Help... I'm falling deeper.

xRichx

I seem to be geting deeper and deeper into my creditcard and overdraft.

Now, I know to some of you I'm not much in debt, or that bad a situation, but I seem to be getting even worse each month without any effort.

I've got a credit card that's at around £2000 and my overdraft of £700. I owe my mother around £300, but she understands that the other cards should be payed back first.

Now, I'm in a massive panick as half way through the month, I seem to have no money left.

My rent takes up a major £400 a month, with car insurance and mobile bills following that up. I'm looking to move out of my place and into my girlfriends for a bit until I have myself a bit more sorted, but I have to find someone to move in before I can do this.

I don't know what I'm really asking, but just some words of wisdom and advice would be comforting.

Oh yeah, I'm currently in the process of trying to get my bank charges back too, which hopefully won't take too long.

Much love
xRichx

yellowmonkey

xRichx

Well done for posting. First thing you need to do is look at what you have coming in and going out. If you post a statment of affairs (SOA) then we will be able to see where cutbacks can be made if possible.
We do not measure or judge people by the size of their debt.
If you are struggling it is a debt.

Good luck and welcome.

ym

Burlesque_Babe

hi there, welcome.

Which credit card is it? When I was sorting myself out, I phoned them all up and asked the APR (I played it dumb) and then acted shocked and said I would have to consider moving to another CC.

Barclaycard and Capital One slashed the rate, saving me money each month.

I didn't have the option to move to a 0% card, do you think this would be a possibility?

Keep plugging away at the bank charges - do you have any on your credit card? Overlimit fees, late payment charges and if you have ever had a payment bounce (and then been charged) ,you can claim them back also.

Are you on the cheapest tariff? Or on PAYG if you can change over?

Have a look at confused and moneysupermarket to see if you can save a few pounds on your car insurance.

Good to look to stop it at this amount rather than ignore and think it will go away - well done.

xRichx

My credit card is Virgin, I changed to that around 3 months ago to keep the 0% going. Altho I didn't know that you can claim back on the late payment charges, so may have to write a letter to them in the near future.

My Mobile phone tarrif is £32.50 a month, and I'm not able to change the tarriff on that for another 2 months due to having to wait 6months before downgrading.

My car insurance is due to be renewed on the 1st of July, and looking around at the moment (only checked confused.com this morning) I'll be saving approx £24 pounds when I do change over.

I'm trying to cut back on the amount that I'm driving also by walking and riding to work.

Quick question... Is a SOA what I'm earning v's spending per month?

yellowmonkey

xRichx

If you look on the first page and follow Southernscousers sticky in regard to First time posters it should guide you.

Yes basically it is a list of your incomings Vs outgoings. It is helpfull if you can also list APR'S as the more experienced amongst us can assist greatly in this matter.
If you can list your creditors as well as APR's all the better

Hope that helps. It was all new to me as well and the first time poster sticky does help

ym

sammy115

yes an SOA is exactly that. See Southern Scousers sticky at the top of the page.

You also need to keep a spending diary so you can see where you are 'wasting' money.

Having done confused.com to see which is the cheaper quote for your car insurance now go to https://www.quidco.com or one of the other cashback sites. I got £30 from Norwich Union just for signing up through them.

Well done on realising you have a problem now, when this can be sorted, rather when it will be substantially harder.

As for the overdraft, why not open another bank account (quidco have a £50 offer on the alliance and Leicester) and then just transfer say £100 over to the overdrawn bank account to pay the overdraft off.

Little_Miss_Winner

xRichx wrote: »

My car insurance is due to be renewed on the 1st of July, and looking around at the moment (only checked confused.com this morning) I'll be saving approx £24 pounds when I do change over.

Hi there, Dont forget to register with https://www.quidco.com before you sign up for things like insurances.
I went through quidco for my car insurance with Lloyds tsb, which had the most competitive price, and am due to receive another £120 via quidco very soon.:T

Little_Miss_Winner

Ooops sammy posted at the same time as me..

xRichx

Right, seeing as I'm at work at the moment and unable to have all bank statements/ creditcard statements to hand right now, this is the list of however much I can think of for my income/outgoings right now, so apologies for the lack of detail.

Income £890pcm. give or take a few pounds each month.

Outgoings:
House Rent : £400
Bills (it's a joint house with 2 other people, so all bills are shared between us, We moved in January, and these were the best deals as of then) : £70combined
Council Tax : £35
Car insurance : £57
AA Breakdown : $41
Phone : £32.50
Phone Insurance : £6
Gym : £56 (unable to cancel within 1st year, which will run out in July)

Apologies again for lack of details on card payments etc.

newlywed

Is your AA breakdown per month!!?? What option level do you have????

I have roadside relay and pay under £10 a month???

xRichx

Sorry, got it wrong, AA is annual roadside cover, so that £41 is not per month...

Hmm, that means it's going on something else... Probably protien supplements.