want to be debt free asap

abracadabra707

hi all,

I'd love some advice/suggestions etc to get out of debt ASAP. I am currently making roughly 1400 quid a month after tax and my minimum payments on my credit card, overdraft and loan work out to be about 500£. that leaves me about 900£ to live on and by sharing a flat and restricting my expenses i can probably survive on perhaps 600 or 700£ a month leaving me about 200£ extra - but i generally speaking more often that not I end up spending it all. My total debt including my credit cards, overdraft and loan work out to be approx 20K and my salary is 21K. I have been thinking about my debt management strategy. I have 8 credit cards out of which 4(natwest visa and mastercard, RBS visa and mastercard) have been cancelled by the card providers and i've been paying minimum balance on them for a while now. I have a Vanquis card but as it charges insane amounts of interest i transferred it to a first direct card and i'm paying no interest on that for 20 months. I also have a balance on a capital one and barclaycard both of which have higher rates of interest than the RBS family of cards(which have smaller amounts of debt). So far i've been paying minimum balance on the RBS cards and trying to repay the ones with higher interest earlier but should I be targetting the ones with smaller amounts first so as to get a feeling of achievement and satisfaction? this is because i end up feeling very demotivated as it seems like I've been in debt forever..... is the debt snowball method better?

ifstar

Post up a SOA, if you think you should have £200 left but never do then you need to work out where it is. Posting up a full SOA will show what cards you have, the balance and the APR.

It is better to pay the higher interest cards first, as they will cost more if you pay them off later however if you feel it will motivate you more then you have to weigh it up yourself.

What I would suggest is to cut up the cards so you aren't tempted to use them again.

abracadabra707

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1400
Total monthly income.................... 1400

Monthly Expense Details
Rent(including council rates).......... 290
Electricity(overpaid earlier)............ 8
Gas..................................... 20
Water rates............................. 0
Mobile phone............................ 50
TV Licence.............................. 13
Satellite/Cable/internet/landline........35
Groceries etc. ......................... 120
Clothing................................ 5
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 5
Haircuts................................ 10
Gym..................................... 31
Sports...................................33
SOS charity..............................20
Accident insurance.......................10
Credit expert............................10

Total monthly expenses.................. 660


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 0
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 0

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly.. .APR
Natwest visa ..................568 .......13£....... 18%
Natwest Mastercard ............556 .......13£ .......18%
RBS visa ......................843 .......19£....... 19%
RBS mastercard ...............1009 .......23£........19%
Natwest Overdraft ............2582 .......35£ .......22%
First Direct gold card .......2744 .......83£ ........0
Vanquis .........................0
Capital one Visa .............2050 .......78£....... 39%
Barclaycard visa .............1331 .......40£....... 30%
Bank of Ireland Loan .........5967 .......229£....... 6%

Total unsecured debts..........17650......533£


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,400
Expenses ............................... 660
Available for debt repayments........... 740
Minimum payments ........................533
Extra income to work with ...............207

abracadabra707

Thanks ifstar,that was quite a useful exercise

R_P_W

Is it accurate though?

Do you not have any travel costs?

katsu

abracadabra707 wrote: »

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1400
Total monthly income.................... 1400

Monthly Expense Details
Rent(including council rates).......... 290
Electricity(overpaid earlier)............ 8
Gas..................................... 20
Water rates............................. 0
Mobile phone............................ 50 Can you go SIM only as this is a lot. You can easily save £25 a month or more.
TV Licence.............................. 13
Satellite/Cable/internet/landline........35 Do you need this?
Groceries etc. ......................... 120
Clothing................................ 5
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 5
Haircuts................................ 10
Gym..................................... 31 Need gym and sports?
Sports...................................33
SOS charity..............................20 Charity payments can come out until you are DF. Maybe volunteer some time instead?
Accident insurance.......................10 Really need this? Not covered through work?
Credit expert............................10 Cancel this and just pay for a credit report every now and again. That would give you another £100 off your debt for the year.

Total monthly expenses.................. 660


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 0
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 0

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly.. .APR
Natwest visa ..................568 .......13£....... 18%
Natwest Mastercard ............556 .......13£ .......18%
RBS visa ......................843 .......19£....... 19%
RBS mastercard ...............1009 .......23£........19%
Natwest Overdraft ............2582 .......35£ .......22%
First Direct gold card .......2744 .......83£ ........0
Vanquis .........................0
Capital one Visa .............2050 .......78£....... 39%
Barclaycard visa .............1331 .......40£....... 30%
Bank of Ireland Loan .........5967 .......229£....... 6%

Total unsecured debts..........17650......533£


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,400
Expenses ............................... 660
Available for debt repayments........... 740
Minimum payments ........................533
Extra income to work with ...............207

The good news is that I think you can save a bit more on your expenses which will help get the debts down. Ideas above. HTH.

abracadabra707

RPW, I have a 10 min walk to work and shops etc close by so don't really spend anything on travel unless I'm going out etc.

abracadabra707

katsu, I agree with your suggestions, thanks.

dreamdreamer

You have nothing budgeted for entertainment, ie. going for a pint/to the cinema/grabbing a takeout/gigs etc. I'm guessing you withdraw money at some point in the month, or spend on your debit card. This needs to be accounted for in your budget.

And I could be wrong but you may be underestimating your presents and clothes fund. Do you really only spend £60 a year on presents for all friends/family and likewise £60 a year on clothes? Maybe you do, but I would venture that most people spend far more when they actually sit down and add it all up.

A spending diary for a few months would tell you where you're losing that £207 a month!

Best of luck in your debt-busting xx

beanielou

Good suggestions from katsu.
How lucky to only stay 10 mins from work.