Advice for young adult about consolidating debts please!

hollydoll

Hey there, Im only 22 and I have a full time job and am in severe financial difficulty!
I have had a control put on my overdraft, set up a minimum £20 a month repayment on my credit card, my student account is also overdrawn and charged me constantly. I also have other small debts that I can't keep up with paying even at £10 a month.

I just don't know what to do, I went to CCCS and the most useful thing they gave me was an official budget I can send to my creditors. I am selling everything I can on eBay, trying to get the time to mystery shop, trying to get a job closer to home. What doesn't help is that i get paid every four weeks when payments and bills go out monthly. I have been paid only a week ago and I can't afford to eat.

I went for a crisis loan and the woman laughed at me because I'm not on benefits and there's no way I would be able to get one even though most people on benefits seem to live a lovely life and can appear to afford 3D televisions from where I work.

I am in need of a loan of somekind to help consolidate my debts and be able to have one lump payment a month rather than loads at a different time of the month. But it will need to be for bad credit. Any suggestions? I am also working really hard on my own business but can't get any small business loans for it because of my personal credit rating.

ExNicotineQueen

Hi,

The general advice here is to post up a copy of your Statement of Affairs (SOA) for people to advise you on areas to cut back.

Regarding getting a consolidation loan, I don't think you will get one if you have bad credit so you may have to rethink your situation, especially considering people even with excellent credit histories are being turned down for loans, state of the economy unfortunately.

You say you are being charged for your student overdraft, as far as I'm aware student overdrafts with banks are usually interest free. Which bank are you with? Or do you mean you have already maxed out your interest free overdraft and are now in an unauthorised overdraft?

sp1987

Post your SOA Holly.

People won't find it easy to help you without any figures as they won't know what you are paying and where and what is coming in.

The Old Style board is brilliant for helping people meal plan on a budget. There have been some people they seem to have helped eat for weeks on £20 or similar. Goodness knows how.

Tixy

Hi

You won't get a consolidation loan.
What debts do you have currently?
What amount can you afford per month in total?
Have you sent off the budget sheet CCCS gave you to your creditors?

hollydoll

Okay so my debt amounts to around the £5,200 mark.
My gas and electic is at the minumim amount per month possible at £10 for the two. But it means in a year I will have a lot to pay off.
Internet, tv and phone £45
mobile £40 which tomorrow i should be able to reduce because I may be able to get an early upgrade.
travel to work is around £100.
all insurances all add up to about £20 per month.
I am meant to be paying a total of £60 odd a month in debts back to different companies.
rent is £250 a month.
I am under boots vision plan for contacts and eye tests! at 20.50 a month. ummm water is £20 i think. Im having to pay off the sewerage part of water for my old place at £20 a month because they for some reason don't include it in the water bill! Finance on frige is £15 a month. Gym is £33, i need to send the budget sheet to them to cancel that.
Basically my essential outgoings minus even the debt are more than what i earn.

I think that's it.
Food at home for two of us comes to probably £20 a week if we're lucky.
I have recently paid off a few debts such as virgin media and a gym membership so this month I have had direct debits returned to me because of the control on my account. So I have 3 weeks to go and no money and by the time rent time comes I have to use a payday loan.

A lot would be solved by getting a job closer to home even though I have been with my company for ages but it's too far to travel. I should hear by this week if i have a waitressing job which is more money and 20 mins down the road on a bus which would help greatly!

As for the budget sheet, i have sent it to some of the creditors but they either don't know what to do with it or lose it. So i am spending the days off i have sorting out money rather than working on my business! I hope this is enough information, I dont know what to put, i never even thought to post on here until today!

RAS

holly

We need to see the full picture; more inportantly, you need to see the full picture not snap=shots of fear and chaos. So use this SOA http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html

You will need to format for MSE at the end. Because you are a newbie, you also need to remove the web-link at the end of the SOA or it will not allow you to post (newbies cant post links). Since there are two of you, you need to post income and exs for you both.

Go over the the Money saving Old style forum and do a storecupboard challenge - how to eat on the contents of your cupboard and freezer etc and not buy more food.

Go round and find out what you have that you no longer use and may be able to sell, as well.

