I can't see a way out.

alisonjs

I have another bank account. I set one up when I started my claim against first direct. That is my overdraft number 3. Clever hey. Not.

I live in an area with very low council tax. I know that seems very very low, but it is accurate. And I live in a very expensive area which is why my rent is so high. Might sound odd, but that's accurate.

I don't run a car. My company pay my line rental and my broadband, so I probably only pay about £3 a month in calls because many of my calls are free with the package I have.

I suppose this is my average month. I don't know what else to include really. I seems like there's a lot more going than this.I know I'm paying bank fees of up to £135 pounds a month some months, and given I'm starting the month over my overdraft limit some months and then other months the bank won't let me go over my overdraft limit.

All of the CCards are maxed. Some of them only have a limit of a £1k or something.

What else is there? I want to get to a position where I know I have a set amount for this and that etc per month.

I have to find a way to manage this or I'm scared of what might happen. I can't see a way out at all at this point. I don't feel like I have any option. At times I've thought, fleetingly, about running off somewhere where I can just leave it all behind me. The anxiety is controlling my life. How can I earn this kind of good salary and not afford to buy my own lunch. All I seem to do these days is cry.

mrsspendalot

I agree, there is a lot missing off your outgoings:

water? insurance? Sky? travel expenses? haircuts, clothes, socialising, prescriptions, etc etc.

As you say your income covers your outgoings, I am guessing looking at the snowball site https://www.whatsthecost.com might be good for you, as it will organise how to pay your debts in interest or size order, and give you some structure to repay them and give you a debt free date. It may be sooner than you can imagine at the moment, purely based on the way it works it out for you. give it a try, its been great for us.

mrsspendalot

take a look through your last couple of months bank statements and see where your money has gone.... then start a spending diary for the next month and see where you money goes .... it is amazing how quickly it disappears!

debtmonster

Hi and welcome.

I'm just a lurker and an occasional poster. well done for posting your SOA.

First glance there seems to be a lot missing. Nothing for:-

Motor Exps - petrol, car ins, road tax, mot etc
If no car then travelling costs for work
House Insurance
Water Rates
Mobile Phone, Internet
Sky TV ?
Going Out
Christmas
Holidays
Haircuts
Clothing


You put £60 a month for food, £2 a day. Is this realistic ?

Based on your income and the current level of your repayments then you shouldnt really have the problems you are having.

Clearly you are leaking an alarming amount of money somewhere. Suggest you start a spending diary immediately.

Once quick point, your smallest credit card debt is on the card with the lowest interest rate. can you not transfer some of the other balances onto here ?

You have a good income, the situation is worrying and depressing no doubt but with careful budgeting i think you can get back on track quite quickly.

Oh and dont cave in over the bank charges. If the banks were in the right do you think anyone would be getting money back from them....stick it to 'em

liz105

hi

in your responses you havent addressed where the left over £1000 is going each month? can you detail this for us please so that we can assist you?

debtmonster

What are the limits on your overdrafts ?

trulymadlydeeply_indebt!

Hi there Alison. I don't know if this helps, but many years ago (pre-children) I had a successful job, high salary etc., and whenever I applied for credit cards, I always applied for the top drawer "platinum" types and was successful on many occasions. I noticed in one of your posts you say your limits are £1k ish, have you tried going for top drawer? - the limits on these are up in the region of £3k plus .... in fact, one of my credit cards has a limit of £11,300! If you could apply for some thing like this, perhaps you could switch some of your borrowing onto this when the offers come around for 0% or Life of Balance transfers?

It used to be that you had to earn £20k plus to get the top drawer accounts (aah, those were the days!) Now jointly earn about £15k - came down to earth with a huge BUMP!)

hairyantelope

Hi Alison,

It's been said lots of times already, but it's totally doable to sort this out, without too much trouble. Just over a year ago I was 60K in debt. It's down to £40K in about 15 months. Still a million miles away from zero, but now I'm on top of it all.

You have done the very hardest part, which is facing the problem, and getting a total figure - it only gets easier on from here.

lynzpower

I can see why CCCS said that there is nothing they can help with. your outgoins are way less than your income and you seem to have around 250 a week going somewhere.

Maybe its on bank charges in part, and I know you are claiming these back.

How does your new first direct account look at the moment? is it overdrawn? what is the APR on this OD and how much is it standing at? Have you transferred your salary into this? Can you set up also a regular saver from this account for putting a bit away monthly for Xmas & birthdays etc)

The single most important thing you can do at this time is calm down. Being in a blind panic is not going to help anyone.

think about your spending- where has the money gone? When I got my statements back from claiming bank charges, I looked and saw some alarming things - 50 in HMV here, oasis river island 20 quid there, M&S food at a tenner a throw here & there etc. Look through your statements and find out. 35k is a lot of money to have spent and you NOT have a clue where its gone. this is the real start. its not pretty ( i cringe every time I see a spend in a pub on an old statement - one was 90 quid once - hefty round :rolleyes: nd a couple of hoidays on the CC as well ouch ) but it is utterly central to you going forward.

I find it very difficult to believe that you have only been spending 60 on food & toiletries etc , as this is the figure that me & oH work to ( 120 pcm) and its blooody hard work to stick to this.

If however, you have then fine, but where has 1k a month gone? Clothes, haircuts, boozing? Hobbies? Dental work? Something else?

Secondly, you MUST have something to sell, I certainly did, and even tho im debt free im still selling now, books, clothes, CDS, dvds etc, furniture and whatever i didnt need thats laying around gathering dust. Ive sold on ebay, greenmetropolis.com & amazon.

thirdly, I find it very therapeutic to go through the house and have a real assessment of what can stay and go, and what your "assets" are. Go through your cupbaords & meal plan what you have and buy little. Go through your bathroom & dressing table etc and see what toiletries you have that will see you through. Count up all your coppers and turn them into a tube of toothpaste if you NEED it, ONLY buy what you ABSAOLUTELY need and ensure you buy the cheapest you can find.

All the best, you will get there, come back post back and with a bit of time and thinking, youll get there, but you need to fathom where the money has gone and where it continues to go now.

Love
lynz
x

hypno06

Hi there, sound advice from the people here - what fab lovies they are:heartsmil

So, my two pennorth worth would be to grab a pen and paper and have a brainstorming session with a glass of wine or a cup of coffee and really work out what that extra cash is being spent on. Everything counts here so be really honest with yourself. Eg when I went to to work (pre self employed days) I would buy a lovely latte from the coffee guy every day on my way in. Best coffee in town and a bargain at £1.35. Trouble is, £1.35 every day that I went to work is £324, which means that I have to earn gross £500 ish just to pay for my morning coffee :eek: Then there were the trips to the deli at lunchtime because I really didn't fancy my sarnies for lunch :eek: :eek: , and yet I still managed to convince myself that because I only spent £50 a week for the family in Tesco, that I was within budget and couldn't work out why I didn't have enough to pay my debts.

It is not easy to do this "honesty" thing, as it is a bit scary when you see it all written down, but it really does give you firstly the shock that you may need to realise where the money has gone, but secondly and perhaps more importantly it gives you a clear idea of what you can cut out without it ruining your life (so for me, to cut out the coffee and the deli was an obvious and easy one).

Believe me that there is a light at the end of the tunnel, just remember that sometimes that tunnel goes around a corner and the light is out of view, but the end is still there.....

Keep posting, you will get through this. Just takes a bit of effort!