DFW student

emmaglet

Hi there,

I am Emma, and a 1st year student, but not coping. I am on placement for 30 hours a week, plus lectures. I have just given up my part time job until I have finished placement (end of May) because it was too much work for me.

My SOA is as follows:

Debts:
&More card: £500 @ 0% til Jan
Barclay card: £365 @ 19.9%
Avon: ? I returned tons of goods, but it hasn't been credited yet.
Overdraft: £618 @ 0%
Scottish Power: £7.05
Mom: £200

Bills (fixed):
Mobile: £35 per month, tied until June
TV license: £11.05 per month
Sky: £18 per month (tied in contract til Sept, housemate is making some payments towards it too)
Rent: £70 per week
Phone: ? £15 per month(Just switched provider)
Water: £40 per month from April(well a little under, but I want to pay £40 per month)
Magazine subscription: £16 per quarter(Tied in)

Bills (rough estimate - just changed payment method):
Gas: £25 per month
Electricity: £35 per month

Other outgoings:
£20 per week on petrol for placement. I will get £126 of this back (BUT I am only allowed to claim for 48 times travelling there, when in fact I travel more than 60. Is it worth putting a complaint in for this?)
£20 on food and cleaning products per week
£20 on going out per week. This includes meals out, drinks at pub, etc. I don't drink alcohol when I go out most of the time.

Need to save for:
Fridge/Freezer: £200
MOT (Want to save £100)
Road tax in Jan: £120

I get my loan on 23rd April for £1,500...and I am not sure what to do with it. I need to pay £135 rent before then, and then another £280 with that loan. I want to pay off my Barclaycard as it has high interest. So by my calculations:
£1500 - 800 (overdraft) = £600 - £280(rent) =£320. Barclay card is £365. Eep.

Money I am owed:
Less than £50 from BT - I had to give them a deposit
Tax from this year...only worked from November so didn't earn over the tax limit. Its about £80. How do I go about claiming this?

With that loan I want to:
Pay rent
Pay off overdraft
Pay towards Barclaycard
Pay towards M&S card
Put some into savings.

How do I go about splitting it?

My mom gave me £200 this term, which I want to give back to her. She never asked for it back, so should I just leave it? Even if she says she doesn't want it, I then want her to keep it aside for me when I have money difficulties later in the term.

I plan to start back at work full time on June 5th for around 12 weeks. If I get the same job as I had beforehand, I am looking at around £3000 earnings over summer. Which hopefully I can save £2000 of to live off for the next term

Over summer I have someone interested in the spare room here for £45 a week, so that will go towards the bills. Then someone else wants the room from September, again for £45 per week.

It's just seeing past the next few weeks. I have no savings left, and have applied for the hardship fund last week (As I had £200 of my overdraft left- since then have sold lots of things to make money) but have heard nothing back(Was told it would be Tuesday) have emailed them to ask about it.

Ingela

Is it possible to switch your barclaycard to a 0% apr card? thats the first thing i would do.

With your loan, obviously pay rent first. Is your overdraft interest free? its not the worst position to be in as a student, and as long as you can get it paid off over summer in preparation for next year. I would also be inclined to say the same about your mum. Im sure she would rather you paid off some of your credit card than paid her back.

i definitely wouldn't count on the hardship fund. they are sometimes reluctant to give them to first years anyway and i found when i applied in third year with only £20 in the bank they wouldnt give it to me. However this was most likely a different uni and it will depend on your course as well.

But really, its not as bad as you think! lots of students are in the same position and you will cope!

slowlyfading

Hey I'm a second year student Dont worry about your overdraft for now, that's why we have them I'd pay off your Barclay card as soon as possible, get that out of the way and then focus on the others Does your mum need her money back straight away?
Nicola x

david_hellier

Hi,

Welcome and don't panic. Are you due a total of 2 further loan drops of £1500?

fallenwiccan

no theres only one loan drop left, im only getting £870 i so need a summer job but i dont even know where im living on the 1st july!!!

david_hellier

Hi and welcome.

