New member respectfully asking for help

topcat6562

mizmir wrote: »

Hi
Welcome to MSE. I am pretty sure you could get these covers for less than £174 pa if you need them. Check out Martin's article on breakdown cover - the cheapest is only about £32 and includes quite a bit. Same with travel insurance - you can get it free with an A&L online account - if you go for the one with less interest - worth it if you are not likely to earn interest and do use travel insurance. Or you can buy annual insurance - check quidco to see what you can get there - you could get cash back. You are already paying for phone insurance - so this is not needed. I would scrap this and shop around for any cover you actually need.

Good luck

Applied for A&L Premier Direct account but got turned down, have been given a basic account not sure if I am able to transfer account from Barclays when I still owe them so much on the overdraft??? I initially applied for the account to use if things get complicated with Barclays when I request my statements. I am scrapping the mobile insurance not 100% positive if they will be covered on the Contents insurance but I will check it out. Travel insurance is not exactly a priority at the moment as I aint got no money for a holiday any way.

pk2007_2

topcat6562 wrote: »

Monthly Income

My Salary £1194 + 50 bi monthly travel expenses
My Wife £628
Sons Board £80
Child Tax £46
Ch Benefit £68
Total £2016 - £2066

Main Debt Balance Min APR
Secured Loan (Barclays) £20758 £371 8.9%
Personal Loan (Barclays) £4332 155 10.8%
Barclaycard £1700 £45 24.9%
LPF CC £3276 £163 27.9%
Egg Card £2286 £46 21.9%
Capital 1 £396 £12 24.6%
Additions Catalogue £402 £20 29.8%
New Look (Store Card) £121 £10 29% approx nothing on statement
HP (Dell Computer) £331 £37 Ends Dec 07
HP (Wash Machine/Fridge) £55 £27 Ends Apr 07
Total £33653 £886

Mortgage £82080 £538.97 6.4%
Overdraft £1000 Currently £1537

Monthly Spending
£14.50 Barclays Additions Fee
£8.00 Account Interest Charges
£11.37 TV Licence
£90 Council Tax
£28 Water Rates - is this on a meter? might work out cheaper
£30 Gas (PP Meter)
£68.50 Electric
£12.35 Telephone (OneTel) Variable based on calls
£17.99 Internet (Tiscali)
£66.30 Orange contract X 2 phones (18mth Cashback)
£3.00 Window Cleaner
£7.77 Prescription Prepayment (£93.20p.a)
£18.94 Building/Contents Insurance
£16.43 Mortgage Payment Protection
£14.86 Mortgage Life Insurance
£9.98 Mobiles X 2 Insurance
£325 Food Shopping
£130 Smoking
£52 Meals at work
£22 Bus Fares (OH Work)
£48.50 Monthly Travel Pass (Daughter for College)
£45 College Meals
£29.93 Car Insurance
£16.33 Car Tax (6 mthly £96.25)
£60 -80 Petrol
£3.75 MOT
£1170.50 Total

hi and welcome to MSE. fisrt of all thank you for such a clear SOA. lots of good advise above re meal planning/stop smoking/additions account and mobiles.
call up your council and ask if they will accept payment over 12 months instead of 10.
what type of car do you have as tax is very high for 6 months. car tax works out a bit less if paid over 12 months.
re the M+s card- transfer excess overdraft beyond your £1000 limit and all the store cards as apr is horrendous
if you need to renew home/car insurance go thro' https://www.quidco.com - a cashback site.
get your OH/son/daughter to do some selling on ebay/carboot/amazon if you cannot. your income needs to go up to pay for the debts.

good luck

Melissa177

One tip on the mobile phone: I switched to PAYG about 18 months ago, and I haven't looked back. I now spend about £15 a month, rather than £50+. My phone tells me what balance I have left after phone calls, and it makes me use the landline more. I've found it very effective to curb phone calls! I recommend 02 PAYG - £15 a month gives me 150 mins free x-net weekends and evenings, and 200 text messages, and about 8 pounds of credit for other calls.

moanymoany

The Oldstyle Living thread may seem like the least of your worries and the financial threads most important, but they can save you hundreds of much needed pounds. Meal planning, spending diaries are all there and all VERY EFFECTIVE.

I notice an £80 board on your income, where is this from. It is not very much and certainly will not be preparing the payer for the real world.

Have you got the family around the table and laid out the situation to them. It may make them more amenable to cutting back with packed lunches etc. They may also have some ideas to help.

