debt realisation

swirl_2

hi
glad i found you guys, here goes:

went to bank today to consolidate debts. until today honestly never new the amount owed, think i chose to ignore it rather than face it. with the loan i already have i just couldnt afford the new one offered me, and 9.9% was the lowest they could offer me. i have good credit rating as always pay on time, that leaves me living on my £1000 overdraft each month.

am single parent with 2 teenagers, i smoke (plan on giving up), go out once a week (badly needed) and work full time.

am so confused with options, IVA's, bankruptcy. debt managemt agencys, balance transfers. consilidation loans etc....

debts:

barclaycard £1885 PAR 22.9% CAR 27.9%
lloyds tsb card £6005 monthly 1.24% purchases 2.075% cash
lloyds tsb loan £4830 10.9%
lloyds overdraft £1000 not sure

total £13690

scary when you see it on paper for the first time, dont even have anything to show for it!

outgoings
rent 280
council tax 60
tv license 11.37
cable 35
gas 65
electic 46
travel work 40
mobile 40
dinner money 80
loan 138
barclaycard 47
lloyds 111
dental plan 9.50

total incoming £1424

total outgoing £962.87

left each month £461.13 (apparently!!!) for food, teenagers, papers, cigs, one night out a week etc

would appreciate some advice, have ripped cards up today, so thats a start!

Mrs_Sparkle

Welcome! You're in safe hands here.

I would think twice about consolidating- my debt got much worse after I took out a loan for £16K. If you've got a decent credit record you could try balance transfers- you will pay about 2% to transfer the amount but you can save that with a month or 2's interest. Your Barclaycard interest is horrendous and must be costing you a fortune every month.

How much would you save by cutting out the ciggies? If you're serious about wanting to clear your debt you need to give this a go.

Welcome again and there will be someone along with loads more knowledge than me about IVAs and DMPs.

chevalier

Hi there, welcome to MSE. Here are my thoughts on your outgoings.

swirl wrote:

outgoings
rent 280
council tax 60
tv license 11.37
cable 35 is this for internet or tv? or a bundle? Could be cheaper, phone them and tell them you are thinking of switching, they will sort you out a deal if you are persistent
gas 65OUCH:eek: What is your thermostat for your heating set at, if it is more than 20 degrees centigrade then turn it down. This will save you about £70 per year for each degree you turn the heating down. Also when you have a bath do you have to put loads of cold water in because the hot is too hot. If yes then adjust the water temperature downward to save as well. It is also worth checking that all your outer doors have no drafts, and that your loft has insulation. You can get a grant for this if you get any benefits.
electic 46 again OUCH :eek: you can get sava bulbls from lidl for just over £1. Also if your teenagers, leave mobile chargers on, then unplugging at the wall will help. If you leave your tv or pc on standby, this takes nearly as much electricity as if you had the item on.
travel work 40
mobile 40Is this for just one mobile or for your children's too? Can you go to pay as you go?
dinner money 80 Is this for you or children. Either way you could save this by taking packed lunches.
loan 138
barclaycard 47
lloyds 111
dental plan 9.50

total incoming £1424

total outgoing £962.87

left each month £461.13 (apparently!!!) for food, teenagers, papers, cigs, one night out a week etc

You do not have anything down for car insurance, mot, servicing, contents insurance, birthdays, christmas (ie for all these divide the total by 12.

You need to break the £461.13 down better as this is a big area for saving. But for starters, you can read papers online, and you have identified a major saving by saying you will give up ciggies.

As regards the food shopping. In general there are similar families to yours on here who eat healthily on about £250 per month. We are two adults and two children, and we spend £750 a quarter on food and petrol at Tesco. If you go over to the Old Style board there are lots of tips for meal planning, and other money saving (like cleaning your loo with vinegar - it works:D )

You don't say how old your children are but if they are older, can they get saturday jobs to help out?

the very best of luck with mastering your debt
chev

ps sorry it is so long!

sophiesmum_2

Hi and welcome
there is lots of help and support to be found on here.
the obvious thing to cut down on is definately the smoking. This money could go a long way to paying one of your debts.
Also i would look for a better deal on the mobile if it is just for one phone. Those are the two obvious ones but I'm sure others will be along soon.
Are you sure that you are getting all the benefits/tax credits etc that you may be entitled to?
looks like you already have a single person reduction on the council tax but if not that could be worth looking into.
Keep posting

sophiesmum

swirl_2

cant believe 3 replies already, will look at transfering the barclaycard as this is the worst, paid £47 last month and was something like £36 in interest, am also checking for a transfer for my last loan as that is 10.0%.

also have just turned down the thermostat and water temp on boiler. dinner money is for the boys, (16 and 14) £2 a day each for canteen at school. 40 is for 1 mobile. cable £35 is for broadband phone rental and cheapest tv package(5.50), have just took some advice i was looking at and they are giving me half price for next 3 months!

have no car costs as dont drive, also have no home or life insurance, travel is bus fares to work. cant give up cigs yet as have to lose the extra stone i put on over the christmas first, i know its a terrible excuse!! have give myself 2 months to lose it then i'm giving up.

so glad i posted feel like i've made a start already x

us,thecat&thedebt

well done coming on here is the first step..

have you tried keeping a spend diary?

Good Luck with it all especially the quitting smoking im trying too

CLAPTON

its really essential to find out where all the money goes
so start a spending diary and find out where everything goes.
yes you need to know how much goes in socialising, groceries, cigs, clothes, presents, xmas, kids activies, magazine/newspapers, dental/optical/medical, kids pocket money, kids activies, school costs, lunches, holidays, etc etc

also can you add the minimum payments for each of the debts.

melaniec_2

swirl wrote:

cant give up cigs yet as have to lose the extra stone i put on over the christmas first, i know its a terrible excuse!! have give myself 2 months to lose it then i'm giving up.

As some who is trying to loose weight I hate to say it but this weight loss in this time period doesn't seem realistic and to delay giving up smoking and thus saving you money, until you have doesn't really make sense. What if it takes longer for you too loose the weight will you continue to delay giving up smoking and money saving? I'm really not trying to offend you but to give you another angle to look at.

Another idea is are you entitled to help with your kids dinners?

swirl_2

thanks, will start a diary on monday.
min amount this month was
£47 on barclaycard
£111 lloyds tsb card
£138 is monthly payment on my loan every month - original loan was 6,500, this is now at £4830.
one of my spending problems is i food shop daily as i pass sainsburys on the way home each night, so my next change is to start doing a weekly shp at lidl which is also nearby.

jobbingmusician

No one is mentioned, and you are new - if you can get a 0% balance transfer credit card, you can transfer your Barclaycard balance on to that. They charge 2 or 3% to do this now, but this will still save you loads of money - if you pay off £47 on 0% it stays paid off, IYSWIM.

sophiesmum_2

Hi swirl
You have made a few positive steps already keep up the good work.
Definately stopping calling in sainsburys each night will save you money.
There are loads of ideas on the Moneysaving oldstyle board to help you cut down on the shopping bills. Menu planning and batch cooking and careful shopping should cut your bills loads. Why not invest in a slowcooker, think argos have one in the sale for about £9. You could bung the ingredients in for a casserole etc and it would be ready when you got home from work, leaving you to put your feet up. It's hard work being a single working mum.

sophiesmum