Just done the SOA - determined to get rid of this debt!

LannieDuck

The new SOAs are much easier to follow

£100/mth on entertainment in addition to the £60/mth season ticket is a lot.

Do you really need £25/mth on new clothes?

patman99

I can easily see where £60 p/m goes on a season ticket. I support a L1 club & I had a season ticket back in the 2010/11 season an that cost £60 p/month back then. Mind you, it was their top price ticket with a free program, teamsheet, half-time drink & after-game meet & Greet with the players.
I saved 20% on gate prices when compared to 'pay per game' prices.

bsms1147

What benefits are you getting from your £15/month (£180/year) current account?

getmore4less

bsms1147 wrote: »

What benefits are you getting from your £15/month (£180/year) current account?

already in the thread.

bsms1147

getmore4less wrote: »

already in the thread.

Cheers, I'm on my phone so must have missed that. My only suggestion on that point would be switching to a Nationwide Flexplus account for a small saving. Would have to apply for (and be accepted for) another current account though, but it would cut this expense by a third.

ellesbellesxxx

I am going to echo the excellent advice on getting your union fees taken off your tax allowance!
I had a rebate of 40 pounds for the last two tax years then my code was adjusted. I have also just joined N U T as they have a 90% tax relief allowance!

breakingbad

Ok, so I've spoken to my contents insurance people and they will cover my iPhone for loss, damage and theft away from home for just £20 for the rest of the year (renew in September). So I've just phoned Barclays and cancelled the Additions Active part of the current account (£15/mth saved).


I have received the tax credit on my union fees. They've changed my tax code to 964L (from 944L).

Regarding the football season ticket - yes £60/mth is a lot, but it's a lot cheaper than paying the £35 ticket price for each premier league home game. I go 2 or 3 times per month (depending on fixtures) and this forms a large part of my weekend socialising, so any additional costs are included in the £100 entertainment budget. I can sell my seat via the clubs ticket exchange website for approx £25-£30 per game if I can't go.

On a positive note, I've just got my student loan statement through the door this morning, and it turns out my balance is only £1862, so I'll be completely paid off in about 8 months, meaning an additional £220 (approx) in my hand every month, which will mean paying off the debts even quicker.

Thanks!

Gary

breakingbad

Ok, I didn't see the point in paying interest on more of the debt than I had to, so I bit the bullet and took out a Barclaycard (0% on balance transfers for 28 months). I have transferred all the non-interest free balance from my Nationwide card, so all my credit card debt is 0% now.


So the current situation looks like this:


Name..................Balance............APR...........Min Payment
Barclayloan...........£8637.88...........13.9%........£266.65
Furniture Credit.......£817.03...........0%............£74.26
Natwest CC...........£1483.24...........0%..........~£15 (1%) <<0% until Sept 2014
Nationwide CC.........£848.00...........0%..........~£21 (2.5%) <<0% until Feb 2015
Barclaycard CC......£1841.43............0%.........~£41(2.25%) << 0% until June 2016
TOTAL..............£13627.58..........................~£417.91


Any advice? Hope I've been sensible! (The new card will also be going to my wife for "safekeeping" as soon as it arrives, so no chance of spending on it!).


My plan is still to overpay as much as I possibly can (around £300-£350/mth to start off with). I presume I'm best to target the Natwest CC first, as its 0% period ends soonest? After that's gone (4 months), what would you target?

Cheers, Gary

getmore4less

I would start savings pots for the money to gain a little interest, some monthly savers allow withdrawals so you can cycle the money through a higher rate.

once comfortable with the minimum you can save per month you could start hitting the Barclayloan as long as there are no penalties.

rough plan on £300pm. and £350pm
starting with feb as M01
M08 £2400 £2800 - £1483 NWest (£1k+ spare for Bloan) thats 3 of the £300pm savings
M13 £3900 £4450 - £848 Nwide (another £600+ spare for Bloan) 2 more of the £300pm savings
M27 £8100 £9450 - £1841 BC (£2400+ spare for BLoan) 8 lots of the £300

as you can see you can divert a fare amount to the loan early and still have funds to pay off the CC as long yo can keep saving.

do a cashflow working back from the date the new 0% runs out with the predicted spare money at that time.

breakingbad

Thanks,

I'm sorry though, I'm probably being really thick, but I'm not really understanding what you're saying here...

You want me to build the £300/£350 up in a savings account every month, until I have enough to pay off some of the credit cards AND chip away at the BLoan too? Is the interest earned by doing it this way really going to be worth much at all?

I thought one of the golden rules was to always pay debts off with savings?

Explain the cashflow back from the end of the 0% card thing a bit more too (sorry!!!).

Gary