Advice please

smiler34

Ok I need advice because I am sick of paying £30 a month cause I keep going over my overdraft.

Me and my partner have a £900 overdraft which currently we get up to or go over every month.

We have regular monthly outgoings of approx £750 per month not including groceries and we have regular monthly income of £1300

Obviously even with groceries we shouldn't be coming close to spending up our income every month but I had some problems with overspending and this has resulted in us having the £900 overdraft.

I am just wondering if anyone can advise me on wether they think it would be a good idea to get a loan to pay off the overdraft (a £1000 loan from Northern rock works out at £59 p/m over 18 months) so we could just start afresh without having to go back into the overdraft almost as soon as dp gets his wage every month.

I have already decided to start doing one big shop every month as I think doing lots of little trips is a big part of the overspending. Realistically I have decided this would cost us approx £100 per month. I am also going to relinquish my bank card to dp and just have £10 per week to get milk/fruit/bread etc. Not having my card will mean I won't be able to overspend.

Any advice anyone can give me would be very gratefully received.

Thanks.

Welshlassie

If your overspending every month you need to find out why before you clear the debt, otherwise you will just be back in the same position in a few months time.

Try keeping a spending diary, you'll be surprised how the coffee here and paper there adds up.

Consolidating you debt when it is so low is probably not an ideal way of doing it. Could you open a new bank account and then without going into overdraft gradually pay off the overdraft. It would also be worth trying to claim back the bank charges you have paid over the last 6 years. This could then be used to pay off the overdraft. If you do go down this route you will need a new bank account anyway as they are likely to close you account down.

Good luck.