Cannot afford to go it alone! Here is my SOA SOS!

OCS_Fan

ruth2 wrote: »

Everything Tixy and Fox said is exactly what I would have suggested. I don't want this to come over as overly critical, but there does seem to be a lot of 'fat' in there that could be trimmed quite quickly.

I don't like to read and run, so just to add my 2 pennies:

If you hypothetically saved say £300 from random bits and pieces here and there (e.g. £45pm from savings, £40pm from downgrading tv, £40pm from downgrading holidays/xmas, £100pm from being more savvy about food shopping, etc...) and paid it directly off your overdraft, you could be overdraft free in 10 months easily.

Then that'd free up a further £6 spent in usage fees, £21 in interest, and potentially even £25 in account fees (assuming you could move to a free banking account?) - which is ~£50 a month that you didn't have before for very little effort.

It's always easier to focus on overpaying one debt at a time (usually the highest APR or most urgent/dangerous debt), and then when you've paid that off, move on to the next one. Speaking from experience, I've cut my debtors to just two now, and it feels like I have a way better handle on things. Just be sure you're not creating new debt with fees when you're consolidating.

Also (this is just a personal preference thing) one example is that you currently have 2 credit cards with 'smallish' amounts on them. If your credit limit would allow it you could combine them into one, just so that it's easier to keep track of your debts? You may even be able to look into stoozing if you're feeling confident :-)

Good luck going forward x

Thank you Ruth2 for your very valuable advice. Xmas and birthdays etc I do not save for at the moment but I included them as roughly what I spend. However, the monthly amount is still included in my budget so money must be there somewhere.

£27 is cost of Platinum bank with Lloyds TSB. I get various benefits with it but to be honest only things I use are AA cover, phone insurance for myself and daughter and £500 free overdraft. I was considering downgrading.

The MBNA is a new card at 0% for 24 months. I have £6000 credit limit on it but didn't move Lloyds over as it is 0% too and I would incur a balance transfer fee if I moved it again. By paying £50 a month I will clear it before 0% ends.

I could save £20 by downgrading TV package but you have to have phone with it (I'm with Virgin Media). My partner and I rely on the Internet and it is very good so I'm reluctant to move it to a cheap short term deal that may prove to be a headache.

I could stop saving £45 and put this towards reducing my overdraft.

OCS_Fan

foxgloves wrote: »

Hi there,
From a quick look, it does seem that there is room for freeing up some money. Everyone's perspective is slightly different. I can only talk about what I would do from experience of paying off around 30K of debts & now living debt-free. First, cancel the tv package. £60 a month is £720 a year that could much more usefully be spent on debt repayment. We switched to freeview & don't miss a single channel. £400 a month on groceries is high & it's really £420 if you include the 'drinks for home'. We spend £250 a month inc drinks, but you would expect to budget a bit higher than this if you still have a child at home. Try knocking it to £350 for a month or two, then see if you can do £300. Be prepared to cook more from scratch, shop around, use local markets for fruit & veg, etc, move down a brand or two, try Aldi/Lidl if you haven't already, batch cook to get extra meals in the freezer for another week, all the tips that you'll find over on the Old style forum. Plan your weekly meals & only put on your shopping list what you need to buy. Watch out for sneaky top-up shops......things like 'We've run out of crisps'......if sufficient crisps were bought for everyone who wants one to have a packet a day, then tough, crisps don't get bought again till next week's list. Could you go a couple of years without a holiday if it meant your debts would reduce more quickly? It's not an essential (tho admit it often feels like one!) but £83 a month is a sum that would be more appropriately used to pay down debt at the moment. It's a good idea to put money away for Christmas, but you're perhaps not really in a position to be spending £792 a year on this at the moment. There's no shame in reducing what you spend on people's presents. We've done this quite significantly & I don't think anyone would be able to notice. We put more time & thought into choosing instead. I've also started making lots of gifts as well. They seem to be well-received & I can be working on those all year. £30 a month for 'meals at work' also jumped out at me. Could you not take packed lunches? This can be a good saving. For the two of us, we reckoned we saved almost £2000 a year when we started taking our own food to work instead of popping into M&S food hall 5 days a week! As people with lots of debt have often had a lifestyle of buying lots of things, do you have things you no longer want that you could sell on ebay? For instance, my partner & I have lost lots of weight & we sold lots of our big clothes on ebay & made over £300. Last thing is if you haven't already, go & investigate some of the pound shops. I used to be a bit snobby about them, but now use them regularly for certain products....i.e the brand of toothpaste we like is 99p for a full size tube, so why would I pay over twice as much somewhere else? Ditto Aldi's perfectly good tinned tuna for 49p. The way you need to look at it, is that every £ saved or made is an extra £ off your debt total. It sounds obvious, but we found that every little bit really does add up. Nothing in this reply is intended as judgemental......we've been in a lot of debt ourselves in the past & I wouldn't offer advice had we not managed to turn this around through changing our bad habits. I bet you'll get lots of other people offering their thoughts too, & I wish you all the best with starting your new DFW life x

