotton the savings idea.

rachelww1

Finally got round to finding out the APRs of all the cards and loans.
They are:

Barclaycard Loan 12.239%
Egg Loan 6.73%
Natwest Loan 16%
Abbey Loan 7.9%
Barclacard 19.9%
MBNA 12.9% (closed June 2010)
Natwest MC 20.8%

So, we're going to pay off the Natwest card completely and 2.5k towards the Barclaycard when the cheque comes through (between 3-5 weeks hopefully) . That will leave us with £30,676 of unsecured loans and credit cards (not counting the overdraft in this at the moment - will tackle that later).

So, I've been on whatsthecost.com and found out about snowballing. Looks like if we pay £1215 pm month (which is £170 more than now and achievable) toward the cc's and loans starting with barclaycard first, we will have the lot paid off by June 2013. Only 2 and a half years, so not as bad as we thought, and a good incentive to stay quit from smoking....4 weeks today

t4mof

rachelww1 wrote: »

Looks like if we pay £1215 pm month (which is £170 more than now and achievable) toward the cc's and loans starting with barclaycard first, we will have the lot paid off by June 2013. Only 2 and a half years, so not as bad as we thought, and a good incentive to stay quit from smoking....4 weeks today

Sounds like you're very motivated to get going. I pay about £1200 a month towards my debts as well - I've managed to get all my CCs onto 0% deals this year which has made a huge difference.

Barclaycard have offered DH 0% a couple of times so once you have paid that off it might be worth a phone call to see what they can offer you.

rachelww1

Have had a lovely letter from Barclaycard today saying they are increasing my rate from 19.9% to 21.9%, however if I decide to close the account they will charge interest at the current rate until it is cleared. I dont mind closing the account but having been a customer of theirs since 1995 and never having defaulted on a payment, what would the chances be of them reducing the interest rate and closing the account. At present I owe them £7228 (I paid them £250 last week which is £100 more than the minimum), and will be paying them another £2300 in the next few weeks when the compensation money comes through. The limit is £7400.

rachelww1

Hiya....any input on the last post would be greatly appreciated x

Little_bit_dizzy

Morning!

Just found your thread - well done, you sound so, so motivated which us brilliant and good luck with stopping smoking.

As for the letter you have had regarding the increase in interest rates, I would be really tempted to close the account, although I doubt very much whether you'll get the rate reduced.

That said, give it go! It may be that the right person deals with the request and is having a good day, so you could be lucky. Let us know!

You are looking at things the right way by paying off the highest % first, and as t4mof said, in time you may be able to pick up some 0% transfer deals in the future, which will make a huge difference.

Good luck with it all, and hope you had a good Christmas :xmassmile

Diz