Time to ditch the debt!

jmf76

Thanks Curlyz for that - I've emailed Egg asking what the interest is regarding so I'll wait and see what the response is. TBH I have had so many problems with Egg that the sooner I can get rid of their cards the better!!!

jmf76

Well I worked out today how much I've been spending on groceries the last couple of months. I thought it was about £250 (which is pretty high just for 2 ppl, 1 hamster & 2 fish!) but it looks like it's been more like £300 - where does it go!! So I've joined the grocery challenge and am aiming for £200 this month, not doing too badly so far (£60) and I have plenty of food in the freezer so am hoping it will be a good month. Spoke to OH about monies and I think I shocked him when I told him about the debt, but he's being supportive. I've realised we spent too much at Christmas, but it was our first proper Xmas together, living together so we went a bit over board. But things need to change.

I've also spoken to the Car HP firm to get a settlement figure - depending on how much money I can transfer to my new &More card I may be able to transfer the Car HP to my Smile CC which is at a slightly lower rate but also means I can pay more back onto it per month.

jmf76

I got my More Than card today so have transfered some of my balance from my Smile on it to try and save some interest this month and next. It wasn't as high a credit limit as I hoped but decided that was a good thing as at least I can't spend more on it!!

Also heard back from Egg regarding the interest paid, they say and I quote '...The reason you've accrued this is because of the balance transfer fees you incurred when you arranged your transfer requests. Balance transfer fees aren't part of the balance transfers and are service charges, these are then applied to your account at your standard annual variable rate which is currently 16.9%....'

Anything to make a bit of extra cash eh? Never mind, come March both my cards with them shall have hopefully gone!

jmf76

Well I've spent the last couple of weeks trying hard to sort monies out and work on where my money goes and I think I'm getting somewhere.

Thanks Clapton again for your ideas of which I've already put some into practise...

Scottish Bond - I cancelled my policy and have received a cheque today for £980 which will go straight towards my debt. :beer:
Internet - I've just come out of contract so decided to haggle for a better deal, my current provider (Supanet) didn't want to lost me so have offered me a new contract at 14.99 p/month unlimited downloads (up to 8Mb speed) so I can surf MoneySavingExpert more cheaply now!!! :j
Groceries - The Jan Grocery challenge is going well; target is £200 and I'm well under so far. :A
Extras - I got a £5 diesel cashback cheque today - I took out a trial on Safe n Secure (which I've already cancelled before they started to charge me!) and can claim 4 quarterly payments of £5 back on fuel over the next year just for trying them! :T
Part-time job - Although I can tend to work over with my current full-time job, I don't get paid for it so decided if I did a bit of re-organising of priorities I can cut back on the unpaid overtime and look at taking on a paid part-time job. As my OH and some of his family all work for a supermarket I've asked them to keep an eye out for weekend and evening/night work for me. Even if I do this for a few months it would help enormously.

bank_of_slate

Hi JMF
You're doing fantastically well!
Many people find the amount they owe wavers a bit higher than they thought while they get to grips with sorting it all out so you're not alone.
You've had some great advice here so far and as the debts drop off one by one it'll free up more dosh to throw at the longer term debts!
Keep posting on here and can you start a £2 savings tub for Christmas so there will be less impact over December?
Good luck
...Linda xx

Poppy39_2

Gee you're so organised!!

Very jealous of you

Poppy39 x

jmf76

My Smile Credit Card (9.9%) limit has been increased to £6000. I've worked out that I could transfer the balance of my Car loan (11.4%) to this card. Does anyone think it's worth me doing this?

jmf76

jmf76 wrote:

My Smile Credit Card (9.9%) limit has been increased to £6000. I've worked out that I could transfer the balance of my Car loan (11.4%) to this card. Does anyone think it's worth me doing this?

Anyone?

I think I'm going to go ahead and transfer it...

funnyflip_2

WHat about the balance transfer fee - Just check it's still worth it

jmf76

I've managed to do quite a bit this month, got a reduction on my internet, joined the grocery challenge (went a little over but still less than what I used to spend).

Anyway here's my updated SOA:

Income
After tax etc Total ~£2100

Monthly Outgoings
Home - [strike]£1066[/strike] £1033
Mortgage £493
Elec £40
Water £15
Council Tax £125 (altho should be ~£95 as of Apr)
2 mobile phones £60
Telephone £11 rental & ~£3 calls
Internet [strike]£18[/strike] £15
Groceries [strike]£250[/strike] £220
Leasehold & management fee £51

Insurance - £26
Critical Illness £16
Home Contents £10

Savings - [strike]£25[/strike] £0
Cashed in the bond

Transport - £135
Partner's bus fare £22
Car diesel £40
Car Tax £10
Insurance £38
Breakdown £3
Service & MOT £22

Other - £165
Gym £35
£30 Weekly spending - £130

Spending Total [strike]£1417[/strike] £1359

Debt
Debt Interest Rate Current Balance Min monthly payment
Argos 0% till Aug 2007 £256.42 £30
American Express 4.9% life of balance [strike]£4000.33[/strike] £3915.59£103
Egg Credit 0% for 5 months [strike]£2885.43[/strike] £2824.82 £63
Smile Credit 9.9% [strike]£2392.68[/strike] £572.49 £34
Car HP 11.4% [strike]£4361.19[/strike] £4152.64 £250
Dreams 0% till Jan 2007 [strike]£60 [/strike] £0!!!
Student Loan 2.4% [strike]£3119.38[/strike] £3039.26 £84.20
My overdraft 6.9% [strike]£834.42 [/strike] £0!!!!

Monthly Debt Total £564.20

The extra £176.80 will be going on my Smile CC to help towards the transfer of the Car HP (lower interest rate) & Egg card (0% ends at the end of the month)
Overall debt total £16, 761.22 :eek: :eek: