spending has gotten out of hand

hadahardyear

I was doing so well and have managed to pay for our holiday but i feel like things are spiralling out of control to the point where before i never had any debt, I am now paying £305 a month on debt.

My point is this, Should i pay the majority off it with my overdraft Which will give me a £1 a day charge and then will be able to pay the overdraft off.

I have £950 overdraft which won't pay it all off but will get rid of the 2 catalogues and the legal aid,
or my original plan was from the beginning of april, pay at least one debt off a month as most of them are just small ones.

i just remember how difficult it is to pay the overdraft but dont want to reduce the overdraft down either

Learning2Budget

Someone in the know will come along soon but are you paying interest on the catalogs?

camuk81

Ok lets start by breaking it down.

Can you list your APR for all the credit and who the overdraft is withI presume Halifax but this gives a better overall of what the aprs are

rising_from_the_ashes

For the best advice, fill in the Statement of Affairs http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html with your income / outgoings / debts (incl apr's etc) on.

hadahardyear

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1301
Partners monthly income after tax....... 549.33
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1850.33

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 308
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 77
Electricity............................. 20
Gas..................................... 20
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 37
TV Licence.............................. 12.12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 117
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 216
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 53.45
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 60
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
bank fee ............................... 10
Total monthly expenses.................. 930.57


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 0
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 0

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
dad............................1783......160.......0
vanquis........................1100......48........53.9
capital one....................190.......5.........34.9
very...........................408.......30.84.....45.9
legal aid......................100.......16.45.....0
choice.........................181.6.....23.72.....0
aqua...........................345.......12........35.9
capital one progress...........185.......5.........26.9
Total unsecured debts..........4292.6....301.01....-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,850.33
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 930.57
Available for debt repayments........... 919.76
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 301.01
Amount left after debt repayments....... 618.75

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 0
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -4,292.6
Net Assets.............................. -4,292.6



thanks for the replies, Its also annoying me a lot of silly little small amounts coming out but because it took me so long to get out the overdraft, i am reluctant to go back in it.

I have left out the road tax and entertainment because i have a second job that pays for this,

hadahardyear

to answer the first question i know that is going to come out, i am not looking for advice on how to cut back because i have got the best deals on everything possible, and as of the past few months, i have had the £618 surplus due to logging everything meticulously, and this is the reason i have been able to pay for our £1600 holiday outright.

rising_from_the_ashes

hadahardyear wrote: »

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
dad............................1783......160.......0
vanquis........................1100......48........53.9 No 1 - clear in months 1 & 2
capital one....................190.......5.........34.9
very...........................408.......30.84.....45.9 No 2 priority
legal aid......................100.......16.45.....0 This is actually your lowest priority as it's 0% so not costing you anything
choice.........................181.6.....23.72.....0 As above
aqua...........................345.......12........35.9 No 3 priority
capital one progress...........185.......5.........26.9
Total unsecured debts..........4292.6....301.01....-

Or, if you feel the number of payments/outstanding lenders is getting you down, then clear a couple of the smaller ones in full with the remainder going to the highest int ones eg

Month 1 - clear Very & pay rest to Vanquis
Month 2 - clear Aqua & pay rest to Vanquis
Month 3 - clear Cap 1 (both) & pay rest to Vanquis etc

This will quickly reduce the number of different people you're paying each month

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,850.33
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 930.57
Available for debt repayments........... 919.76
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 301.01
Amount left after debt repayments....... 618.75

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 0
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -4,292.6
Net Assets.............................. -4,292.6

Re using the OD - you need to work out how much this costs in comparison to the interest you're paying on the above to see if it's worthwhile or not.

If you do decide to do it, use it to pay off Vanquis..... but remember that an OD can be called in at any point so I'd only say to do this if you can actually afford to pay it back immediately if asked. HTH

hadahardyear wrote: »

to answer the first question i know that is going to come out, i am not looking for advice on how to cut back because i have got the best deals on everything possible, and as of the past few months, i have had the £618 surplus due to logging everything meticulously, and this is the reason i have been able to pay for our £1600 holiday outright.

Have removed most of the SOA as you say you have done well to cut back on most things..... apart from the holiday!

Good news is that if the holiday is now paid for, then the £600 surplus can go to clearing the debts - some suggestions on this above.

hadahardyear

have decided to pay off one debt a month rather than the whole lot and use the overdraft again.
Next month i will pay off Choice and Legal aid, to free up nearly £40 a month as these are the most expensive, then ill concentrate on vanquis.

Just called BT there, as i was thinking of moving to Talk Talk and they put me through to some kind of retention team (who said that i wasnt in the contract i thought i was ) and brought my monthly bill down from £45 down to £24.85 inc line rental, so im happy with that x

CashHound

hadahardyear wrote: »

Next month i will pay off Choice and Legal aid, to free up nearly £40 a month as these are the most expensive, then ill concentrate on vanquis.

From the look of your SOA they are actually 2 of your cheapest debts along with "dad" (0% APR) so should be a lower priority than some of those others. Although you seem to be under the impression that they are two of your most expensive debts, so you may have mis-entered the APR for them?

hadahardyear

CashHound wrote: »

From the look of your SOA they are actually 2 of your cheapest debts along with "dad" (0% APR) so should be a lower priority than some of those others. Although you seem to be under the impression that they are two of your most expensive debts, so you may have mis-entered the APR for them?

hey thanks for your reply, i think what i mean by the most expensive is that theyre costing the most each month and are the smallest, so psychologically, id like to get rid of as many debts in one go as possible and this would eliminate 2 of them

CashHound

hadahardyear wrote: »

hey thanks for your reply, i think what i mean by the most expensive is that theyre costing the most each month and are the smallest, so psychologically, id like to get rid of as many debts in one go as possible and this would eliminate 2 of them

Ah ok, I see now - they are taking the biggest chunk. In the long run, in pure figure terms, you are best attacking them from largest to smallest APR while paying the bare minimum on any that are 0% APR as they "cost" you nothing (no accumulating interest).

Legal Aid and Choice add up to £280 together. You could use £280 to clear this now, but if you used the £280 on some of that Vanquis debt you will be better off in the long run. That £280 chunk of Vanquis debt will be more like £420 in a years time. While the £280 of Legal Aid and Choice would still be £280.