Debt Free Wannabe- Any help/advice?

anfieldred

Hello everyone.

I'm not after a quick fix solution to this, as i know its not going to happen. Having read some people's DFW diaries, my debt looks nothing compared to them, but feels like a mountain to me!

Was wondering if anyone had any tips/suggestions as to how to sort myself out a bit?

Ive checked my credit score on creditexpert.co.uk (experian) and it is very poor at the moment, due to when i was younger and naive with credit cards missing a few payments, and now i fear this has messed me up for god knows how long in future. I dont know how i can go about repairing my credit score, to get it anywhere near good enough to get credit ever again?

I recently started a new job, which i now have a regular income of about £1150-1250pcm. I'm fortunate enough at the moment to not be paying any rent at home, i recently left uni and my parents have let me off for a while.

My outgoings are as follows:

Travel to work 5 days a week: £2.50 on trains, then around £3 for dinner , (usually take a packed lunch but on the odd day i dont then that is usual cost.)

3 credit cards :
1)Limit £200, balance £180. Min Payment usually around 10-15
2) Limit £400, balance £390 Min Payment usually around 20-25
3) Limit £1000, Balance £980. Min Payment usually around 20-25

Phone bill: around £40-50 a month, i have already contacted 02 about changing contract to a lower tariff.

Web Hosting : £25pm.

I don't go out that often, ive kind of grown out of that having done it at uni, id say i spend around £75 a month going to football matches, depending on how often i can get a ticket.

I also have a student overdraft at £1500.

I dont know where to start with all this lot, and like i said, to some people this probably seems nothing, but i dont know what to do?

Any help/tips/suggestions would be very much appreciated.
Thanks
Tony

dudleyboy

(Bump)

Hi Tony and welcome to MSE. As you say, your debt is relatively small but good for you on wanting to tackle it now before it grows any bigger! That's really the way it should be!

Take a look at this thread on how to construct and present an SOA:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=107280

It'll help you to see where your money is going, where savings can be made and how much extra you could be throwing at your debt each month. It looks as though you're just paying minimum repayments but with a decent salary and no rent / utilities expenses, you could be paying a lot more off.

That web hosting is also very expensive! I've got a professional hosting package for just £52 pa!

Hope to see you back soon,

DB