Help

toasti

HI this is my first post on this board and I would appreciate any advice.I'm in loads of debt and I just can't see a way out of it.It's my own stupid fault and now I'm suffering the consequences of over spending.:mad:

I have a HSBC loan for about £15000 and am paying £303 a month towards that.I also have a credit card with HSCB with about £2000 on that and have arranged to pay a fixed rate each month of £70.I also have a credit card with Egg of £5000 and have a fixed repayment with them for £125 per month.

I recently changed banks from HSBC to another bank but as my loan is with HSBC I am unable to close my account with them.My HSBC account is overdrawn by £300.I earn £1300 a month and am paying £550 a month towards paying off my debts and car insurance also.

I've recently got a pay and go sim card as my contract bills were just far too high (I owe 02 money also but can't afford to pay that).

I've been on a budget for the past week and it's going OK but I moved house last month and have had to pay bills from my former accommodation so that's made me even more panicked.

I really want to be debt free within a year is this too much to ask??!!I'm so annoyed at myself.:eek:

bonnie_2

You need to post an soa.

toasti

hi what's an soa?

immoral_angeluk

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=107280
this explains everything you need to know about an SOA.

Amanda4242

Its a Statement of Affairs, I think there is a sticky.
Post your incomings and outgoings

nearlyrich

I earn £13000 a month and am paying £550 a month towards paying off my debts and car insurance also.

Hi welcome to DFW, is this a typo?

toasti

ha yeah sorry I earn £1300 a month!

toasti

thanks for explaining about soa I will do it later on thanks already!

toasti

SOA:
Total Income-£1308 a month

Expenditure (each month):
£200 rent
£45 council tax
£45 electricity (estimated as sharing a house with landlord and no current bill received as yet)
£40 gas (see above comment)
£30 water (see above comment)
£34 car insurance
£14.95 contact lenses
£303 HSBC bank loan repayments
£125 Egg card repayments (fixed amount set up) 15.9%
£70 HSBC credit card repayments (fixed amount set up) 14.9%

I have an account with HSBC and one with my new bank the Cumberland.I could not close my HSBC account as I have a loan with them.HSBC account overdrawn by £300. Owe 02 £300 as fell behind on few months worth of payments

What a mess

frugalpam

toasti wrote: »

SOA:
Total Income-£1308 a month

Expenditure (each month):
£200 rent
£45 council tax
£45 electricity (estimated as sharing a house with landlord and no current bill received as yet)
£40 gas (see above comment)
£30 water (see above comment)
£34 car insurance
£14.95 contact lenses
£303 HSBC bank loan repayments
£125 Egg card repayments (fixed amount set up) 15.9%
£70 HSBC credit card repayments (fixed amount set up) 14.9%

I have an account with HSBC and one with my new bank the Cumberland.I could not close my HSBC account as I have a loan with them.HSBC account overdrawn by £300. Owe 02 £300 as fell behind on few months worth of payments

What a mess

Hi Toasti - welcome to the forum! There are some really helpful people round here who'll be along soon to give you some great advice.
The first thing that comes to mind is that your gas, water and elec bills sound very high, especially as you're sharing a house (and presumably the bills). How has the landlord come to those figures?

Pam

PS You also need to budget for things like food, clothes, travel costs, clothes, presents etc.

Storm

OK, your expenditure comes to £906.95, which should leave £401.05 a month left, but I'm guessing it's not. There's some stuff you've left off your SoA like food, petrol, socialising, phonecalls etc as well as the annual stuff like car MOT & tax, birthdays, Xmas, clothes etc.

I would say that your utilities are over-estimated, which is good in that at least hopefully they won't be too big a shock - are you putting this money aside each month though?

If you've had any bank charges in the last 6 years you can claim them back - see Martin's article on the home page for more info & template letters.

One thing I'm worried about with the arrangements you've made with HSBC & Egg though is whether the total is actually coming down each month once the interest goes on.

So, my recommendations to start with will be to keep a spending diary to find out exactly where the £400 goes each month, and Ebay/car boot anything that isn't nailed down to raise some extra dosh in the meantime. Work out the rest of the SoA, and see if your landlord has past bills for the utilities that will allow you to get a more accurate idea of how much to put aside each month for these.

Good luck!