lordash's debt diary

lordash

Hi,

I am a first year student and basically I have got myself into a lot of debt through gambling losses. This all started about 9 months ago now, and my total debts (not including student loans) now equal roughly £9500.00. I have gone to gamcare for help and they are really supportive, a lot of students have got into similar situations. I still find it hard to believe that I am overdrawn, let alone by nearly £10,000 :eek: !! When I think to myself about the money I have risked (and lost), and the fact that at one point I could of walked away almost £10,000 up, I cant help but to think of myself as a complete idiot. But what is done is done and I need to move forwards.

Here is my SoA:

DEBTS:

NatWest overdraft: £4613.89
This is on a repayment plan: Must repay £137 a month for 6 months until limit is brought back up to the agreed level of £3800.
APR: 17.95%

NatWest Creditcard: £352.72
Have excceded my limit by £52.72 so must pay this off in one go.
APR: 13.9%

HSBC Creditcard: £499.99
APR: 15.9%

Halifax Account: +£470.61 EXCEPT someone has copied my card details and emptied my account, so until this is sorted, this account is overdrawn by £250.
APR: 19.9%

NatWest Student Account: £1250
INTEREST FREE

HSBC Student Account: £800
INTEREST FREE

Barclays student account: £200
INTEREST FREE

Lloyds Student account: £1500
INTEREST FREE

Total debt with interest payable: £5466.60 (+ £250 from Halifax AC until fraud sorted)

Total debt: £9216.60 (+ £250)

INCOMINGS:

Wages:

Typically £150/wk during termtime, but likely to be more due to overtime. Have not got a job for the summer yet although I have been invited for interview. If sucessful this will provide an approx. further £1000 pm for 3 months.

Student loan: (Counting this as income for the purposes of repayment as the interest is so low)

£3205.00 pa. paid in 3 installments

Maintenance grant: £2765.00 pa. paid in three installments

University bursary payments: £3000.00 pa. paid in three installments

Total estimated income: £16k + overtime (likely to be a lot) pa.

OUTGOINGS:

Rent: £320 pcm
Water: £130 pa.
Gas + Electric: £30 pcm
Phone & Broadband: £17.99 pcm (limited use for outgoing calls)
TV License: £140 pa.
Food and toiletries: £25 pw. on average
Petrol: £60 pcm
Entertainment: £40 pw. (likely to be much less now though)
Lunch: £5 per day working
Mobile: Do not pay
Road tax: £130 pa.
Course Materials: £100 pa.
Miscellaneous (stationery, etc.): £10 pcm
Annual holiday: £500 pa. (But may not be able to make it this year)

Total outgoings: approx. £11,656 pa.

Net income: £4344 pa. + any income from overtime, eBay, cashback, mystery shopping, matched betting, etc.

Since I am not particularly workshy I will be in all likelyhood be doing a LOT of overtime in my two termtime jobs as well as over the summer (I have managed over 100 hours in a week before). However, this all depends if hours are availiable.

Have applied for a 0% balance transfer barclaycard but have been rejected. Got my credit report and seen about 5 different linked addresses (all variations of my uni address) as well as quite a few searches. Other than that, all lots of green dots bar one missed payment. Not sure why there are so many different linked addresses on file though.

Anyways, I could probibily cut back on the sandwich for my lunchbreak, bit of an extravagance considering the situation I am in, so thats another £20 a month extra. Obviously have no intension of paying back the interest free debts until I have to (bar a few quid to keep the accounts active) so when I have cleared the 5.5k I will have extra income through savings account interest.

Have applied for the ATL fund, thought I have nothing to lose but not heard back from them. Not holding up much hope as it is not designed for bailing out idiots like me but for people with genuine problems. But you never know, they may have some spare cash...

All in all looks like it is going to be a tough time ahead of me but at least there is light at the end...

ani*fan

Hi lordash :hello: Welcome to the boards.

Thought I would just bump your post up a bit so the 'real' experts can come and give you advice.

At a glance it looks as if you have lots of great ideas for sorting out your finances. Please let us know how it all goes.

You have a lot of student accounts on the go...I did the same in my student days and had interest free overdrafts all over the place. Please find out when the interest free periods end so it's not a nasty surprise for you.

Good luck!!!

DAVETHE_CARDBOARDBOX

Dont beat yourself up, youre young and stupid and ran up debts. You are a student , best do it now and learn than later when if affects a wife and kids. You are getting help, take it and stop gambling now, been there and done it too, not massive scale like some but have probably done about ten grand in my time too. No more do my moods depend on how well a horse or a footballer does. Good luck and give yourself a break.
As for your SOA, not a great deal of adjustments to make on there, there will be suggestions from some, youll be fine without massive pain if you stay away from Billy Mountains and Badcrooks

lordash

Cheers, thanks for the support everyone. At the moment these debts are scaring the hell out of me, but at least I can see myself paying them off in a relatively short amount of time. Just have to keep away from the gambling - is v. hard when you think about the money I could win back, but I have to focus about what is at stake, and what I will most likely lose. It is chasing losses that got me into this situation in the first place.

No more news on getting the money that was taken from my account back, rather ironically it was all gambling transactions that took place in the early hours of yesterday morning, bar one paypal payment for £2.50. I have to speak to the fraud team to see if they will let me extend my OD (They said they will waiver all charges whilst the investigation takes place). I have to pay £65 into my credit card account next week, so not happy.

lordash

Hi,

Halifax has increased my overdraft to £1000, and made it interest and charge free throughout their investigations, so have used this to make a start on clearing my CC's and OD.

Will be recieving a quite unexpected £320 in the next few days, so thats a chunk of my overdraft down.:beer:

With all this fraud, etc. on my account I now have to go into town and visit the branch to get my cash, which should definately cut down the amount I am spending!

Still have not heard from ALF yet, but if I get this, it would be fantastic - the full amount would cover the majority of my OD!!!:D

Have been charged £300 worth of charges in the past month. Do you think it is worth me pursuing the bank (NatWest) about them? I am currently on a DMP with them and if they close my account I will be screwed. It was the charges that got me into the DMP in the first place!:mad: I have already claimed charges before from this account.