Debt advice, whats my best option?

ellesbellesxxx

In words this looks harsh, whereas I am genuinely saying this to try to be helpful - as you have asked for advice.

Quote: I will have a go at the SOA and see if anybody can advise me further, but I genuinely feel like my life is pretty empty as it is, as far as nights out and hobbies are concerned.

Yet you say on your SOA you are spending 200 a month on entertainment, 80 on drinking, 60 on takeaways and 43 on cigarettes... this adds up to 383 a month. x 12 = 4596 a year

I do get that you have clearly cut back, which is great, but if you are serious about paying this off, you really need to reconsider these spendings. According to your SOA, you should have 117 left over after debt repayment (Although some of these costs you say you are not yet paying) yet you say you have too much month left at the end of the money - so presumably this 117 is not left over?

Your best bet is to wait to get the car until you have hammered these debts more, cut back on your drinks... then snowball your debts. By not having a car, you would have 150 a month (Petrol, tax, insurance) plus whatever you save on entertainment from car is easily 200 a month you can free up - overpay this on your Lloyds CC you could pay it off in next 3/4 months. Then throw all the extra at the next highest APR etc.

Good luck to you whatever you decide to do.

Olie1988

No no, not at all, I appreciate the time you took to reply

I suppose the basic jist is to try and kurb my spending some more and fire as much as I can into the credit card?

I'm due a tax rebate for both this year and the previous year which I've not heard anything about, despite me sending all the requested documents well over a month ago, close to 2 now I'd say.

I'm also due a £350 payment from work in the next couple of weeks for holiday I've taken during my probationary period. I'll use this to pay off the Lloyds credit card.

I've paid £120 off it this week

Olie1988

I'm going to start a diary I think if I can find the place. Need to start enjoying paying debt, that oner felt quite good haha.

Just a quick one, will battling through this on my own definitely be the most cost effective way of dealing with this mess?

ellesbellesxxx

I think so... if you would struggle to get more credit with 0% APR you are definitely best off just blasting it all and starting a clean slate. You seem very positive and determined so no doubt you will clear this in no time!

Olie1988

Nope, no chance of getting 0%

I guess I could have a go at trying to get the Lloyds loan paid off with something slightly lower than 24.9%, but looking at my credit rating I think I'll struggle to get anything better than what I'm currently on!

I'll endeavor to get the £700 Lloyds CC paid off, hopefully that will give me a good sense of achievement and help keep me motivated, perhaps look at it as separate hurdles, rather than an £8,500 brick wall.

£551 to go

Orange_Ena

Hi Olie

Just wanted to pop back and wish you well. I think ellesbelles has said it all really, you just need to knuckle down and get going

All the best

P.S Enjoy your takeaway

Olie1988

Yup!

As said, really I was just a bit hesitant to start paying it off if somebody thought there was a cheaper option in the long run. Goes without saying I'm no financial expert haha!

But yeah, if it's just a case of knuckling down and getting it paid off, then that's what I'll do

Have a good weekend love x

Orange_Ena

Make sure you pay off the highest APR debt first. Have a look at the snowball calculator http://www.whatsthecost.com/snowball.aspx and play around a bit. Its quite amazing to see what a little bit of extra money can do. It might motivate you to give up fags and takeaways and other unneccessary spends to clear the debt a lot earlier

But your debt free [STRIKE]journey[/STRIKE] adventure (trying not to use the J word cause its about to be overused on the X Factor ) is exactly that - you decide how you want to play it. But be aware that the more sacrifices you make, the quicker you'll be debt free and be able to go on lots of journeys (damn ) in your new car.

What do you want more? Fags and takeaways or a car? Focus on a goal, put lots of car pictures up everywhere and everytime you think about spending on something that you don't really need, think of being able to drive around.........windows down...............blasting out a tune or 2...........the open road

Everytime you save some money, think to yourself, ooh, that's a hub cap or wow I've just got the steering wheel. You get the gist :rotfl:

Have a good weekend yourself