Can anybody help me please??

KayJ066

Hi Everyone, im 21 & truly fed up with myself, i have a good job but i cannot ever see a way out of debt. I get paid, pay my bills and have a tiny amount left which is all my own fault i know,
My SOA (i think thats what you call it) is as follows:

Wages £895 approx per month

Outgoings:

£200 - rent to my parents
£164 - loan (welcome finance)
£40- mobile phone bill
£20 - home phone & internet & cable tv (we all put together for this)
£42 - monthly bus pass to work
£ 25- argos card
£ 89 - littlewoods catalogue
£ 30 - studio catalogue (ex boyfriend got this in my name and left me with it)
£ 50 - capital one card (i pay more off to get it down quicker)
£20 - saving for xmas vouchers
£25 - tobacco (yes i know this isnt a luxury and iam trying to give up)
£50- Provident financial - (yet another stupid mistake)

So totalled together = £755 which leaves me with £140 to last me a month and try and have some sort of a social life and try and learn to drive.

I was stupid, i had the argos card and littlewoods and provident before i got the loan and was going to pay it all off and just have the loan, i paid all the argos card off, half of the littlewoods and none of the provident. i was so stupid.

Now i cant see a way out, i know im a tad more lucky than some people on here, its not a sympathy post.
I had a call from ADF/S "Advanced debt solutions" and they said that if i pay them £180 a month they can clear all my debts for me and i will be debt free sooner. im not sure though.

Can anybody help?

Thanks in advance and thanks for listening to my ramblings for so long.

Kay

GirlRacer_2

Welcome to Debt Free Wannabees Kay. Firstly don't go with ADF. If you feel you need to go down the debt management plan route then go to CCCS or PayPlan as these are organisations which are free. I must add though that this will absolutely ruin your credit file for (I think) its 6 years.

Is there any way you can reduce your mobile phone bill? Are you in a contract if so change it to the lowest tariff, if your on PAYG limit yourself to £10 topup per month.

I see you still live at home with your parents, is there any way you could reduce your rent to then by £100 and throw an extra £100 off your debt? (sorry I'm speaking as a parent and would much prefer my children to tell me if they had money problems than deal with it themselves).

Could you perhaps take a second job - just a few hours a week could really help pay off the majority of this debt.

KayJ066

I can't pay any less rent, my ex-boyfriend lived with us but he left me 3 weeks ago so they have lost his money also. My contract on my mobile is due to expire in august but i wont be taking it out again, iam going to go on PAYG.
I have been looking at payplan, and to be honest my credit rating is stuffed anyway. I was going to get a consolidation loan but im not sure who would give me one.

CLAPTON

a. can you list all your debts thus

amount owing, APR , minimum monthly payment (and months still be pay for the loans)

because its best to pay the minimum on each debt except the one with the highest APR.. on that one you pay as much as possible.

b. can you get a low life of balance CC and transfer the debts form the highest APR cards to the lower?

c. can you get a part time job and use the money to throw at the debts

wherediditallgo

Hi, & welcome

There are a few companies that come up with "Advanced debt solutions" on the internet, & the first one I checked seemed to be a debt consolidation service. Most of the ones I've seen charge for their services, so steer clear of those - they can't do anything much for you that you can't do yourself with a bit of research & there are organisations offering their services to you for free. Three of the free services are the Consumer Credit Counselling Service , PayPlan and National Debtline . All 3 of them will help you look at your budget & work out a payment plan that enables you to pay what you can reasonably afford each month to your creditors. They'll also help you with letters to send to creditors. They won't judge you for how you spend your money, but they will tell you where cutbacks can be made - that's fair enough, because if you're going to make an offer of reduced payments to creditors, those creditors will want to know that you're genuinely can't afford more than you're offering.

It's worth you also keeping a spending diary. It's very easy to spend 50p here & £1 there without even realising - even a canned drink is about 60p. Use the diary to log every penny you spend over a month or even a week, & that will help you to realise where your money is going. I only realised I was spending over £25 a month on getting cappuccinos from a local cafe some mornings on my way to work when I did my diary, & I stopped going there immediately.

Try not to be tempted into getting a consolidation loan. Many people who get them never use it all to consolidate the debts it was obtained for, plus they don't get rid of the things that helped accrue the debt in the first place. You could end up worse off than you are now.

GirlRacer_2

I wouldn't get a consolidation loan as you can't pay off debt with more debt. If your credit rating is stuffed then speak to Payplan or CCCS, they are very approachable and will help you come to an agreement with your creditors.

I'm not actually involved in a DMP as my debt is manageable (I'm just here for the support of these guys and not to get myself any further into debt).

Keep posting as I'm sure somebody will be along shortly who will know exactly what advice to give you.

beanielou

Hi & welcome to MSE.
I'll be blunt here.
Do not get another consolodation loan.Its a really really bad idea.
DO NOT go to any company who offer to deal with your debt for a monthly fee as you can get this done for free.
Why dont you contact your local CAB/money advice unit andget them to help you?
As girlracer has said could you get a wee part time job to help? Also means you dont have an opportunity to spend money!!

KayJ066

Thanks Everyone.

My loan is 60.8% apr and i have 21 months left
My argos card should be paid off in 8 months, same with my provident.
Credit card will be paid off fully in 3 months if i pay 50 a month on it.

The studio catalogue is in my name but my ex-boyfriend did it and all the stuff he ordered was for him, do i still have to pay it?

beanielou

As Studio is in your name you do have to pay it.Theres no way out of that IM afraid.

Poppy9

Wages £895 approx per month - firstly look for another better paid job or take on some part-time work.
Outgoings:

£200 - rent to my parents
£164 - loan (welcome finance)
£40- mobile phone bill look for 100% cashback mobile phone deals if you are organised and will comply with T&C. Lots of threads on here about deals and pros and cons.
£20 - home phone & internet & cable tv (we all put together for this) How many of you are putting in for this? Check you have the best value packages for the family. Virgin will do home phone, internet, tv for £30. If you are already with Virgin give them a call to get your package down in price. Easier to do now they have lost Sky. If you are paying extra for movie channels - do you use them? If not negoiate a discount with your family in relation to your use.
£42 - monthly bus pass to work
£ 25- argos card
£ 89 - littlewoods catalogue
£ 30 - studio catalogue (ex boyfriend got this in my name and left me with it)
£ 50 - capital one card (i pay more off to get it down quicker)
£20 - saving for xmas vouchers
£25 - tobacco (yes i know this isnt a luxury and iam trying to give up)
£50- Provident financial - (yet another stupid mistake)

Other ideas are to Ebay any unwanted items lying around the house to raise extra cash.

GirlRacer_2

60.8% APR - OMG - Wlecome finance - been there done that but my rate was 24.9% and I was pig sick about that.

You need to concentrate on one debt at a time. Pay off the minimum amounts on everything except one and throw every bit of spare cash you can at that one particular debt. I only joined here in the middle of January and so far have managed to pay off my Next Account and my Vanquis Card and I'm aiming to get the Argos card paid off by the end of June.

Is there absolutely no way you could earn some extra money?