Thank you Foxgloves - your reply is very inspiring and I really appreciate it. £60 is total Virgin package but I can definitely reduce TV aspect. Your shopping ideas are brilliant and I will aim to reduce £400 to £350 this month. I work in education and I'm currently on holiday so I included some of the extra spending I've done to keep my son entertained. Also my other 2 have been home so I have been feeding them some of the time. House drinks are not a regular expenditure but last weekend I did treat myself to a bottle of Bacardi. I also included Xmas and birthday spends because I am sure there are other things I spend on occasionally that I have not included.

Last year, we started a diary where we wrote everything down we spent and for a few months we really moved forward. We need to start this again. I have had my light bulb moment. I cannot give up this time. I want to be debt free by the time I'm 50.:rotfl:

OCS_Fan

ilovelondontown wrote: »

And while it's another factor altogether, is staying with your partner for the financial benefit really the right thing to do? Emtionally or morally?

Debt and the relationship being partly the reason for it have to be faced I know. It's something I'm giving lots of thought to. If interested see my thread on Relationships forum: Separating after 10 years together.:(

[Deleted User]

OCS_Fan wrote: »

Is your partners debt included below? Or is there an additional £5,000 to what has been listed?
Loan 1 £9818.61 Borrowed £14,999 over 86 months APR 8.1 48 months left

Loan 2 £7639.83 Borrowed £9000 over 50 months APR 5.9 30 months left

Lloyds Platinum £557 APR 0% pay £50 monthWhen will this debt start incurring interest? Or is it 0% for the life of the debt? If it will start incurring interest, what will the APR be?

MBNA £1470 APR 0% pay £62 monthIs this the minimum payment? When will this card start charging interest? Or is it for the life of the balance? If it will start incurring interest, what will it be?

Lloyds TSB overdraft £3000 O/D usage £6, monthly interest £21

Assets

House value £165000 - £175000 mortgage outstanding £124000
1.49% Repayment £526.33 monthly. Is this variable, or fixed?)

Here is my SOA


Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Monthly Income Details
Income from Employment (after tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,151.43Am I right in thinking that you are a teacher? (NUT fees paid below?) - If so is there any scope to private tutor to earn a bit extra?
Benefits (Inc. Child Benefit/Tax Credits & Income Support). . . . . . . . . . . 81.00
Contribution from partner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 500.00 Given the overall household expenses, maybe they should be contributing a bit more?

Monthly Expense Details

In Your Home

Mobile phones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35.00 How many phones is this for? If one, it can easily be reduced - if/when out of contract switch to SIM only or PAYG - could get for approx £10 pm - take a look at GiffGaff (but there are plenty of other options)
TV licence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.12
Internet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00??
Home phone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00??
Electricity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00??
Gas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54.50
Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45.32is this metered or standard charge?
Council tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98.33is this over 10 or 12 months?
Overdraft cost. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27.00
Bank account fee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25.00Cancel pay for account unless there is a compelling reason to keep, do you use the benefits and services that you are paying for?
Home insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.89
Mortgage/Rent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 526.33
Mortgage life insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.67
Food and household shopping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 400.00It's not really that clear how many this needs to cover, but if I understand correctly 2 adults and 1 child? - if so then I think that this can be reduced a lit (including household products and pet food (also how many pets?)) - try meal planning, don't shop hungry, make a list before you go and stick to it, go to lidl/aldi, batch cook and freeze portions, drop brands etc
Drinks for home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00not sure what exactly this is, but buy when on deals or offers

Motoring & Public Transport

Petrol/Diesel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100.00any way to reduce?
Car tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18.75
Car insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29.33
Car maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.33

Debt Repayments

Credit card repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112.00
Personal loan repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 448.34

Savings & Investments

Regular saving. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45.00How much savings do you have? Consider overpaying towards one of your debts (the one that is costing you the most in interest - prob one of your loans at the moment, but depending on if/when CC's charge insterest)

Family

Pet food. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
Pocket money. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.00

Entertainment

Satellite/Digital TV. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60.00Look at freeview or freesat - does this also include phone and internet? You can prob get home phone and internet for approx £20-£30 pm
Cinema/Theatre trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18.00Use deals and offers - look at orange wednesdays
Books/Music/Films/Computers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.99What is this?
Pet costs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.50
Eating out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51.00Pretty high for every month given your debt levels - try using deals and vouchers and offers, also try going out less maybe?

