Please Help, And Be Gentle.

gallygirl

Brad, welcome, you've come to the right place. Things are not too bleak for you - we can sort out things to let you keep the house if it's right for you. Am having laptop problems so will type out advice then do 1 big posting - sorry in advance :rolleyes:

Edit: laptop problems have escalated - will reply later. 1st thing to do is sign up to www.quidco.com cash back site. Look on the site to see how it works, do a search on kelkoo to make sure it tracks properly (it should appear in 'My Earnings' in a day or 2) - you need cookies enabled etc. We will be using quidco to change insurance etc in the next exciting instalment.....

Secondly - you need to snowball your debt to help prioritise it & work out how long it will take to pay off - don't panic we will bring thsi date forward. i believe the website is www.whatsthecost.com if thsi doesn't work try looking on thsi site for a link.

Going now before computer crashes again....

Phoenix79_2

Get rid of the mobile phone insurance. Its a rip off

lynzpower

hiya brad
Dont worry about the mobile insurance it should be covered with your contents insurance anyway. I was payin 7.99 a month * 12- 95.88 a year. When my phone smashed after I cancelled the insurance I bought a new one off ebay for 35 quid. So technically still in profit plus I can sell this phone when I get a new contract HAve you got any old mobiles lying about. https://www.envirophone.co.uk or search for mopay & compare them - you can get a fair amount for them.

IN terms of your insurance. You wil need a bit of time on this. first off join quidco.com its a cash back site and if you use it to "click through" you can make big money on insurances. ie 125 from barclays, 125 lloyds 65 from prilidge etc. This money aint instant, but it will be paid into your bank account in a few months. DOnt change any suppliers without getting cash ack through quidco!!!!

BAtch cooking is a top idea as you work such long hours. You could do curry & rice, pastas, bologneses, chilli, stews and so on, take one out of the freezer as you leave for work & wack in microwave or pan when you return. Head over to the old style board, and ask. this also should negate any wasteage food wise

Anyway, the other thing is what have you got to sell- anything laying about will sell, be it car boot sale, or loot, or ebay or amazon. Amazon might work best for you as its such little effort to list stuff ( no photos needed) but thats books/ cds type stuff. Put the proceed towards your most expensive debt first

Murtle

Look for MrBadExamples cooking sessions on the Oldstyle forum - his cooking sounds right up your street!

Here a few
Chilli
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=152103

Cauliflower cheese
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=143802

Sticky-toffee cheese apple crumble
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=287884

Home cooking doesn't have to take long to do. You can make a simple pasta meal in the time it takes to cook the pasta (about 15minutes). However, it can be heaps cheaper.

You don't have to live in London for it to be cheaper/quicker to travel. I live miles out of London, but on the train it takes 30 minutes to get into London. Have a look around at your options. Starting with where you work and the train lines out and see where they end up.

Bunsie

Hi Brad

If you wish to continue paying for your advantage gold account to benefit from the cheaper o/d interest rate make sure you use all the other benefits that comes with it.

You get free mobile phone insurance - all you have to do is register your mobile phone number with them.

Check out their website https://www.natwestadvantagegold.com/ to see if you can save elsewhere.

HTH

asandwhen

Hi Brad, You say that you cant move to another force because of the wages but you would be suprised - I work for herts and earn more or less the same as you - What about overtime I know the met have LOADS!

all_hours

If the bank charges are just for having the upgraded account and OD interest then you wouldn't be able to claim that back.

With your current SOA you have

Income 1770.00

Household 596.54
Mortgage 480.00
Debt repayments £524.00

Total outgoings £1,600.54
Balance £169.46

But there are a few things missing from your SOA such as an allowance for clothes, xmas + birthdays, car tax and servicing, socialising. If you managed to make the changes suggested and cut back on the food budget, the mobile costs and insurance - do you think it would free up enough to take care of these?

If you could leave the £169 in your account each month you would have your OD paid off within the year so you could downgrade your account. At the end of the first year you would then have £169 + £40 from bank account servicing. Would that be enough to switch to a repayment mortgage?

tyllwyd

About selling your house - if you only took out your current mortgage in May this year, will there be any penalties if you sell now?

brad26

Hi all, thanks for all this advice, will defo do the phone insurance with natwest, and get on that quidco.com for the insurance. Think i might have an old mobile laying about. I don't really have stuff laying around to sell. And as for the Met giving out loads of overtime, NOT if your just uniform, all that goes to the gucci squads. lol And i actually would'nt mind selling my house at all as its a fairly newish but small 2 bedroom and i really want to get a 3 bed larger older property that would be about the same price in my area. My only worry is that up until sep 05 i was really up the creek because i kept missing payments on the 20,000 grand loan, although thats all settled up now. Just not sure if anyone would give me another mortgage. If anyone here knows about all that credit rating stuff on here i'd happily give me details so they could have a look at it.

Rgc_3

Hi Brad

Im quite reluctant to post this as im not keen on the idea of someone selling property if it can be avoided....im gonna call this one playing devils advocate and just putting it on the table

sell your property and pay off outstanding debts(make damn sure the equity after costs is there to cover all debts though.

move down closer to your work in rented accomodation for now

next bits the stumbling block!!!!hope house prices dont take a massive jump whilst your off the ladder

buy property closer to home area and either re consider travelling again or rent it out but at least your back on the ladder

all being well this gives you the freedom to enjoy yourself for now,save up for a deposit again,and no reason why you would nt be back on ladder by the time your thirty

As for getting a mortgage again....dont worry too much there as worse case scenario would be a high risk mortgage (paying a higher apr)for two years then credit rating would adjust to get you back on straight and narrow....you should nt be too badly off as you d have it recorded as all debts paid off in full anyway

Once again i emphasise....just playing devils advocate here as i dont want to be the guy on the net that beggered up your house dreams:rotfl:

best of luck mate