SOA - got the hard hat on - straight talking required!

rising_from_the_ashes

It may not be that simple ..... I had a car on finance and I couldn't return it or sell it within a certain time period.

There's also the problem that the car is now worth less than the outstanding amount of the loan so there will be a (probably significant) shortfall - the OP would be left with no asset & still be paying money on it/have nothing to show for it.

Paulington

I haven't read all the pages, but I have a few things to mention:

1) SELL THE CAR. NOW. Get rid of that bloody HPA as it is costing you a bomb, for the cost of the INTEREST on that HPA, you could get an okay family-orientated car that you own and becomes an asset, instead of giving away thousands of pounds of your hard earned money when you could just buy a car, sorted.

2) Entertainment. I can't believe you didn't kick yourself when you did you SOA stating you are struggling to pay off your debts when you spend £100 a month on entertainment! What on Earth do you spend that on? Cut it out NOW. If I were you I would reduce that to a bottle of wine and a rented movie on a Saturday night for you and your partner until this debt situation gets resolved.

Furthermore, apply the "Layman's Principle", look at everything on your SOA and ask yourself:

"Is this ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY to spend for a normal person?"

For example, your fuel expenditure, I have assumed a number of things here such as:

Your car is petrol, at £1.35 per litre, your car gets decent combined mpg of around 40mpg which is pretty average for a "family" car considering I average 36mpg in a two litre turbo diesel I drive quite hard and a few other things.

Based on your SOA and the above, you use 118.5 litres of petrol a month, which is around 27 gallons, at 40mpg this means your monthly mileage is:

1060 miles, or 265 miles per week.

Do you REALLY need to do that? Could you downsize the car/drive in a more economical fashion? Buses? Ask the Gran to pick them up a few times a week after you explain your situation? Sign up to websites that give you the cheapest fuel stations in the area? According to that you drive 35 miles a day, is EVERY mile of that necessary and ONLY able to be done in the car? This can be an area of massive savings if you know what you are doing.

There is a lot of 'fat' you could trim in your budget that would go on to help you greatly, I'd focus on the ones that will give you the most savings first such as fuel, groceries and such, if you followed the mantra of 50p, per person per meal, with three meals per day that means to feed your family for a month would cost £180. Personally I'd aim for around £200 as you can get some treats with that too, that is £1200 a year saved to pay off your debts.

If you reduce your presents to £20 a month, get entertainment down to £20 a month, get fuel down to £140 a month (the lower the better!), that amounts to £1920 a year, combined with the groceries saving that is £3120 PER YEAR! When your partner goes back to work, you can save even more.

It is doable, best of luck!

EKAndrew

hi everyone - hope you are all well

update time.........................

thats been a month now since i think I have seen my LBM! good and bad to report on, i think i'm heading in the right direction, but i will leave that to others to decide!

after running my credit file check, i noticed that one account may have had some headroom to allow me to move some debt - but after looking into this, they would not allow this(it was more of a loan than a credit card)
i used the snowball link that someone gave me, and it horrified me to be honest - all that money that i pay every month and it will take that long to clear plus seeing the interest that i pay was enough to make anyone depressed.
I have not used any credit cards since
i did apply for a 0% BT card - but was rejected

i have since renewed by buildings and contents insurance and have managed to save nearly £90 - better than nothing!
i have also closed my mbna account and my barclaycard account to 1)stop me from using them and 2)stop any interest jacking
my bos cc is staying open as its the lowest rate and i aim to try and transfer some balances onto this one as its roughly 6% lower than the others
i have had a go at bulking meals, so that leftovers can be used for lunch the next day! lasagne, chilli, spag bol, soup and sausage caserole - TASTY!!! - instead of me going out to buy lunch - however a few times i have failed on this one or have been too lazy to make some sandwiches in the morning. my work has a can machine - 50p per can - which is cheap compared to the shops, however Sainsburys are doing a great deal just now for 12 cans for £3 - so working out at 25p per can! i thought that was a good one!!! i've also bought a large multi pack of crisps to keep in my drawer at work - just incase i feel the need to go to the machine! more saving!

i was pleasantly surprised when i received my gas/elec statement - i now only owe them £80! it was nearer the 350 mark last time. however i am going to keep paying the same amount monthly until the winter has finsihed

we have tried to cut down on our entertainment - which mainly consisted of take-aways and alcohol

I am going to the coin machine at lunchtime with a jar i have filled - so who knows what that will provide!

i have also submitted a letter of complaint to Santander regarding my interest rate as per the Loan section of this board - that could really help!

i cant think of anything else - altho i think i will try for a more detailed spending diary and will aim for NSD now - not something i have done in the past

good luck to me! and to everyone else trying to become DF

JimmyTheWig

Thanks for the update, Andrew. Sounds like things are moving in the right direction.

