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Help! My SOA

Punked_2
Posts: 23 Forumite
My SOA.
Would appreciate any advice and pointers on how to make a serious dent in this debt. Had been using the old Ostrich technique but thought i better seek the expert advice of the Moneysaving experts on here! :T
Income-
£1600 per month after TAX & NI.
Monthly Outgoings-
Mortgage- £260
Gas & Elec-£42.50
Mobile Phone-£30
Council Tax-£44.50
Transport- £50
Car Insurance- £65
Food- £50
TV License- £6
Telephone- £7
Broadband- £9
TV- Freeview
Gym- £16
Cinema Pass- £12
Water- £12
Health Insurance/Sickness/Unemployment- £60
B&C Insurance £21
Debts-
Egg Loan- £14500
APR: 7.9%
£369 per month inclusive of PPI
60 months to run
Egg Card:
Current balance: £1,250.00
Credit limit: £1,250.00
APR: 17.9%
£100 per month
Egg Money:
Current Balance: £0
Current Limit: £1,250.00
I have requested this account be closed.
Marbles:
Current Balance: £5030.35
Credit limit: £5200.00
APR: 17.90%
Promo APR to October 2007 : 4.9%
£ minimum payment
Mint-
Current balance: £2,051.00
Credit limit: £2,700.00
APR: 16.9%
£ minimum payment
Halifax-
Current balance: £3,594.00
Credit limit: £7,000.00
APR: 5.9% life of the balance
£ minimum payment
MBNA-
Current Balance £1,010.52
Credit Limit £7,300.00
APR: 15.9%
£ minimum payment
Tesco-
Current balance: £1,221.00
Credit limit: £1,750.00
APR: 16.9%
£ minimum payment
M&S-
Outstanding Balance £1,010.52
Credit Limit £7,300.00
APR: 15.9%
£ minimum payment
Student Loans Company-
£10k outstanding.
£140 per month
No option of deferment as I am £7ish over the monthly threshold
According to Checkmyfile my Credit Rating is 849.
Any advice is Greatly appreciated.
Proud to have finally faced up to my Debts!!! :j
Would appreciate any advice and pointers on how to make a serious dent in this debt. Had been using the old Ostrich technique but thought i better seek the expert advice of the Moneysaving experts on here! :T
Income-
£1600 per month after TAX & NI.
Monthly Outgoings-
Mortgage- £260
Gas & Elec-£42.50
Mobile Phone-£30
Council Tax-£44.50
Transport- £50
Car Insurance- £65
Food- £50
TV License- £6
Telephone- £7
Broadband- £9
TV- Freeview
Gym- £16
Cinema Pass- £12
Water- £12
Health Insurance/Sickness/Unemployment- £60
B&C Insurance £21
Debts-
Egg Loan- £14500
APR: 7.9%
£369 per month inclusive of PPI
60 months to run
Egg Card:
Current balance: £1,250.00
Credit limit: £1,250.00
APR: 17.9%
£100 per month
Egg Money:
Current Balance: £0
Current Limit: £1,250.00
I have requested this account be closed.
Marbles:
Current Balance: £5030.35
Credit limit: £5200.00
APR: 17.90%
Promo APR to October 2007 : 4.9%
£ minimum payment
Mint-
Current balance: £2,051.00
Credit limit: £2,700.00
APR: 16.9%
£ minimum payment
Halifax-
Current balance: £3,594.00
Credit limit: £7,000.00
APR: 5.9% life of the balance
£ minimum payment
MBNA-
Current Balance £1,010.52
Credit Limit £7,300.00
APR: 15.9%
£ minimum payment
Tesco-
Current balance: £1,221.00
Credit limit: £1,750.00
APR: 16.9%
£ minimum payment
M&S-
Outstanding Balance £1,010.52
Credit Limit £7,300.00
APR: 15.9%
£ minimum payment
Student Loans Company-
£10k outstanding.
£140 per month
No option of deferment as I am £7ish over the monthly threshold
According to Checkmyfile my Credit Rating is 849.
Any advice is Greatly appreciated.
Proud to have finally faced up to my Debts!!! :j
0
Comments
-
hi and welcome
I'm fairly new here (the experts will be along soon) but one thing that stood out was the Egg Money that you are closing. Great idea, but only if you have spoken to them first and found out if they will let you do a balance transfer at a favourable rate. If you don't ask, you don't get! If they say no go ahead and cancel it. Worth phoning the rest and trying to get a rate reduction on them too!0 -
Hello!
The good thing here is that the credit cards seem to have sufficient scope for moving around and playing the credit card shuffle. Martin has a good article on here about making the most of your credit cards and I would find it for you but I am no good at doing links!!
So, armed with the ability to move stuff around to the lowest rates, including that life of balance card, give each credit card provider a call and tell them you are considering moving unless they can give you a lower rate, or a fabby balance transfer rate.
Then, put all your debts into the snowball calculator at https://www.whatsthecost.com and see what your debt free date is. This acts as a great motivator and you can play around with the figures to see if you can get this down a bit.
The minimum payments are missing from your SOA, so we can't see if you are overextended or not. Perhaps you could add these in sometime.
I would guess from the egg loan that you have consolidated but started spending again? At least with egg you can overpay without penalty, but you should reduce the number of cards you have if you have any potential to use them again.
