would like some help please

jadebabe

Hi, I have got myself in some debt and would appreciate some advice.
last christmas my 15 year old daughter run up a £6000 mobile phone bill, and yes that is £6000 not £600.
she had a contract phone with t mobile , for which we paid £20 a month. she paid half of this with her pocket money.
i know this was a stupid thing to do ,to let her have this phone, but i did not realise she would go this much over .
this happened between november and december, and while i normally keep an eye on my bank account , i had not checked it as we had a family crisis, my dad was dying of a brain tumour, and i was spending as much time as possible with him in his last few weeks, and did not think of checking the phone bill.
i got a loan with my bank, and i pay back £165 a month, over 5 years.
i also owe £800 pounds on a catalogue, and £800 on a credit card.
i do not use either of these any more, i am just paying them off.

i have applied for another loan, to pay off this loan, which would save me £40 pounds a month, as it would be £125 instead of £165.
I have been wondering if i should add my other 2 debts to this as well.
i worked out if i did that it would cost me less each month.
I am about £200 overdrawn every month any advice would be appreciated thanks jade.

Phelpsie001

Have you checked that the phone company got this right?

Have you asked them if they would accept a reduced payment due to the sheer size of the debt and your financial situation? I recall a friend of mine from school running up a phone bill of a couple of grand and managing to settle for a lower amount?

DarnIt_3

You need to address the issue of the phone bill! What tariff was your daughter on? I can't see how it is possible to run a huge bill like that! The mind boggles.

I would consolidate your loans and CC. I am not sure about the phone bill though as I do not believe they have produced a correct bill. I would be marching your daughter down to the Job Centre to get a part time job, she should be taking some responsiblity for this.

abby1234519

I find £6000 to be an unbelievable amount! I couldn't run that up. Unless she was downloading things and al lthat jazz which went onto the bill?

I'd have thought most providers would have flagged it up on their system when it started to increase to that amount

Tixy

I read the opening post that the phone bill has already been paid with the first loan - is that right jade? If so it sounds like its possibly too late to be querying the bill.

The new loan you have applied for - you say this will save you £40 a month, is this because of a lower APR or because you will be paying it over a longer period?
If its a lower APR have you based the saving on the representative APR (which only 51% of successful applicants have to be offered), or is it that you have been accepted for the loan and this is the monthly repayment figure you have been told?

As to the other 2 debts - what APR are you paying on the catalogue and credit card? how much are you paying to both each month? the mininimum amounts or more?
What is the total you can afford to the 3 debts per month?

Regarding the £200 overdrawn, do you mean you end each month £200 in your overdraft (so your income & outgoings match), or that your outgoings exceed your income by £200 each month?

MrsTUS

Especially £6000 in a one month time frame :-o To be brutally honest, I believe you 100%, I remember seeing something about astronomical phonebills on Watchdog - it was because the cost of data allowance for the internet, once the monthly allowance had been surpassed was absolutely extortionate.

If I were you, I wouldn't take that bill lying down. In fact, email Watchdog!!!! Ring the phone provider and keep asking to be put on to someone higher and higher each time until they can give you a justifiable answer how they can ALLOW a bill of that magnitude to be ran up - it's disgraceful. Something like that should have definitely flagged up..

There's got be some where you take this to have it reviewed, to me, it's an exceptional circumstance...

sparkoe

If I were you, I wouldn't take that bill lying down. In fact, email Watchdog!!!! Ring the phone provider and keep asking to be put on to someone higher and higher each time until they can give you a justifiable answer how they can ALLOW a bill of that magnitude to be ran up - it's disgraceful. Something like that should have definitely flagged up..

There's got be some where you take this to have it reviewed, to me, it's an exceptional circumstance...