First ever post - desperately seeking debt free status.....

ScarlettMcCain

Hi everyone,

Well I've never posted on here before, and not sure how much chance I will get to as I'm seriously looking for a part time job to go alongside my full time one, but after my light bulb moment today I thought I should go public & commit myself.....

Have just added up my debts, I owe £12.5K on credit cards and am already paying off a loan, have about £7K left on that. Am wondering how on earth I've got to the point where I'm now paying £250 a month for a loan and almost £400 on credit card payments without even really making a dent in them. Add that to my rent of £500 a month and no wonder I am skint every month and borrowing more, that's £1150 already and I only take home around £1600

I think I just buried my head in the sand for a long time (and borrowed more to make up the shortfall) and now I have split up with my partner and incurred more debts there too, I've had to face up to it. I've made an appointment with the bank a week on Sat to talk things through & have re-done my snowball. Allegedly in 4 years time I could be debt free.....!

Did also apply for a balance transfer credit card, but wouldn't you know it the link crashed, so I have no idea now if I was accepted or not or if it didn't even go through - will have to phone them tomorrow to check - what a DAY.

I have got myself into a real pickle over all this today, can't believe I am in such a complete mess and have so much debt when other people my age (35) have mortgages etc & I'm back in a flatshare. I would really like to buy my own place but no chance of that with so much debt & with prices where I live (Herts) so in the meantime will just have to try to cut lots of costs & learn how to save.

So here are the ugly figures folks, the MBNA card is the one I was trying to transfer to a 0% balance transfer card, otherwise I fear it will be with me till I retire:

MBNA: owe £1875, interest 28.9% APR, currently pay £75/month
HSBC: owe £1700, interest 20% APR, currently pay £40/month
Tesco: owe £3000, interest 16.9% APR, currently pay £75/month
Natwest: owe £1500, interest 13.12% APR, currently pay £40/ month
Barclaycard: owe £3500, interest 14.9% APR, currently pay £100/ month
First Direct (overdraft): owe £1000, interest 14.85% APR, not paying off anything

If anyone has any suggestions they would be gratefully received, as I am so sad today that I have let things get into this state. I will do a proper budget/ SOA later but have already been working on this for hours now so will have to start again tomorrow. Have been reading some of the posts on here and am constantly amazed (in a good way!) by the resourcefulness and optimism of people - am hoping I will absorb some of it overnight.....

If nothing else, thanks everyone for listening & hopefully I will be back soon with some challenges I have set myself

suzie_wong

Hi Ruby

First of all, well done on having your lightbulb moment- it's scary, isn't it?!
You will get lots of support here, from people with all levels of debt, as well as those that have worked through it and managed to get to being debt free.
As you mentioned, one thing that everyone will suggest is that you complete a SOA (statement of affairs) which lists all of your outgoings in detail. Unfortunately I have no idea how to post a link to it, but I'm sure someone cleverer than me will come along and do it for you soon!
Once you have posted your SOA on here, we will make suggestions as to how you might be able to reduce your outgoings, giving you more money to throw at your debts.

Good luck and keep posting :T

chevalier

welcome to the forum. you will get lots of help on here. You mention a break up and incurring more debts, should any of these be being paid by your ex?

you are in a flat share. have you thought about moving back to parents to pay the debt off quicker or is that not possible.

chev