A couple of things that are personal decisions, but worth you considering.
I'm thinking of the cans of drink and multipack crisps. No question that it's better value to buy in bulk like you are doing, but sometimes this means people end up using more because they are there. For example, if previously you'd have 2 cans from the machine in a week but now you have one every day, previously you'd be spending £1 a week but now you'd be spending £1.25.
Likewise, with crisps in your drawer at work you may end up having a few packets a day!

EKAndrew

Hi all – hope everyone is well and a little further forward with becoming DF!!!

Another update from me and some advice please……….

Get the bad things out the road first – OH seen a jacket she liked for Xmas, so ordered that online and used my CC L - but apart from that, I’ve not used the cards since I first posted my SOA – so I think that’s good going!! I’ve managed to make all the minimum payments and a little more to the cards, so the balances are definitely heading in the direction I want them to!!

I’ve also managed to “save” £400 – some savings, some xmas money I was given, some from change jars, selling some games and a few other things. I also have a blackberry to sell and have some stuff I was thinking of selling to music magpie. I was also going to have a clear out of clothes and go to one of those cash4clothes places.

I complained to Santander about the interest rate hike…….they have offered to clear the balance, although as I type, this has not yet went through.

Ultimately, my aim is to get as much as I can on to the BOS c/c as it has the lowest interest rate. The loan I have is due to finish Oct this year – this is £200 pm

So……..what should I do with the money (£400)??? Where should it be “spent”?
Barclaycard have also increased my limit to £7250………so I’m thinking I should maybe try and transfer a balance, although the interest rate is pretty high.


My current credit card debt looks like :

Bal Limit APR
MBNA 5807 n/a 24.9
BOS 4427.81 5850 15.9
Barclaycard 4811.98 7250 20.9
Santander 3856 n/a 21.94

Loan
BOS 1777.36

My thought process was………….

Pay the £400 to the loan – (as far as I know, there is no penalty for this, I will need to double check)
Transfer the 1377.36 to the Barclaycard, as I doubt I will be able to transfer a BOS Loan to a BOS cc - (can you actually do a balance transfer from a loan to a card?)
This means, I will have closed the Santander a/c and the BOS loan – 2 down, 3 to go! And probably give me some sense of achievement. That means I would be able to pay £200 (bos loan) plus £95 (santander) to any of the remaining debt as well as the current payment I am making.

Should I attack the BOS c/c, reduce it as much as possible then I can make use of the lower rate? Or should I attack the higher rate cards first?

Any advice is, as always, much appreciated

happycrafter_2

was the chaoot a flexiloan? if it was head to the loan section there is a thread about reclaiming back interest from when cahoot flexiloans were sold to santander and the interest rates soared. I read about it a while a go and my memory isn't too good, but it might help you.

sorry just read a previous post and seen you have already looked in to this.

RAS

EKAndrew wrote: »

So……..what should I do with the money (£400)??? Where should it be “spent”?
Barclaycard have also increased my limit to £7250………so I’m thinking I should maybe try and transfer a balance, although the interest rate is pretty high.


My current credit card debt looks like :

Bal Limit APR
MBNA 5807 n/a 24.9
BOS 4427.81 5850 15.9
Barclaycard 4811.98 7250 20.9 closed?
Santander 3856 n/a 21.94

Loan
BOS 1777.36

My thought process was………….

Pay the £400 to the loan – (as far as I know, there is no penalty for this, I will need to double check)
Transfer the 1377.36 to the Barclaycard, as I doubt I will be able to transfer a BOS Loan to a BOS cc - (can you actually do a balance transfer from a loan to a card?)
This means, I will have closed the Santander a/c and the BOS loan – 2 down, 3 to go! And probably give me some sense of achievement. That means I would be able to pay £200 (bos loan) plus £95 (santander) to any of the remaining debt as well as the current payment I am making.

Should I attack the BOS c/c, reduce it as much as possible then I can make use of the lower rate? Or should I attack the higher rate cards first?

Any advice is, as always, much appreciated

Ok

I cannot find the APR for the loan anywhere?

Unless it is higher than 24.9%, you need to pay the money onto the MBNA card.

Then buy things on the BOS card if possible or the Barclay card and pay off the same amount on the MBNA card, to slowly transfer the cost to the lower rate card.

jayss

With my barclaycard once I started paying it down at over the minimum they started offering my 0% balance transfers. As they've upped your limit its worth asking what rate they will offer for transfers.

Otherwise experiment with the snowball (or yourself in excel) and see where you'd save the most on interest. Hitting the highest rate card is usually the advice.