Settlement Figures

tight.wad.in.training

Hello all,
I am just starting to face up to my debt and have written to all the creditors (all debt collection agencies) including a copy of my financial statemetent and an offer of payment.
I was wondering if anyone had any tips on living on a budget as mine is really tight now!
Also, was wondering if anyone had any experience in settlement figures? I am dealing with Lowell Financial, Connaught, Past Due, and a Lloyds TSB Credit card for 1570, which I am still incurring interest on and paying a measley 33 per month. Its getting lower by about £5 each month!
Just any advice from anyone would be great!
Thanks!

robnye

with regards to living on a tight budget, most people go thru writing a SOA - income/outgoings, then post on here, so that others can trawl thru and come up with suggestions for improving/reducing outgoings.
other suggestions are to keep a spending diary for a month and see where the pennies do actualy go...... you'll be surprised how much is wasted - sorry spent on sweeties and non essentials

moxie_2

My tip - before you buy anything, ask yourself whether you want it or you need it. If you only want it, but don't need it, don't buy it!

sallyx

I agree with moxie and also do a spending diary..you will be amazed how 50p here and there adds up over the weeks!

tight.wad.in.training

Ok, thank you all here is my budget, there is me, my partner and our two year old son, and only my partner works:
Rent £465.00
Council Tax£110.70
TV Lisence £26.30
Gas £40.00
Electric £35.00
Water Rates 1 £40.00
Water Rates 2 £18.53
NTL £86.00
Mobile Phones £20.00
Food £250.00
Clothes £20.00
Xmas/Birthday £5.00
Dentist £15.00
Pocket Money £0.00
Personal Hygeine £20.00
Cleaning/Laundry £0.00
Travel Expenses £10.00
Emergency/Sundries £30.00
Overdraft Interest £0.44
Welcome Finance £137.08

tight.wad.in.training

Ok, here is my monthly budget, for me, my partner and our two year old son:
Rent £465.00
Council Tax £110.70
TV Lisence £26.30
Gas £40.00
Electric £35.00
Water Rates 1 £40.00
Water Rates 2 £18.53
NTL £86.00
Mobile Phones £20.00
Food £250.00
Clothes £20.00
Xmas/Birthday £5.00
Dentist £15.00
Pocket Money £0.00
Personal Hygeine £20.00
Cleaning/Laundry £0.00
Travel Expenses £10.00
Emergency/Sundries £30.00
Overdraft Interest £0.44
Welcome Finance £137.08
TOTAL £1329.05
INCOME: Wages £1441.20 and Child Benefit £69.80
My total debts are:
HSBC£3,631.97
Mastercard£569.01
Cetelem £784.47
Barclaycard£1,145.96
EDF£716.98
Mum£500.00
Lloyds£1,570.00
Southern Elecrtic£83.71
TOTAL £9,002.10

PLUS £2500 to a dodgy company called welcome finance, that i have to pay the 137.08 above to and also a £600 overdraft!
Please have a look and see what you think, what I can do etc.

Thank you
xxx

fatbelly

If you're currently supplied by EDF you can get some help from their charitable trust to write of some of the arrears to them

http://www.edfenergytrust.org.uk/index.html

Are you meeting the minimum payments on the cards? It all looks a bit tight. If the answer is no, it may be time to contact CCCS and look at a debt management plan

robnye

tv licence £26.30 - is this per month? we put £12 per month onto the new payment card account

mobile phones £20 - are these Pay As You Go? if nto, can you change them to PAYG

Dentist £15 - is thsi for denplan type of scheme? do you or your partner look like needing lots of dental work in the future (or have had in the past)

personal hygeine £20 - whats this for (shampoo, loo roll, soap etc)

NTL £86 - seems high, do you have a package ie tv, broadband and phone?
we have the basic tv package which is free, and talk24 - normal bill is £25 plus £2 for calls not covered by the talk24 plan

Water Rates - Why 2 payments - arrears?

emergency/sundries £30 - does this mean you have built up a surplus?

Clothes £20 - can you miss every other month (i assume this is for you son)

Southern Elextric debt - is this included in your current electric payment? or are you with EDF?

welcome finance debt - what is this for - car purchase etc?
with the cards can you put their interest rates
do you have any credit limit available on the lowest interest rate ccard to perhaps transfer some from the highest?