Newbie - SOA - Half way there - Advice on next steps

haraltremorian

Well here I am, 35 and in debt.

A stupid period in my 20's where my head seemed to be stuck in the sand ended up with me 20,000 in debt and very little to show for it.

So over the past 4 years I have managed to stumble on hacking down the debt to about 9000 mainly due to the help of Gregory Pennington (yes I know, I pay them but at the time they seemed like divine angels compared to the crap efforts I was trying.)

Victory last month was paying off RMA (Barclaycard) after a reduced settlement offer of 45% off.

However, age has made me a little wiser and I am starting to see the wood from the trees. So I'm looking for some advice from my fellow DFW (and those lucky enough to be free of such brudens) on the next steps ahead.

Firstly my SOA:

Income

Salary: 1191.00
Ebay: 100.00 average per month
IT Homers: 30.00
Savings: 0.00

Outgoings:

Rent: Shared 90.00
CT: Shared 76.00
Gas/Elec: 50.00
BUPA: 61.35
House Insurance:6.89
DMP with GP: 340.00 (of which 51.00 is fees, 26 is PP insurance and the rest distributed)
Travel: 120.00 (season ticket)
BT Phone: 15.00
PAYG Mobile: 10.00
Broadband: 17.99
Tv Licence: 11.00
H/Keeping: 200.00

Debts all in arrangement with GP:

RBS Loan: 1097.00 (default)
Capital One CC: 241.00 (limit 200.00)
CB Overdraft: 307.85 (default)
CB Loan: 5115.18
FD OD: 91.00 (default)
Personal Loan: 2000.00

Now my rough plan is to:

1) Dump Gregory Pennington and either a) negotiate myself directly using the extra cash from saving with GP to improve offers or b) move to Payplan and let them continue DMP

2) Save money from GP and deal with small accounts such as Capital One and clear these now as I look to start improving my credit rating again.

I've read most of the articles on the site and have looked at the snowballing tactic but all my accounts currently have all fees and interest frozen.

Capital one was the highest with 29.9% on the card.

Any sagely advice from people here?

I also would like to know if I paid Capital One off would they reinstate my card to allow me to start improving my credit score again? I have no cards with anyone else as currently no one will give me one (even Vanquis and Aqua).

and thanks to everyone for some of the articles/tips posted. They have been great so far in motivating me to do a little more.

H

LookingAhead

Hi there!

Can you elaborate on the £200 H/Keeping? Could make savings there...

I don't know the answer re: Capital One but - just make a phone call! That way you will be taking yet another little piece of action in your quest.

Just don't let them talk you into anything! You just want an answer to your question.....;)

haraltremorian

HI

Housekeeping is a budget of £50.00 per week on food Approx 25.00, clothing (we have a strict dress code at work so regular visits to primark for cheap shirts and trousers etc...), renting DVD's etc... to STOP going out so much. one of the reason I kept Broadband when I started cost cutting.
I sometimes don't go over that budget so that money went into the Barclaycard fund which allowed me to pay off that particular account.

Phone Capital One! You know, I just did and yes they would reinstate the card with the base limit as they never issued a default on the account....

Thanks

H

roswell

get rid of GP set up a DMp with CCCS theres no monthly fees so debt will be paid of quicker.

haraltremorian

roswell wrote:

get rid of GP set up a DMp with CCCS theres no monthly fees so debt will be paid of quicker.

Yes that was my plan - either CCCS or Payplan are fee free or CAB advised I could do it myself using templated letters from CCCS.

chivers1977

what is BUPA for. You can't afford this.......

If your rent is shared, why are the BT, broadband and TV license? Also gas/ elec is this shared?

Your housekeeping seems high if it is just for 1. How many new pieces of clothing do you need for work?