Student in debt (non education related)

CH27

mayorbee wrote: »

Nope, already tried that, Vodafone won't budge.

How long is left to run on your contract?

Do you have access to an interest free student overdraft?

spadoosh

MAYORBEE HAVE/CAN YOU GET AN INTEREST FREE OVERDRAFT??

sorry to shout but its been asked alot and you havent answered.

mayorbee

spadoosh wrote: »

MAYORBEE HAVE/CAN YOU GET AN INTEREST FREE OVERDRAFT??

sorry to shout but its been asked alot and you havent answered.

Sorry, I've maxed out my interest free overdraft

mayorbee

CH27 wrote: »

How long is left to run on your contract?

Do you have access to an interest free student overdraft?

I have about 16 months left of the contract.

[Deleted User]

Rent: £350 (cobered by student loan)

House Bills (water, gas, electricity, internet):£40

Phone Bill: £40 (this is high -see below)

Travel: £120 - can you get this cheaper? Cycle or walk all or part of the way?, could a weekly, monthly, or season ticket be cheaper?)

Food:£40 - this is low, is this realistically all you spend?

Materials for uni: £40 - do you need to spend this every month, can you shop around and get cheaper elsewhere? Buy in bult with others in your class? - what is it that you are actually having to buy?

Total: £280

You should have £20 left to make debt repayments

£300 on store card - What's the APR and the minimum monthly payment

£600 on a catologue - What's the APR and the minimum monthly payment

I know that you've said your phone contract is £40 - do you owe arrears on this as well (or is all that included here?)

Are you in contract? How long until the end of the contract? - My advice would be to call the phone company and tell them that you are in financial dificulty and ask for them to reduce your tariff, and if you are out of contract, or you will be soon, cancel and get a £10 per month SIM only deal or go PAYG.

Who do you bank with? Is it a student account? Many of the banks offer student accounts with interest free overdrafts - check to see if your bank will offer you this, or look to switching banks who do offer this. Once you get the account and hopefully O/D, pay off all debt, and reduce your overdraft by a little every month until it's gone (being 0% as opposed to 39% will mean the debt will be reduced far quicker even with the same amount of payment towards them)

My only other advice is to increase your income - hunt around for a better paying weekend job, look for extra hours in the evenings, look into bar or nightclub work on top of your current job). Also, with the Easter holidays coming up shortly register with all the temping agencies near you and hopefully you will be able to get a few weeks full-time work for the Uni holidays - Data entry, receptionist, secretarial, call centre, catering, depending on skills and experience.

Perhapse also see what things you have that you can sell on e-bay/amazon/gumtree

Another port of call should be to the Uni to see if you are eligible for any hardship grants or loans

HTH

Domino9

spadoosh

"Yeh the overdraft is a debt aswell. but not as important just yet.

Whatever you do, and i know you might be thinking about it, but dont go for short term loans. These will make it almost impossibly hard to get out of the situation your in, only making it worse.

What is the limit of the overdraft if you dont mind me asking?

And is their possibly anything you have that don't need so much, ie an ipod etc you could sell?

More or less all students get into these kind of debts so its not an end of the world situation which you should worry and worry about. Also the debts are relatively small in the grand scheme your just having cash flow problems, you will not get debt collectors banging down your door but you need to think about every penny your spending and look at working as much as possible during half terms etc"

Oldernotwiser

If you only get the basic student loan and no grant your parents must be reasonably comfortable financially.

Have you approached them, not to bail you out but to lend you an amount that you can commit to repaying over a period of time?

Sometimes you just have to turn to family and admit you've made mistakes.

mayorbee

Domino9 wrote: »

Rent: £350 (cobered by student loan)

House Bills (water, gas, electricity, internet):£40

Phone Bill: £40 (this is high -see below)

Travel: £120 - can you get this cheaper? Cycle or walk all or part of the way?, could a weekly, monthly, or season ticket be cheaper?)

Food:£40 - this is low, is this realistically all you spend?

Materials for uni: £40 - do you need to spend this every month, can you shop around and get cheaper elsewhere? Buy in bult with others in your class? - what is it that you are actually having to buy?

Total: £280

You should have £20 left to make debt repayments

£300 on store card - What's the APR and the minimum monthly payment

£600 on a catologue - What's the APR and the minimum monthly payment

I know that you've said your phone contract is £40 - do you owe arrears on this as well (or is all that included here?)

Are you in contract? How long until the end of the contract? - My advice would be to call the phone company and tell them that you are in financial dificulty and ask for them to reduce your tariff, and if you are out of contract, or you will be soon, cancel and get a £10 per month SIM only deal or go PAYG.

Who do you bank with? Is it a student account? Many of the banks offer student accounts with interest free overdrafts - check to see if your bank will offer you this, or look to switching banks who do offer this. Once you get the account and hopefully O/D, pay off all debt, and reduce your overdraft by a little every month until it's gone (being 0% as opposed to 39% will mean the debt will be reduced far quicker even with the same amount of payment towards them)

My only other advice is to increase your income - hunt around for a better paying weekend job, look for extra hours in the evenings, look into bar or nightclub work on top of your current job). Also, with the Easter holidays coming up shortly register with all the temping agencies near you and hopefully you will be able to get a few weeks full-time work for the Uni holidays - Data entry, receptionist, secretarial, call centre, catering, depending on skills and experience.

Perhapse also see what things you have that you can sell on e-bay/amazon/gumtree

Another port of call should be to the Uni to see if you are eligible for any hardship grants or loans

HTH

Domino9

Travel, that is the cheapest I can get it, its with my student rail card.
For food that is actually about what I spend, I only eat one meal a day (not cos I can't afford, I've never been a big eater)

I can't spend any less on my uni materials, I use it to buy art materials, fabrics, computer printings, and exhibitions.

I am looking for another job with more hours but they are hard to come buy, I tried to get extra hours at work during my half term, but they have cut all overtime.

I have a bursary of £250 from uni, but that was used in January to pay off one store card.

mayorbee

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

If you only get the basic student loan and no grant your parents must be reasonably comfortable financially.

Have you approached them, not to bail you out but to lend you an amount that you can commit to repaying over a period of time?

Sometimes you just have to turn to family and admit you've made mistakes.

I get the full loan amount, I used some of it to pay off other debts. that's why it only covers my rent, I also come from a single parent family.

As I said before the temptation of these store cards etc were to much when 18 and I went completely mad and just spent, spent, spent.

CH27

Does your Uni have a hardship fund?