Help please!! I'm in pickle!

pickleddebt

Hi!
I have to admit , I have been pretty careless and irresponsible with my money for the last 3 to 4 years, but now I am really worried!

My girfriend is 2 months pregnant,:j and so I've decided to assess the damage and the state of affairs on my finances...:eek:

I am disgusted and frustrated with myself, and I cant really see a light at the end of the tunnel right now.

This is why I have decided to visit this site and seek some expert advice....:T

I really want to face my debts and figure out a way of paying it off ASAP!

I have already opened a (parachute) Alliance & Leicester current account (Premier online was declined to me so got given a normal one!) in order to claim back my bank charges, and sent off for the Data Protection Act Request!

I have also got in touch with my bank TSB to reduce the interest rates on my CC, to which they said , I will have to fill out a equivalent to a SOA form, for them to assess if I fit the criteria for having my card cancelled and interest reduced , all well I would have to pay a monthly figure to settle my CC debt.

I also tried to ask them to reduce the interest rates on my loan and cancel my PPI, but to do this they had to re-finance it ,so they did a credit search for me and I got rejected! To which I am really worried as this means I have poor credit score!!!

Anyway, I am really new to this and would appreciate your help or advice, on what to tackle first, as I am becoming increasingly worried and confused as to how do I stop this from spiralling out of control???!!!!

I cant believe how stupid I've been , for so long!!!!

Anyway, here goes my SOA... please be gentle with me on the advice.
Monthly Incomings:

My salary - £1,021

Total - £1,021

Monthly Outgoings:

Rent - £300
Council Tax - £45
Brittish Gas - £30
Southern Electric - £25
Thames Water - £ 15
TV License - £10.99
Phone - £40
Internet ( BT ) - £17.99
Food - £300
Tobacco - £25
Socialising - £40
Lloyds tsb loan direct debit - £116.20
Lloyds tsb CC - £70 (minimum payment)
Lloyds Platinum account fee - £17
Egg card - £50 (minimum payment)

Total : £ 1,102.18 !!!!!:eek:


Lloyds TSB loan - Balance £4,029.60 APR 18.3% - Length of term was 60 months. 50 months to go! Originally taken as a £3.5k with PPI:mad:
Lloyds TSB Gold CC- Balance £3,031.80 ( Limit £3k ) APR 17.9% purchases or 31.2% for cash. :mad:

(Lloyds TSB platinum account gives me a free overdraft of £250, but charge 11.8%EAR on anything after that! and I have to pay £17 per month for that and other previleges:mad: )

Egg CC – Balance £1,200 (limit £1,250) APR 0% until July 1st 2007 and 16.9% APR after:eek:



So you see why I am so worried, got more going out then coming in, and i have no family or anybody to help me with this... I need to turn this Boat around and start paddling towards the shore again, before my baby is born!!!
Can you please help?


Many thanks

bluezone

I'm not that good at advising on all areas of an SOA but I will say that your food bill is a little high for the 2 of you

Storm

Ok, firstly I'd drop the premier account, as there's no way you'd get £17 in interest each month.

Food can be reduced from £300 for 2 people - the Old Style board is great for recipe advice, but initially start getting the basic own-brand stuff for everything.

The phone bill is high, as is your broadband costs - look around on the home phone board for a better deal.

What's your credit rating like? Can you get a 0% or low LoB card to transfer some of this to? You should be able to cancel the PPI on the loan.

What's your girlfriends situation like? Could she help out a bit more with the bills for a while until you're in a slightly better situation? Congrats on the bump by the way!

sammy115

Storm answered the obvious, I was going to say exactly those things.

Cancel the premier account and stay out of the overdraft. Your food budget could be brought down drastically and telephone and internet too high.

I am also in agreement, you may not be able to bring down the interest rate but you CAN cancel the PPI!

Write all your spending down so you know where everything is going. Don't be tempted to buy new for the baby. Friends and family will help and ebay the rest! You could also try Freecycle. Don't be proud, babies don't know and they grow out of things in a flash.

Tashja

Congratulations on the pregnancy !!!!

I know it is really hard but could you consider giving up smoking.

Would save you £25.00 and would be healthier for your new bump and baby when he/she arrives !!

Because you have a baby on the way you will get loads of support from your DPs midwife too.

T xx

Phoebe's_mummy

You are an inspiration!!! I have spent most of the morning upset and worrying about my 3-4000 student debt, you kina get to thinking your the only one and will never be able to pay it off.

Aj_eye

Hi and Welcome

I'm no expert but the food bill is way way high, I'm sure you can cut that down to half of that...

You can also reduce your phone/ broadband and social budget....there are cheaper services out there...

During the easter break search your house for anything you can sell on ebay....remember if you haven't used it in 6 months its a candidate for the chop...