According to my figures you are overspending by £50.53 per week. Therefore to balance the books you will need to get a job which will generate about £100 per week. This will leave you with some money for food and socialising. The car is a big overhead in your life. I note no insurance, is this paid by others? If you can get rid of the car, you will make balancing the books much easier. Do not use your cards for any more purchases and never make the minimum payments, keep them the same each month.

You are not in a position to save until you have raised your income.

Good luck, the figures are as follows:

income weekly monthly
self 375.00
partner







total 0.00 375.00 divide by 4.33
£86.54

£86.54 total weekly income

spend weekly monthly
rent/mortgage 70.00
council tax
elec
gas
water
secured loans
TV licence 11.05
fines
mobile 35.00
sky 18.00
phone 15.00
water 40.00
mags 5.33
gas 25.00
elec 35.00
petrol 25.00
mot 3.75
road tax 8.50
more 25.00
barclaycard 18.00
od payoff 20.00
scot power 1.00
mum 5.00









total 70.00 290.63 divide by 4.33
£67.07

£137.07 total weekly spend

Start= income - spend = -£50.53 per week

dancingfairy

I would pay the Barclaycard off first as it is charging you interest. Don't worry too much about the overdraft or paying your mum back as you can't afford it at the moment.
Can you hassle BT and the tax office to get your money?
How often can you claim for your petrol? Also yes maybe it is worth speaking to your course tutor and explain that you are doing more miles and need the extra petrol money.
What's the limit on your &more card? can you spend on this? as it is interest free?
Have you applied for any bursaries etc?
Freecycle for a fridge/freezer? or adds in paper?

grastgirl

Student finances are never easy, but one thing i did note was that your overdraft limit was relatively low, even for first year. I'm fairly sure the student bank account article on the main site pointed out there was an account with a flexible limit that went as high as £2000+.

Now don't get me wrong I'm not saying you should spend the whole thing, but if you can switch to that account, you could clear the credit card debt, which is v.bad, and hopefully have enough breathing space to be able to pay for things until you start earning over the summer/the next loan cheque comes in. This at least means you don't have to spend money on interest and should make it easier to absorb costs while you're waiting for them to be paid back. Having the ability to pay your car insurance in one lump may help you save money over the year as well.

I still think you need to check that the money you have coming in over the whole year balances with the money you have going out, but until you can be sure of this you probably shouldn't be saving too much because you'll just have to keep dipping into them all the time. I suppose if the interest rates were good enough and you were disciplined with your current account you could keep your overdraft a few hundred above your limit and keep the rest in an instant access savings account.

Assuming your Mum isn't desperate for the money back straight away, maybe you should keep it back in case you need your car repairing or whatever.

I'm fairly sure you can phone your local tax office to get the form you need, if you ask for it now, you should be able to fill it in and get it back just in time for 6th April, which is probably the earliest you could have asked for it back anyway.

You should probably decide where you want to stay in the summer, so you can start looking/get your name down with the agencies. Not sure what subject you do, but I have heard some skills learnt in more practical subjects like engineering can give you a much higher £/hr wage than normal office temping. You could also ask your Mum to try to get something lined up with one of her friends.

OK I know it was an essay, but I hope it was useful.

emmaglet

On the car and job front, I had to stop working for a short time, as I am sure I explained above. And I need the car for placement. Without it its about 4 hours travel 6 times a week to placement.

My parents pay insurance

emmaglet

Just got back from Spring Harvest, had a good time. Took £50 to spend, and came back with £49.20! Odd. But did spend on my CC, so that money is going straight into the bank to pay off CC.

Checked online banking, got £300 from Learning Fund! So thrilled with that!

Parents are here this week, then going to Blackpool next week. Hoping that they will pay for a few things for me, as well as doing a "big shop" to stock me up on staples like Pasta, etc. I know its so cheap anyway, but anything they are willing to pay for is great!

Got my gas and electricity bill. Electricity owed me £16 (credited to next bill) and gas I owed almost £200! I had a panic attack, then calmed down, checked the details, and they had over estimated me by about £100 of useage. So I rung up with my correct readings, and they will send me a new bill ASAP.

emmaglet

Got a cheque from BT for £46, so that is going to pay off my Barclaycard! Really excited by that