Advice required please...

ktb

I cant recommend a spending diary enough either. I think before you decide whether to consolidate or not you should spend a month or so monitoring where every penny of your money is going. Before I did mine I honestly thought that I bought nothing non-essential, it felt like I never bought clothes or went out that much, but its amazing how spending a £5 here and there and buying lunch at work everyday suddenly equals having nothing left over at the end of the month. According to my SOA I should have had over £200 left over ... but I never ever saw that money! It's been really eye opening learning where it goes and now I know and am in control of it I am going to be able to pay off my debts without the need for consolidation.

I really hope you consider this option rather than consolidating - as you can see there are plenty of horror stories on here about it.

mjdh1957

If you can't get a loan at normal rates then I'd say don't bother, you're gaining nothing from consolidating and as everyone says, there are real dangers in doing it.

The best thing is to work out which debts have the highest APR and pay as much as you possibly can towards that until it's paid off, then pay all you can to the next highest APR debt until they're all paid off. This is called 'snowballing' and there is a calculator somewhere that shows you how to do it and when your debt-free date will be, and the effect of paying even a little more in order to save lots of interest.

A spending diary is a good idea to see where all your money goes. And then you know where your 'danger spots' are. It's amazing how it all adds up.

If you post a full statement of affairs (SoA) then people can give you more specific advice. There's a 'sticky' thread on that from SouthernScouser for first-time posters.

MW84

mjdh1957 wrote:

If you can't get a loan at normal rates then I'd say don't bother, you're gaining nothing from consolidating and as everyone says, there are real dangers in doing it.

The best thing is to work out which debts have the highest APR and pay as much as you possibly can towards that until it's paid off, then pay all you can to the next highest APR debt until they're all paid off. This is called 'snowballing' and there is a calculator somewhere that shows you how to do it and when your debt-free date will be, and the effect of paying even a little more in order to save lots of interest.

A spending diary is a good idea to see where all your money goes. And then you know where your 'danger spots' are. It's amazing how it all adds up.

If you post a full statement of affairs (SoA) then people can give you more specific advice. There's a 'sticky' thread on that from SouthernScouser for first-time posters.

I am quite confused? so basically I have 2 loans, say to one loan I will pay off now and the other just leave? even if I pay the one off with high rates I am gonna be struggling...

....posting all information in 5mins

MW84

As promised. Detailed breakdown of Income and Costs

Expenditure

Loans and Credit Cards

Loan Balance 1 - 9356.13
Rate - 6.7
Paying - £148.51 per month

Loan Balance 2 - 4650.88
Rate - 9.7
Paying - £81.18 per month

Credit Card Bill £700 (approx)
Paying £12 per month

Also at limit of £1170 overdraft

Other

Car Insurance - £51.88 per month

Mobile Phone Bill - £50 (approx) per month (12 month contract expires in June 07)

Direct Debit 1 for PC - £27.99 per month (payments stop by November 07)

Requirements

Petrol - £250-300 per month (required due to distance to travel to work and no public transport available at time of work)

Car Parking £40 per month (approx)

Cigarettes - £126 per month (Trying to cut down from 20 to 10 a day)

Not inc. Food, clothes and drink and other etc such as car tax every year and MOT etc. probably equate to at least £400 a month again in total if tallied up; but again...cutting down...BIG TIME!

Income

£12000 a year which equates to after all deductions and bonus' plus expenses
= £800 - £900 per month

:eek: :mad: :eek:

.....

Well there you go. Lets see what you think. I have cut down on going out alot and to football etc. still seems impossible to live like this though. No money in bank, although will probably be able to borrow off friends and family to make sure I get through to pay day the 26th but will have to pay back which is taking on more debts allbeit not at a rate.

Any advice? Contacting loan companies etc. what so say, much appreciated

MW84

please...popping out for an hour or so, so hopefully will have some good ideas and try and begin sortings this out over the weekend.

must say thankyou to everyone who helps in the running of this board!

mjdh1957

Just at first glance...

Stop smoking. You can't afford it - go to the GP and get patches or some other way to help through the withdrawal. Or just go cold turkey.

Can you get a job nearer where you live? You're paying over a third of your income in petrol and car parking.

Get a pay as you go mobile and only use it in emergencies.

Can you get cheaper car insurance?

With your income and outgoings I suspect getting another loan is impossible without going to loan sharks.

CLAPTON

firstly

can you increase your income ...12,000 is very low income ..new job or if not then parttime work

secondly
your take home pay is about 800 and you are spending 300(petrol)+40(parking) +51.88(insurance) +(cartax, servicing, repairs lets say 30) so =420 in total getting to work....makes no sense unless there is a specific reason for keeping the job.... like your salary will increase in a major way fairly soon.

thirdly

you need to understand where all your spending goes, so you need to break down the 400 a month into the individual parts and list those.

spend some time going through the detail and repost your complete spending once you have done it.

Lady_Pink

mjdh1957 wrote:

Stop smoking. You can't afford it.

I'd agree with mjdh1957 on that one. Just think how much better off you'd be with that extra money. Also, you mention cutting down on going out and going to the football - roughly how much do you spend on this at the moment, and could this be further reduced - or stopped completely?

Be honest with yourself. I know when I was thinking about consolidating, I was really just looking for an easy route out, a quick way to make my problems go away. There is no quick and easy route unfortunately.

chevalier

Could you car share to save on some of the work costs. Could you get work to pay your parking charges?
Have you signed up for cash back sites, survey sites, mystery shopping to try and earn some extra cash?
chev

MW84

chevalier wrote:

Could you car share to save on some of the work costs. Could you get work to pay your parking charges?
Have you signed up for cash back sites, survey sites, mystery shopping to try and earn some extra cash?
chev

Unfortunately I am classed as a trainee so another job would be out of the question however my wages are expected to go up in April.

Work will not pay parking charges and only petrol fees is when I go out the office for work.

Ill look into signing up for some them to make extra cash, and further cut down on extras. Since I have also cut down on going to football, out drinking and taking bait into work instead of food so my extras maybe alot but still spending too much.

I have seen that I might be able to cut all my out going loans etc. into one low payment. I know you do not advise of this, but what is the best company to approach given my current circumstances or are they non existant.

Also these free companys which offer advice? What will they do?

I have recently moved job also and work a fair distance away from work! Noone lives close to me where I work so car sharing is also out the question!

cheers