Help! The £29407.81 debt challenge...

jonnyboy80

Hi, I am new to MSE so here goes...!

I am a 26 bloke who whilst a uni got into some serious debt through my credit cards and own stupid spending-no good moaning about it as its my debt and rightly so my problem! However, since finishing uni 5 years ago this month I have just been ignoring the problem and have continued spending money each month which I just simply didn't have as well as taking out expensive loans along the way. The bottom line is that I currently owe £29407.81 :embarasse and since having my 'lightbulb moment' at christmas, have managed to cut nearly £2500 off this debt. Whilst still nearly £30K in debt I have felt better about my situation and feel that this is now the time to change things around and hopefully reduce this debt by the time I am 30. I have tried to talk to friends but most are very cagey and I think I may not be the only one who is in debt....:rolleyes:

So....here are my debts:

HSBC loan £14,683.76 £564.76 per month
Egg Card £2600.37 0% til September 2007
AMEX £312.66 15.9%
HSBC Card £1748.00 0% til November 2007
Capital One £10063.02 0% til March 2008

TOTAL: £29407.81


I really am looking for support from anyone else out there who is either in the same position as me or has been there. If anyone fancies a challenge with a similar debt then great!! Jon

Ignatius_A

Welcome.

your debt is similar to my own, I'm just about to post my SOA and recommend you do that too. People on here are great, and may be able to make some suggestions you've missed.

Anyway, all the best with your new hobby

stokegal

Hi Jonnyboy

First off welcome to the site :j :j It might be helpful to post a full SOA (see SS sticky for help) then we can all have a look at the quickest way you can get rid of your debt.

Good Luck

Stokegal

Midnight_Sky_2

Hi and welcome,

As soon as you can put up your SOA so that people can start advising you the best way to go about reducing you debt.

You might also want to have a look at the snowball calculator - this will give you a debt free date. I find it's a great help when I need motivated, which is pretty much all the time lol.

http://www.whatsthecost.co.snowball.aspx



Anyway, look forward to having a look at your SOA and following your progress.

Midnight

PanickingHARD

Hi mate...

As everyone has said, get an SOA on here, as soon as you can... every day you delay is a day extra you are paying interest...

You can sort this, and quicker than you thought, but the first step is posting...

And if you need inspiration, read some of the debt diaries on here...

Once your SOA is on, we'll get you on the right tracks...

All the best mate!

Hobsch

Welcome to the Forum and well done for posting.
I started with just over £32K and now just gone under £27K so fairly similar to yourself.

You will get loads of help and advice from everyone on here. Everyone is extremely helpful. Although not happy to be in debt (obviously) I have become a much better person I feel because of it.

Good Luck in your journey to become debt free.

jonnyboy80

Thanks for your messages!!

Here is my SOA...

Income of £1500 net

Outgoings

HSBC loan @ £564.76 per month
Capital One card @ £275 per month
Egg card @ £55 per month
HSBC card @ £50 per month
AMEX card @ £30 per month

Mobile phone: £25 per month (locked into 18 month deal)
Pension plans: £25 per month
NUT subs: £7.25 per month
AXA saving plan: £36 per month
10 year savings plan: £35 per month
Rent (at home with food): £200 per month
Petrol: £60 per month
Insurance: £50 per month

Think that is all!! So in total £1413.01
The remaining amount is spent on day to day things including going out.

As you can see the bulk of the debt is on my HSBC loan which is costing me a lot each month (over a third of my wages ouch!!) I do have another credit card (MBNA) which I have not used since christmas which has a limit of £7800. I have been thinking about tranferring the loan debt between this card and one other of long term balance tranfers so I can reduce the monthly amount on my loan. Any ideas on this?

Jon

jonnyboy80

Had some great news today!!! Saw my accountant and been told that I am owed nearly £700 back on my tax code from last year (knew it was coming but not that much!) Things looking up,.

bedhair

Hello fellow teacher (NUT subs gave it away)
Welcome to the boards.
Put the £700 on the highest APR loan / card.
Any chance of doing private tutoring? You could earn £25 an hour. Just a thought for the summer holiday.
Bedhair
xxx

jonnyboy80

Will be putting it straight onto the AMEX card when I finally get it, which can take several months I am told..Makes me laugh though-you owe the tax man money you pay but if they owe you then you wait!! Have done some tutoring already this year but from past experience the summer holidays are fairly quiet but am still looking...

chevalier

Whilst using your teaching skills during the summer holiday is fine (what about crammer schools for those trying to get up to speed during the hols?), you might want to think about taking ANY temp job to earn some extra money. Obviously you have to do prep work for the coming year, but even if you did bar work for 6 weeks or shelf stacking, then this would still bring in some extra dosh.

chev