I hope this helps

findingmyownway

pickleddebt wrote: »

Hi!
Monthly Incomings:

My salary - £1,021

Total - £1,021 do you live with your girlfriend? does she not work? your income could also be increased my selling on ebay, amazon ect

Monthly Outgoings:

Rent - £300
Council Tax - £45
Brittish Gas - £30
Southern Electric - £25
Thames Water - £ 15
TV License - £10.99
Phone - £40 - is this a mobile? can you reduce your contract? most networks have a lowest rate around £25pm which you can switch to even if you are stuck in a contrct
Internet ( BT ) - £17.99
Food - £300 this can definatly be reduced - probably by half. it is just for 2 people? check out the old style board for plenty of advice!
Tobacco - £25 this has got to go. the health of your unborn child has to come first now.
Socialising - £40
Lloyds tsb loan direct debit - £116.20
Lloyds tsb CC - £70 (minimum payment)
Lloyds Platinum account fee - £17 ditch this and get a basic account
Egg card - £50 (minimum payment)

Total : £ 1,102.18 !!!!!:eek:


Lloyds TSB loan - Balance £4,029.60 APR 18.3% - Length of term was 60 months. 50 months to go! Originally taken as a £3.5k with PPI:mad: cancel the PPI asap

Lloyds TSB Gold CC- Balance £3,031.80 ( Limit £3k ) APR 17.9% purchases or 31.2% for cash. :mad:

(Lloyds TSB platinum account gives me a free overdraft of £250, but charge 11.8%EAR on anything after that! and I have to pay £17 per month for that and other previleges:mad: cancel this - its paying out more than you gain )

Egg CC – Balance £1,200 (limit £1,250) APR 0% until July 1st 2007 and 16.9% APR after:eek:


So you see why I am so worried, got more going out then coming in, and i have no family or anybody to help me with this... I need to turn this Boat around and start paddling towards the shore again, before my baby is born!!!
Can you please help?


Many thanks

Hi and welcome to the board

There are plenty of places you can save money on your current SOA. Even if you just make the changes i have suggested above you will saving an extra £200 per month which can go towards paying the CCs. Add to that any extra money you make from ebay, amazon, matched betting, mystery shopping etc and you will start to make improvements.

Is there anyway you can get a second job until the baby is born? What does your girlfriend do?

pickleddebt

Thank you so much for the reply!
I am working on getting a better paid job, and that should start next month!
The Phone is a mobile, and I have just been pretty careless with the calls and text, as this is my only phone line!
The food is also a slightly exagerated figure in order to cover other household products etc, but it is still pretty high and we will be doing better shopping from now on!
My girlfriend has been out of work for personal reasons, but job interview on monday and hopefully she'l be working by the end of this month!
I am definetely going to stop smoking, but Ive been having a hard time , so its been difficult!

thank you so much for taking the time to help me with your advice!!!! It is much appreciated!
Thank you!
David

pickleddebt

Storm wrote: »

Ok, firstly I'd drop the premier account, as there's no way you'd get £17 in interest each month.

Food can be reduced from £300 for 2 people - the Old Style board is great for recipe advice, but initially start getting the basic own-brand stuff for everything.

The phone bill is high, as is your broadband costs - look around on the home phone board for a better deal.

What's your credit rating like? Can you get a 0% or low LoB card to transfer some of this to? You should be able to cancel the PPI on the loan.

What's your girlfriends situation like? Could she help out a bit more with the bills for a while until you're in a slightly better situation? Congrats on the bump by the way!

Hi! first of all thank you so much for the speedy replies to my dillemma!
Right, I am dropping my Platinum account, as it is more expensive that any interest rate, and the benefits are irrelevant to me!:o
The broadband and phone costs are going to be drammatically reduced, as soon as I move from my home (end of may), as I will be shopping around to switch to a better deal!:money:
the food shopping is definately going to be cut down, as we exagerated it a little bit to allow for household and cleaning products such as shampoos etc. This will be addressed and I will most definately start shopping more responsibly!!!
I am trying to give up smoking, and I will definatel put some stuff up on ebay for sale!!!:cool:
I am in the process of changing employment in order to get more money than I currently get! this should start at the end iof the month!:j
My girlfriend is also starting work hopefully at the end of this month, and combined we should be on a better situation than we were for the last 2 months!:beer:

My PPI on the loan can only be rebated to me if I refinance the whole loan!? this will affect my credit score even more (Its POOR) Does this sound right? I was told by Lloyds that I will only get a partial refund(£686) for what I would have paid in the next 50 months, but NOT for what I already have paid in the last 10 months!!!!!
that sounds to me like a tactic to dissuade me from going any further and just accept that I have been stitched up by my bank manager....:mad:

Should I copy that template letter available on this site, and complain to their customer service dept.?

Many thanks for advising me and for making me realise that perhaps this is not as impossible as it seems!!!

Thank you!!:T

Tashja

Hi hun

Another little hint would be to join all the baby clubs (Tesco, Boots, etc) and all the baby websites out there (pampers, Huggies, Cow & Gate, etc) and start getting all the money off vouchers - these can then be used against your shopping - sometimes even if you don't buy the product.

We are 13 weeks pregnant and already have tons of coupons, vouchers and freebies !!

Also remeber that as well as bank charges you can claim back any credit card charges.

T xx