Young newbie looking for help & advice

XScaPE_3

ok,

currently my SOA is in the green, just!!


Incoming

salary £1,200.00 Monthly

Outgoings


Rent/rates - £350.00
Phone - £35.00
Food - £100
Car Insurance - £90.00
Petrol - £80
Loan - £200.00 (HSBC FLexiloan around 12%)
Credit card - £100 - (HSBC gold card)

Total: £955.00


Flexiloan amount is just over 4,500.00 of a 5,000.00 loan looking to reduce monthly payments by £100.00 here.
CCard is up to 3,750.00 of 4,000.00 currently 0% but looking to move cards to continue 0%

ok thats the rough picture, I am looking to cut the outgoings on the loan, ccard and I expect to see a reduction on my insurance renewal on renewal.

please kindly offer your advice on how to reduce my outgoings.

Thanks J

Skint_Catt

Don't you pay car tax/maintenance/service/MOT's, birthdays/xmas, hair cuts and clothes? Going out, contents insurance, newspapers/magazines? Takeaway coffees etc,

You might be surprised that it's not too far in the green when you add it all up!

Catt xx

Crown

Hi and Welcome,

As Catt already has suggested you need to get together a Full statement of Affairs so you can see what your true outgoings are. take a look at Martins Budget Planner that can be found on a link at the top of this forum ior from the main MSE website.

Well done on facing your debt and look forward to some more info

XScaPE_3

yes but I dont see those as being every month, the info was just to give a picture of the situation, I working through the paperwork as i type to get a more accurate impression.

You are 100% right though,hence why i'm moving forward sooner rather than later.

Crown

Hi again Xscape,

One thing you should do why you work out your outgoings is to stop using credit and try to life on a cash only basis.

I realise this seems like straightforward but I am amazed at how many people post on here why still using the credit cards each. the bottom line is its hard to get out of debt if you maintain the use of credit.

Once the SOA is done and you have a realistic budget that you will know how much you can either throw at the debts or how much you need to cut back to be within your budget each month. Also is the £1,200 take home pay or before tax?

XScaPE_3

thanks,

£1200 is take home in the bank (well for a few seconds anyway )

Forgot to mention i have a £200 overdraft which I dont pay interest on and £1003.00 in HSBC online saver account although 1/2 of that will be used elsewhere shortly.

XScaPE_3

should I be going for a personal loan to bring down the cost of the flexi, and transferring the balance of the credit card to another one?


any thoughts?

XScaPE_3

slipped down a few pages. up you go.

Skint_Catt

What's the APR on the card?
The only thing is you can't overpay on a Non-flexi loan so depends whether this is important to you. If you're happy to let the loan run it's course paying a set amount each month then yes go for it - you could probably halve the rate.

Crown

Hi Xscape, Its difficult to advise without seeing your total outgoings.

If you can transfer the balance of the cards to another 0% deal or even a life of balance transfer at a lesser rate than you are currently paying then this is a good thing and I would suggest you do so ASAP.

I would be more wary with the Loan side of things as you could end up paying more in the long term. Are you paying any PPI or any other insurance on your current Loans? If so you could save some money there as there not normally worth sod all.

If you take a look at the 1st time posters thread at the top of the forum and take time to put together a full SOA you will get a lot more advice on how to proceed

Tashja

You could maybe reduce your food bill by a bit if it is just you.

Do you get anything like Counsil Tax Benefit if you live alone ??

Is your phone a mobile or landline ?? Also do you have Sky or any bits like that you can cut back on.

It is hard without a full SOA and when you have posted it the help you will get in invaluable. Currently you are just in the green and the advise you will get on here will help you maintain that. It might be that you don't need to get a loan and therefore you will have less debt.

T xx