Advice for young adult about consolidating debts please!

Tixy

hollydoll wrote: »

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 can you increase? do any overtime?
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 is this cheap for where you live? could you look for somewhere cheaper? if more than 1bed could you consider a lodger to help?
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 117
Electricity............................. 5
Gas..................................... 5
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 20
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 62 phone up and ask to switch to a lower tariff, which should cut the cost more than upgrading will
TV Licence.............................. 24 after 6m at this DD it drops to £13.
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 45 can you cancel this, use freeview and find a cheap broadband supplier
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 80
Clothing................................ 0
Other travel............................ 200 do you use season tickets?
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 20.5 shop around for this, should be able to reduce the cost or wear glasses
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 12 shop around to see if you can find cheaper
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

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.....-
Write to all your creditors with your budget plan and ensure you send recorded deliv so they cannot claim they haven't received. Exclusing the fridge you have £63 surplus and the 35 abovefor your debts - so about £100 in total. In which case you need to offer them proportionate offers to each creditor.

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

Write to all your creditors with your budget plan and ensure you send recorded deliv so they cannot claim they haven't received. Exclusing the fridge you have £63 surplus and the 35 abovefor your debts - so about £100 in total. In which case you need to offer them proportionate offers to each creditor.

hollydoll

I will post it to them all then. i have been with vodafone for years and they keep saying i can step down my contract in amount every 6 months or something but then when i phone to do it they are unable to do it! So I don't understand. I have been offered a very slightly cheaper contents insurance and £25 casshback by Lloyds but my esure insurance is set up as a type of credit agreement and apparently you have to pay the rest if you wish to cancel? If I mention a competitor do you reckon that they will let me cancel?
Where I live is extremely cheap, it's the reason we moved just outside manchester to here rather than in manchester.
I wear glasses and contacts due to being a bit of a fitness freak with dancing and such, the monthly direct debit covers the contacts, aftercare and also eye tests. I used to spend £30 a month on contacts alone so if anyone has any ideas of cheaper places then let me know, this seems pretty damn good to me. There is overtime available but on the days that I already work. I would be able to earn more money from my dance company i have previously worked for but work won't allow me to have weekends off to do it. It seems the quicker i change jobs the better in all aspects really.

Tixy

My contacts from Asda are around £15. But if you only have 20pairs a month instead of 30 it works out even cheaper. Obviously the exact price depends on the lenses you use - but it might be worth looking at the online website and at this MSE article - Contact Lenses
I keep an eye out for free eye test vouchers so don't pay for them.

hollydoll

Tixy wrote: »

My contacts from Asda are around £15. But if you only have 20pairs a month instead of 30 it works out even cheaper. Obviously the exact price depends on the lenses you use - but it might be worth looking at the online website and at this MSE article -
I keep an eye out for free eye test vouchers so don't pay for them.

That sounds brilliant but I live nowhere near an Asda! I will have to look online and see the closest one, most likely stockport I would imagine.

lee_rees

hollydoll wrote: »

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!

Can't you just move to somewhere that's fully furnished and all bills inclusive?

When I used to rent I always found all bills included flats worked out cheaper than paying seperate, gas, elec and water etc.

£15 per month for a fridge seems crazy to me, you can pick up an old second hand one for that price out of the paper.

With regards to internet, why not team up with your neighbours, run a cable into their house / flat and split the bill?

Mobile phone, cancel the contract and get a pay as you go phone instead. Cancel the TV aswell.

Insurance, cancel it.

The payday loan is your real problem here. You are going to have to break the cycle, even if it means living on pasta and bread for a few weeks. We've all been there at some point.

Use one of your 0% cards to pay off the other debts that have high apr's such as the newlook card.

hollydoll

lee_rees wrote: »

Can't you just move to somewhere that's fully furnished and all bills inclusive?

When I used to rent I always found all bills included flats worked out cheaper than paying seperate, gas, elec and water etc.

£15 per month for a fridge seems crazy to me, you can pick up an old second hand one for that price out of the paper.

With regards to internet, why not team up with your neighbours, run a cable into their house / flat and split the bill?

Mobile phone, cancel the contract and get a pay as you go phone instead. Cancel the TV aswell.

Insurance, cancel it.

The payday loan is your real problem here. You are going to have to break the cycle, even if it means living on pasta and bread for a few weeks. We've all been there at some point.

Use one of your 0% cards to pay off the other debts that have high apr's such as the newlook card.

So you're saying that there's nothing else I can do except sell everything and start over? If I move somewhere in manchester that's less than £495 a month (bear in mind this is between two of us) I am going to need insurance, if not insurance, a pitbull or a shotgun. i moved from bournemouth where at one time i was paying £450 for a room and that was bills inclusive and then a flat that was £675 a month. Now we've saved £200 moving this far away but something has gone wrong somewhere for us to still be in a bad position! Travel is evidently a big problem but there was only one store that would offer me a transfer and i thought that a job is better than none! But to be honest it's probably not!

I am right in saying that if i move away from an area and have a gym membership then they can't tie me into the contract still? The closest one to here is nottingham! I have already said "im not paying unless you provide me a service near me and have moved away for financial reasons." This will help a bit.

Also I don't have a 0% credit card. And probably won't be able to get one now??

eyeopener2

What about some of the satellite towns around Manchester? Bolton, Bury, Eccles all cheaper than Glossop. Ok, not as pretty but a damn sight nearer to Trafford. I won't say where I live but you can rent a two bedroom house in our area for £400.

I you want me to pm you i can give you some local advice about living around Manchester. And it's not all pitbulls and shotguns, far from it!

E2

browneyedbazzi

Have you checked to see if you're eligible for any benefits or tax credits? (ie council tax benefit)

Most local authorities have an online benefit calculator where you put in details of your income and housing costs etc and it tells you if you're likely to be eligible for anything. It may be worth taking a look - I'd be surprised if someone on your income isn't eligible for something!

dreamdreamer

Hey there, Im only 22 and I have a full time job and am in severe financial difficulty!

Monthly income after tax................ 620
Partners monthly income after tax....... 750

Why is your wage so low? You say you're working full time but a minimum wage (£5.93) job takes home £852 at 37hrs a week, same question goes for your partner (although I grant he may be under 21 so getting a lower wage).

At minimum wage taking home £620 you're working 24hrs a week max, any chance of another/evening job or extending your hours? In my experience, boosting income is always less painful than cutting costs if you can find the work! Even working longer shifts on less days, ie. 2 x 12 hour days instead of 5 x 5hr days would help as it'd cut your commuting costs.

Tabatha_Kitten

hollydoll wrote: »

That sounds brilliant but I live nowhere near an Asda! I will have to look online and see the closest one, most likely stockport I would imagine.

You work in the Trafford Centre.
There's an Asda across the road.
As the saying goes, "where theres a will there's a way"