Of course, if you are only using them to shuffle around and transfer balances for low interest rates, it is fine to keep them, but if there is any danger of you using the cards, cut them up and close them down!Successful women can still have their feet on the ground. They just wear better shoes. (Maud Van de Venne)Life begins at the end of your comfort zone (Neale Donald Walsch)0 -
hi and welcome
I'm fairly new here (the experts will be along soon) but one thing that stood out was the Egg Money that you are closing. Great idea, but only if you have spoken to them first and found out if they will let you do a balance transfer at a favourable rate. If you don't ask, you don't get! If they say no go ahead and cancel it. Worth phoning the rest and trying to get a rate reduction on them too!
thanks.
I transferred most of my balance from my EGG Card and Money Card to a new loan as a top up to an existing loan. Dont want to ask. I want to reduce the overall credit I have available and start working on pay off things quickly.0 -
Hello!
The good thing here is that the credit cards seem to have sufficient scope for moving around and playing the credit card shuffle. Martin has a good article on here about making the most of your credit cards and I would find it for you but I am no good at doing links!!
So, armed with the ability to move stuff around to the lowest rates, including that life of balance card, give each credit card provider a call and tell them you are considering moving unless they can give you a lower rate, or a fabby balance transfer rate.
Then, put all your debts into the snowball calculator at https://www.whatsthecost.com and see what your debt free date is. This acts as a great motivator and you can play around with the figures to see if you can get this down a bit.
The minimum payments are missing from your SOA, so we can't see if you are overextended or not. Perhaps you could add these in sometime.
I would guess from the egg loan that you have consolidated but started spending again? At least with egg you can overpay without penalty, but you should reduce the number of cards you have if you have any potential to use them again.
Of course, if you are only using them to shuffle around and transfer balances for low interest rates, it is fine to keep them, but if there is any danger of you using the cards, cut them up and close them down!
I have shuffled a few things in the past week.
For example. the MBNA card was costing £121 a month in interest as the total balance was £6200 as the 0% had just run out so i moved what I could to the egg card which had a rate of 0& to October and to the Marbles which had 4.9% to OCtober. The egg cards were consolidated into the loan but I havent started spending again. Those days are over. Im looking at tackling the problem head on now rather than just hide away from it.
I cant post what the minimum payments are on my cards as I dont have the info handy.0 -
Hi, I presume looking at your SOA that you share a property.
How much use do you get from your gym membership and your cinema pass, can you cancel these.
Also, you pay a hefty chunk out for car insurance, but there is no mention of any petrol/servicing/mot costs....or are these covered under transport.
Your food figure is low, does this cover everything, including lunches?
It may be a good idea to start a spending diary, to itemise all of your expenditure and get a clearer picture of where your money is going.
Good luck, and well done for posting.Official DFW Nerd Club - Member no: 203.0 -
OK, so if you are not going to shuffle any more, get on the phone to your credit providers and reduce your limits right down to whatever your outstanding balances are, in order that you simply cannot be tempted to spend on them again.
All too often, people set out with good intentions after consolidating and then after a few weeks, just buy one or two things on the credit card. Then before you know it, it is back up to the max, then the next one, then the next one. that is why so many of us are against consolidation - it doesn't usually work in the way we want.
So, to reduce temptation, get rid of the available credit. Ring them right now!Successful women can still have their feet on the ground. They just wear better shoes. (Maud Van de Venne)Life begins at the end of your comfort zone (Neale Donald Walsch)0 -
Hi, I presume looking at your SOA that you share a property.
How much use do you get from your gym membership and your cinema pass, can you cancel these.
Also, you pay a hefty chunk out for car insurance, but there is no mention of any petrol/servicing/mot costs....or are these covered under transport.
Your food figure is low, does this cover everything, including lunches?
It may be a good idea to start a spending diary, to itemise all of your expenditure and get a clearer picture of where your money is going.
Good luck, and well done for posting.
Gym membership is £200 a year and is paid upfront. I use it about twice a week. I dont want to cancel it.
Cinema pass is a bargain! I can use this up to 5+ times a month. It saves me a fortune as is so I wont be cancelling that.
Yes I share a house, most of the Outgoings are based on a half share.0 -
Hi, I presume looking at your SOA that you share a property.
Also, you pay a hefty chunk out for car insurance, but there is no mention of any petrol/servicing/mot costs....or are these covered under transport.
Your food figure is low, does this cover everything, including lunches?
car insurance is high, yes, but at the end of it I will have 4 years NCB. The reason its high is that I wanted to transfer a Scooter policy with 3 years NCB on it and was limited for choice. This one worked out best as I could get an extra years NCB in 8 months and they would accept my trasnferred NCB.
Food figure is based on a half share. Car costs are based on a half share aswell.0 -
there are a few areas you could save money on.....
mobile £30 - do you need this?
transport £50 - what is this for, do you need it and the car?
food £50 - just your share? that is a lot for one person/share
insurance £60 - also can be reduced through threads on this site
B+C £21 - is this total or your share. if this is share this is also a lot.
total potential savings here = up to £165 per month
good luck0 -
there are a few areas you could save money on.....
mobile £30 - do you need this?
transport £50 - what is this for, do you need it and the car?
food £50 - just your share? that is a lot for one person/share
insurance £60 - also can be reduced through threads on this site
B+C £21 - is this total or your share. if this is share this is also a lot.
total potential savings here = up to £165 per month
good luck
mobile- yes its needed but I could reduce the monthly cost.
transport- yes, I work strange hours and public transport wouldnt be available or feasible
food- plan has already been implemented to reduc the overall cost using shopping lists/bulk buys/ less supermarket trips/working the way through the food currently in cupboards.
Insurance- As explained above. This ends in October when I will be in a much stronger position to get a better deal. Until then nothing can be done with it.
B&C- I always thought it was too much! Policy ends in November and will be (fingers crossed) 4 years with no claims so will be looking to vastly reduce the cost.0
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