Clothes, Health & Beauty

Haircuts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.25
Dentistry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.75
New children's clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
New clothes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00

Education & Courses

Support children at University. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160.00 Can they get a part-time job and support themselves? How many more Uni years? - presumably this is only during term time?
NUT union subs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21.16

Big One-Offs
Birthdays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25.00Saved somewhere for when it's needed?
Summer holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83.33Think this needs to be cut out, or heavily cut back on (unless childcare over summer hols - not much you can do about that)
Christmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66.67saved somewhere for when it's needed?

Odds & Sods

Newspapers and magazines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.00read online
Regular charity donations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.00cancel until debt free
Meals at work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30.00take packed lunches
Coffees/Sandwiches/Snacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00keep snacks in your handbag for when tempted when out and about


Total monthly income. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,732.43


Total monthly expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,656.57

I have made some comments above - hope they help,

D9

ilovelondontown

OCS_Fan wrote: »

Debt and the relationship being partly the reason for it have to be faced I know. It's something I'm giving lots of thought to. If interested see my thread on Relationships forum: Separating after 10 years together.:(

Will have a read...

But let me ask you this, if you both were debt free would you go tomorrow?

tallyhoh

Gosh, how many in the house? you are spending £570 just on food without including the pets.

Try having a look at the old style board for how to cut back.

OCS_Fan

tallyhoh wrote: »

Gosh, how many in the house? you are spending £570 just on food without including the pets.

Try having a look at the old style board for how to cut back.

£400 and this month £20 for drinks at home. We have had one take away for £19.50 and a meal out for 3 for £31 but this is not the norm as I'm on 'holiday'. Also to add that we have not had a holiday this year and we normally go to Cornwall for a week in a caravan. I just included saving for a holiday for next year as I do work very hard and feel I want something to look forward to next summer.

I have one cat who has maximum 2 boxes of £1 Whiskers treats and eats dried food - admittedly it's Iams or similar but I have bought cheaper stuff and he just leaves it. Where are you getting £570 from. There are 2 adults and one child but my other 2 kids have been around this summer and if they are here, I feed them.

I do usually take a packed lunch when at work. Sometimes I'll book a school dinner which is maximum £1.90 for a main and pudding but I usually just have a salad and jacket potato which is £1.50.

I also included £5 a month for charity donations as I work in a school and there is always someone collecting for something. Also we are expected to contribute to collections, usually £1 to £5 a time depending on who it is. There have been a lot lately!

We were running 2 cars but my partners was written off on 29th July so we are managing with mine. He cycles most days each way - 35 minutes each way.

I have been trying to reduce weekly shop to £80-85. This will also include all household items not just food and drink. In term time, I tend to do home delivery as I can control how much I buy and avoid temptations. This way I plan each meal and I can manage cooking while working a 7.30 until 6pm day. I pay delivery saver which means delivery cost is £3 max. I honestly find this is the best way to manage how much we spend within the time limits I have. I tend to do most of the cooking but my partner knows he needs to contribute more. He is actually a great cook. I avoid going food shopping as a family though as he always sneaks in extras I wouldn't buy like a £2 bar of luxury chocolate, sports drinks and fancy chocolate milk - which he did this week!

OCS_Fan

ilovelondontown wrote: »

Will have a read...

But let me ask you this, if you both were debt free would you go tomorrow?

No - I don't think so - but I appreciate why you are asking. I do love him and I believe he loves me in his own way. However, the last 10 years have been rocky to say the least. My partner's work history has been erratic and we have has periods of him not working or earning very little. His mental health issues have returned recently due to him taking voluntary redundancy from his job of 4 years (he feels it was constructive dismissal) but I have known him long enough to know its not as simple as that. He has been trying to set up his own fledgling business but he knew he would have to secure some work to keep us ticking over. This wasn't happening - I put the pressure on - he quickly got a job - but he has no income for a couple of months. Last Friday, I had told him it was over. I was going to sell, he was going to move out. He managed to talk me into one last final chance. To be frank, I'm in turmoil at the moment - trying to address the money difficulties as well as my relationship. I was married for 14 years, it ended. I have been in this relationship for 10 years. I want to give it one last go. I'm 46 - can I face starting again on my own? I may have to anyway.

cabriolean

First thing that jumps out are relatively low sums on 0% cards, when the 0% time is over, the interest rate will probably skyrocket. I'd suggest trying to get rid of these fast.