Heresy, but we lived for years with no mobiles phones. If it is a choice between phone and home then no contest. If you cut out the mobiles - buy a tesco prepay and let people fund their own use - mobile insurance - simply cut £100 off the food bill and manage on what is left with the aid of frugal meals and meal planning threads - cut out all bought food at work - you will save £276.28 a month. Cut out smoking and it goes up to £406.28.

No-one said it would be easy. When you start to take control it is very difficult, but at least that horrible feeling that life is spiralling away from you can start to calm down.

topcat6562

PK2007 Thanks for these tips, I have a P reg Mondeo 1.8, has been the most reliable car, just taxed car in Feb would have done the 12 mths but couldn't affor it, struggled for 6, one of the things that led me here, Car Insurance not due for renewal until Nov & always shop around for best deal but had never heard of quidco until joined this site will give them a try. My son is looking into the ebay site to see what you need to do to join etc, time to get in to the attic!!!! Had not even thought about Store card balance & additions catalogue for M&S card, makes a lot of sense

Cheers

topcat6562

Melissa177, will look into the mobile situation but only had contract 5 mths not sure if there is a get out clause!!!!! With the cash back it was supposed to make things cheaper, will let you know if I actually get the cash back which is due to be reclaimed next bill. The PAYG deal you have seems a lot better than the last one my OH & Daughter had so will certainly bear it in mind if I can cancel the contract.

Thanks for input

topcat6562

moanymoany wrote: »

The Oldstyle Living thread may seem like the least of your worries and the financial threads most important, but they can save you hundreds of much needed pounds. Meal planning, spending diaries are all there and all VERY EFFECTIVE.

I notice an £80 board on your income, where is this from. It is not very much and certainly will not be preparing the payer for the real world.

Have you got the family around the table and laid out the situation to them. It may make them more amenable to cutting back with packed lunches etc. They may also have some ideas to help.

Heresy, but we lived for years with no mobiles phones. If it is a choice between phone and home then no contest. If you cut out the mobiles - buy a tesco prepay and let people fund their own use - mobile insurance - simply cut £100 off the food bill and manage on what is left with the aid of frugal meals and meal planning threads - cut out all bought food at work - you will save £276.28 a month. Cut out smoking and it goes up to £406.28.

No-one said it would be easy. When you start to take control it is very difficult, but at least that horrible feeling that life is spiralling away from you can start to calm down.

Since joining this forum on Tuesday I have actually been on the old style board & have got some good ideas to put before the family. The meal planning & spending diaries are good & we will be starting this weekend to put them into practice, when we have some proper time to sit down & discuss with the kids what we as a family have to do to try & sort ourselves out. My son pays us the £80 as he only works part time for now. He is going F/T in next 8 weeks & his board will be going up then but at the moment his shifts a sparodic & his earnings yoyo. I have not bought anything at work this week just taken fruit to nibble on thoughout the day. Have an appointment with the smoking cessation Nurse next Wednesday to see if I can finally kick the habit. Wish me luck & thanks for your advice,

angelavdavis

topcat6562 wrote: »

Have an appointment with the smoking cessation Nurse next Wednesday to see if I can finally kick the habit. Wish me luck & thanks for your advice,

Hi TC!

Sounds like you are doing brilliantly, good luck with the stop-smoking target. Just remember, your kids/grandchildren are more likely to smoke themselves if they have a parent/grandparent smoker. Apart from the obvious health benefits and of course the financial, the current legislation is turning smokers into social paroias so you owe it to the kids to stop!

You mention that you are visiting Old Style Board - is your daughter making herself sandwiches for college now? Food is a huge chunk of your outgoings that really can come down. It will also be good practice for your daughter to get into the routine of making sandwiches for lunch as it will also save her £££ in future when she starts working. Also, by paying the £40 off you save per month onto, for example your highest interest debt, the Additions cat debt, you would pay this off by November with little effort. If you instead cut down the ciggies to costing you £50 per month and put the £100 to the same debt, it would be paid off by July. :T

I know this thinking motivate me so hopefully, it will motivate you and help you get through the more stressful times.

Have you attempted to move any of your existing debts onto lower life of balance cards? You are paying some hefty interest charges there. Another thing you could do is ask your existing credit cards to reduce their interest rate. Just say you are thinking of moving the debt to a lower interest card - would they offer you a more competitive rate? There is no harm trying. I did this and moved a 15.9% debt to a 0% card!

Good luck!