Desperate, dont know where to turn.

robnye

do you have enough credit on the cc1 and cc2 to maybe transfer cc3. thereby getting rid of the higher interest card?
have you tried contacting cc company and asking whether you could change them into long term/low interest deals........? (but you mustnt use the cards!)

as has been said. once you have a SOA taking into account everything , then you can look at areas to reduce..... ie dont buy any clothes for 3 months = 3 x £40 = £120.........

petrol - can you car share?

JAMIEDODGER

tom1970 wrote:

my salary take home £1640 partner £1400

mortgage £760
creche £420
loan 1 £393
loan 2 £197
cc1 owe £14,000 apr i'd say 12+% (MBNA)
cc2 owe £3,800 same
cc3 owe £1,200 14%

electricity £40
gas £40
tv licence £15
petrol £100
car insurance £25
car tax £15
hp loan sofa £70 ends sept 2007
rates £90
food £250
clothes £40

but rough and ready

now lets see what we can do.....

your income....does this include tax credits and child benefit? have you made sure you are getting everything you should be? check out https://www.entitledto.com (i think:) someone correct me if im wrong:))

gas and electric....sign up for quidco (https://www.quidco.com) and use uswitch or similar to swap suppliers, getting it cheaper and earning cashback:)

ebay everything you dont want or need anymore to make some cash to put towards those debts

you dont have anything in your budget for holidays, days out etc.....you need to budget for these (fill in martins budget planner this is a great tool to see where your money goes:))

no water? or is that in with rates which im assuming is council tax??

food.....£250, how many is this for??? get yourself over to the Old Style board for squillions of hints on how to reduce this:) (i currently feed me and 4 kids on 50 quid a week including cleaning stuff and nappies)

some of this might seem a bit much to you but it depends on how much you are willing to sacrifice to become debt free.

plus it gets quite addictive:)

JD

JAMIEDODGER

oooh also wanted to say: everytime you need insurance/utilities etc, go through quidco , i was a bit slack myself last year but still earnt £197:)

also join https://www.pigsback.com

tom, try not to feel down about it all....youve just done the best thing:) youve had your lightbulb moment:T:T and now is the beginning:)

just a note to say i owed 10k 18 months ago:) now at just under 4k:) you'll be fine:)

Imelda

tom1970 wrote:

my salary take home £1640 partner £1400 total income £3,040

mortgage £760
creche £420How many children do you have?
loan 1 £393
loan 2 £197
cc1 owe £14,000 apr i'd say 12+% (MBNA)
cc2 owe £3,800 same
cc3 owe £1,200 14%what are the minimum payments on these? Do you spend on these each month? I would guess min payments of £570

electricity £40
gas £40
tv licence £15
petrol £100
car insurance £25 Can you downsize car?
car tax £15
hp loan sofa £70 ends sept 2007Is this interest free?
rates £90Is this water and council tax?
food £250How many for? This could probably be cut down by at least £50
clothes £40

Total spends: £3,025

Do you actually have £15 per month left over? What about holidays, birthdays, xmas? Do you add to your cc debt each month?

My advice would be to keep a spending diary, cut back in every way that you can, even if it is £2. Your loans will be paid off reasonably soon, as will the sofa and you will be able to hammer down those ccs. Have you got anything to sell on ebay?


but rough and ready

That's just my opinion, others will be along with better advice I am sure!

JAMIEDODGER

oooh i have virtual verbal do dos this morning:)

dont forget if you can cope until september, you have the £70 per month sofa money to throw at cc too:)

Serialdieter

Hi

Just wanted to say hello and welcome. It's never easy taking your head from the sand and getting all info together can be daunting (i speak from experience) but it is worth it, so stick with it. I would echo what's been said about a spending diary too, this was a real eye opener for me. If you haven't got any cc statements, then ring and check exact balances, apr and minimum payments. I'm assuming you've rounded up / approximated some of the figures (gas / elec / tv) working of exact figures will help. Like pp said the odd £2 all helps.

Jx

SunderlandBlackCat

MBNA cards are currently at a standard of 15.9% so are you on a discounted rate?

Have you applied for any other 0% balance Transfer Cards?

Another alternative could be to apply for a low interest life of balance card such as the &More card from Marks & spencers. That has a 3.9% APR so would save you a lot of interest even if they only give you a credit limit of part of your outstanding balance.

oscar52

MBNA dont actually have a standard rate as such, but they tend to group large amounts of people in the same interest rate. Mine is currently 12.9 (just went up form 9.9)

I would suggest phoning them up and negotiaitng your interest rate - they happen to reduce it for quite a lot of people - sometimes by as much as 8 or 9% -this would give some more extra money to throw at ther higher rate debts.