Loan 1 £9818.61 Borrowed £14,999 over 86 months APR 8.1 48 months left

Loan 2 £7639.83 Borrowed £9000 over 50 months APR 5.9 30 months left

Lloyds Platinum £557 APR 0% pay £50 month
MBNA £1470 APR 0% pay £62 month

Lloyds TSB overdraft £3000 O/D usage £6, monthly interest £21

Assets

House value £165000 - £175000 mortgage outstanding £124000
1.49% Repayment £526.33 monthly.

Here is my SOA


Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Monthly Income Details
Income from Employment (after tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,151.43
Income from Self Employment (before tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00 Maybe try raising this to £50, there are lots of fairly easy ways, I'd suggest tutoring, however you could babysit if there aren't many tutoring jobs available
Benefits (Inc. Child Benefit/Tax Credits & Income Support). . . . . . . . . . . 81.00
Contribution from partner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 500.00

Monthly Expense Details

In Your Home

Mobile phones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35.00 This seems a little excessive, mine is about £10.00, but I called them up and told them I wanted to cancel because it was too expensive, I had actually seen a better deal pricewise but if they could match it I'd rather not have the inconvenience of having to switch (didn't tell them this bit, just that they were too expensive), they beat the deal pricewise and gave me extra internet :j I'd suggest maybe calling them up and trying to get £10-£15 off £22.50
TV licence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.12
Gas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54.50
Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45.32 You might be able to reduce this with a meter, but it depends where you live
Council tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98.33
Overdraft cost. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27.00
Bank account fee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25.00
Home insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.89
Mortgage/Rent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 526.33
Mortgage life insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.67
Food and household shopping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 400.00 This is way too high, you're paying more than £1.50 each per meal, including the child's, there are lots of recipes on this site for under 50p (6000) I'd suggest pretty much halving this if possible £200. Try using Approved Food and value/savers range, you honestly can't tell the difference with things like spaghetti and washing powder.
Drinks for home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00 A little high, but everyone has those one or two luxuries.

Motoring & Public Transport

Petrol/Diesel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100.00
Car tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18.75
Car insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29.33
Car maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.33
Rail/Buses/Taxis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Debt Repayments

Credit card repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112.00
Personal loan repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 448.34

Savings & Investments

Regular saving. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45.00 You'll be able to save more for him if you repay your debts sooner and pay less interest, you'll save more for him in the end by not saving for him now £0.00

Family

Pet food. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
Pocket money. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.00

Entertainment

Satellite/Digital TV. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60.00 If it includes the home phone and broadband, and you like it isn't awful, but I'd suggest calling to see if you can get it reduced.
Cinema/Theatre trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18.00 Have you tried getting free cinema tickets to early screenings through various sites (they're on the freebies section), and not buying food/drinks when you're there. I now go to the cinema more often and spend less.....£15
Books/Music/Films/Computers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.99
Pet costs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.50
Eating out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51.00 A little high, maybe book through Groupon/with vouchers etc. once a month if you want to eat out. £30

Clothes, Health & Beauty

Haircuts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.25
Dentistry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.75
New children's clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
New clothes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00

Education & Courses

Support children at University. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160.00
NUT union subs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21.16

Big One-Offs

Birthdays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25.00
Summer holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83.33 Too high, look for deals and ask them to beat each others' prices £50
Christmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66.67 A little high, buy stuff on offer, presents through groupon etc. £40

Odds & Sods

Newspapers and magazines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.00 Try to read online, but not that big a cost £0
Regular charity donations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.00 Charity starts at home, maybe send a postcard/card to a Postpal once a month or something if you still want to give £1.00
Meals at work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30.00 Try to pack a sandwich and a snack/a salad or something £9.00
Coffees/Sandwiches/Snacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00 Take snacks and a drink with you in your bag, or reduce amounts/buy on offer £10


Total monthly income. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,732.43
2,782.43

Total monthly expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,656.57
2,278.07

The difference comes out to £428.50, the cutbacks are fairly big, but shouldn't affect enjoyment much and means you can quickly get rid of the credit card debt before it starts demanding lots of interest, once the urgent debt is taken care of, you can relax a little more again. Credit card debt mounts up pretty fast and destroys credit ratings like crazy. :eek:

OCS_Fan

First thing that jumps out are relatively low sums on 0% cards, when the 0% time is over, the interest rate will probably skyrocket. I'd suggest trying to get rid of these fast.

It will but I plan to pay them both off within the 0% period. Any extra money I have will be used to clear them faster if possible but APR on my overdraft is higher. I could use MBNA to clear my overdraft to save these monthly costs and switch to a normal account. Then again my payment to MBNA would have to go up significantly to clear debt in 24 months. I have only just got this card. I moved 3 smallish balances to it that had higher APRs (m & s, barclaycard simplicity and Tesco). What would you advise?:j