Advice - Not Sure What To Do???

andrew_net82

Hi, I would like a bit of help/advice.

Listed below are my present debts:

Santander Current Account Overdraft - £860
Santander Zero Credit Card - £2100 (19.9% APR)
Smile Current Account Overdraft - £500
Post Office Credit Card - £2100 (16.9% APR)
Tesco Personal Loan - £4400 (24 Months Remaining)

So my total debt = £9960!!!!! :eek:

Both my credit cards have come to the end of their 0%. I have tried transferring them but unsuccessful. I tried transferring to Halifax, Natwest, and Barclycard all with good 0% APR on balance transfers but declined on all!!!!

I've never had any CCJ, I'm afraid I have had two late payments on my Credit Cards in the last 12 months.

I have a joint mortgage on a property but the house has no equity in it I’m afraid.

My basic monthly outgoings add up to £1500, including fuel & food. My monthly wage is £1700.

I really want to get rid of my Credit Cards!!!!! I hate them and wish I’d never got them.

Any suggestions or advice or a point in the right direction would be a great help.

Thanks

Tixy

Hi and welcome

Does the £1500 basic outgoing include debt repayments or not?

The best starting point is to complete and post up a statement of affairs. This should help you and us see if there are places you can save money/get things cheaper/cut back etc so that you can throw more money to your debt repayments each month.
This is the calculator we use - http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html

andrew_net82

Yes the £1500 includes the debt repayment, I will complete a statement of affairs and post it as mentioned. Thanks

andrew_net82

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.................... 1
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1647.75
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 125
Total monthly income.................... 1772.75
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 273
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 325
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 58
Electricity............................. 17.5
Gas..................................... 35
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 18.5
Telephone (land line)................... 6
Mobile phone............................ 30
TV Licence.............................. 6.18
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 7.5
Groceries etc. ......................... 100
Clothing................................ 20
Petrol/diesel........................... 200
Road tax................................ 24.16
Car Insurance........................... 47.09
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 15
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 7.4
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 6.65
Contents insurance...................... 7.5
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1204.48

Assets
Cash.................................... 400
House value (Gross)..................... 47500
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 5500
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 53400

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 40504....(273)......4.78
Total secured & HP debts...... 40504.....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Unsecured Loan #1..............12609.....64.7......4.78
Unsecured Loan #2..............4400......173.......8.9
Credit Card #1.................2800......70........16.9
Overdraft #2...................500.......5.........5
Overdraft #1...................860.......10........5
Credit Card #2.................2100......70........19.9
Total unsecured debts..........23269.....392.7.....-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,772.75
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,204.48
Available for debt repayments........... 568.27
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 392.7
Amount left after debt repayments....... 175.57
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 53,400
Total HP & Secured debt................. -40,504
Total Unsecured debt.................... -23,269
Net Assets.............................. -10,373

Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using IE browser.

RAS

Is this a house share or do you have a partner? Just some of the sums look odd and there is only one income.

Tixy

That was quick . Are these the costs for you and the other adult or just yours and your finances are separate?

The good thing is you figures do show almost £200 spare as you thought - do you have this money spare each month? have you been using it to put extra payments towards your debts? Ideally you want to be throwing all this at the more expensive credit card.
If you don't have that amount spare each month then try keeping a spending diary and writing down every spend for a couple of months to try to locate it. I see you haven't allocated some of the categories such as entertaiment, presents etc and I guess some of it is used on that?

I've put a few comments below of places you could look into to see if you can save a little.

andrew_net82 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.................... 1
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1647.75
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 125
Total monthly income.................... 1772.75
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 273
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 325 are you in shared ownership?
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 58
Electricity............................. 17.5
Gas..................................... 35 if gas & elec are half the total cost for the household these look quite high - have you looked at shopping around recently to see if you can find a cheaper deal or supplier? have you tried reducing your usage a little? do you have gas arrears from winter?
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 18.5 is this metered or unmeasured? if the latter you might want to look to see if you might save by switching to a meter. If on a meter maybe have a read of the water saving tips on the waterboard website
Telephone (land line)................... 6
Mobile phone............................ 30
TV Licence.............................. 6.18
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 7.5
Groceries etc. ......................... 100
Clothing................................ 20
Petrol/diesel........................... 200 is this all necessary journeys? is it mostly communting? do you try to drive 'fuel effficently' (ie slow and boring!)
Road tax................................ 24.16
Car Insurance........................... 47.09 do you shop around at renewal time? and look to see if you can earn cashback?
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 15
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 7.4
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 6.65 again always shop around at renewal time
Contents insurance...................... 7.5
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0 worth trying to estimate an average cost on these types of expenses to see what you truly have spare a month and can use for debts
Haircuts................................ 0 and this
Entertainment........................... 0 and this
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1204.48

Assets
Cash.................................... 400
House value (Gross)..................... 47500
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 5500
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 53400

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 40504....(273)......4.78
Total secured & HP debts...... 40504.....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Unsecured Loan #1..............12609.....64.7......4.78
Unsecured Loan #2..............4400......173.......8.9
Credit Card #1.................2800......70........16.9
Overdraft #2...................500.......5.........5
Overdraft #1...................860.......10........5
Credit Card #2.................2100......70........19.9
Total unsecured debts..........23269.....392.7.....-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,772.75
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,204.48
Available for debt repayments........... 568.27
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 392.7
Amount left after debt repayments....... 175.57
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 53,400
Total HP & Secured debt................. -40,504
Total Unsecured debt.................... -23,269
Net Assets.............................. -10,373

Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using IE browser.

You obviously have a high level on unsecured debts compare to your income, which will be why you cannot get any more new card deals. I don't suppose you have any old credit cards with nil balances that were never formally closed? If you did you could see if they would give you a promo deal.

Aside from that its probably just a case of trying to cut back £10 here and £10 there etc to maximise debt repayments in the short term. Have a look at the snowball calculator to see how long until you estimated debt free date, and how much you can bring this down by if you pay an extra £100 (or whatever) to your debts each month.

Is card 1 at its credit limit? if not you could slow stooze money from the more expensive debt to the cheaper one by spending say petrol on that card and then using the money not used from the current account to pay the more expensive card off quicker.

andrew_net82

Some really good advice thank you, yes I share the house with a friend that's why I halved all the out goings. I will do sa snowball check and see where that leaves me thanks again