Consolidation and payday loans are the route to disaster.

Tixy

Okay - you mention 2 people at home - who do you live with? if its an adult do they work & contribute to bills etc?
It might help if you could do a clearer list of your outgoings using the statement of affairs calculator, but from what you have posted I think these are the items you pay out (with some comments in blue)

Income ? how much do you earn? can you do overtime to earn more or get a second job to help?
Outgoings
Rent 250
Council Tax ? how much is this? are you up to date?
Gas & Elec 10 was this £10 to pay off arrears or for current usage?
Water 20
TV Licence ?
Internet, TV & Phone 45 can you cancel this and get a cheaper package and use freeview. Eg some phone & broadband start at around £25 combined
Mobile 40 can you try to downgrade this?
Travel 100 is this paying daily or a season ticket? would a season ticket be cheaper?
Insurances 20 shop around and see if you can get cheaper - what is this aside from contents insurance?
Contacts 20.50 shop around and see if you can find cheaper (asda online was a lot cheaper for me than boots), or can you buy fewer pairs and wear your glassses somedays?
Gym 33 can you try to cancel, or see if you can postpone your membership (some of the larger chains allow 6months deferral)
Food 87

Outgoings before debts £625
Income less outgoings ?
Debts
Sewerage 20 have you asked if you can pay this off at a lower amount?
Fridge Finance 15
Other debts (overdraft & card?) 60
Debt repayments £95

Surplus ?

Rather than take out a payday loan could you ask your landlord if you can pay a couple of weeks later that you normally would. If you start taking out payday loans you will spiral into a lot more debt.

hollydoll

Im just doing the SOA now. I would do the storecupboard challenge but it's kind of already done. And at the moment theres pasta, rice, flower and sugar in there. vegetables in the freezer. Last night we had pasta, curry sauce and tuna because that's what there was! We never ever buy food if there's scraps left in the cupboard, we will eat it all. tend to eat cereal for dinner at the moment, saves on a lot of food.
Yes theres two of us and we split bills.

hollydoll

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 0
Number of cars owned.................... 0

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 620
Partners monthly income after tax....... 750
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1370

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 495
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 117
Electricity............................. 5
Gas..................................... 5
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 20
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 62
TV Licence.............................. 24
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 45
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 80
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 0
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 200
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 20.5
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 12
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 5
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 66
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1156.5


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 0
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 0

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
lloyds o/d.....................1200......0.........0
lloyds credit..................2000......20........0
santander......................1250......0.........0
Partners debt (vari)...........3250......100.......0
fridge freezer credit..........300.......15........19.9
new look.......................150.......6.5.......28.9
very...........................250.......9.........39.7
arc............................80........0.........0
Total unsecured debts..........8480......150.5.....-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,370
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,156.5
Available for debt repayments........... 213.5
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 150.5
Amount left after debt repayments....... 63

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 0
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -8,480
Net Assets.............................. -8,480

DS4215

Can you change your gas/electric to reflect what your bill is. There is no point building up a debt in one area to pay back another. You need to work out your exact living expenses, and then work out how much you can pay back each month.

TV Licence is about £12 per month.
Reduce the Satellite TV to the basic package.
Cut back on the mobile phones as soon as you can.
Try to cut back the entertainment each month (easier said than done at 22!).
Any way you could save travel costs? - bike to work instead of the bus for example?


Are those debts joint or in your name only?

hollydoll

DS4215 wrote: »

Can you change your gas/electric to reflect what your bill is. There is no point building up a debt in one area to pay back another. You need to work out your exact living expenses, and then work out how much you can pay back each month.

TV Licence is about £12 per month.
Reduce the Satellite TV to the basic package.
Cut back on the mobile phones as soon as you can.
Try to cut back the entertainment each month (easier said than done at 22!).
Any way you could save travel costs? - bike to work instead of the bus for example?


Are those debts joint or in your name only?

i just went on what i found online for tv licence. TV satellite includes internet and tv! It is the basic tv package! the entertainment is actually our gym membership. I work and hour and a half away by public transport so on a bike would be quite hard. Glossop to Trafford centre.
All debts are in my name because theyre my debts. the line thats says partners, thats his own debt.