Payday loan hell

Optimist321

Hi, I was just looking for some advice, before I begin - I know taking out loans from payday companies is really stupid however I am already in a mess and so I am just looking for some help, not to be told how silly I've been.

I'm currently 20 years old and have been taking payday loans out for quite a while now, I am employed full time and have been since I was 16. When I was almost 19 I took out my first payday loan and ever since I've completely fallen into the trap and have built up a fairly large amount of debt, this has left me feeling really depressed and I feel a lot more anxious on my day to day life as nobody else my age I know is in this situation- I'm too scared to talk about it.

At the end of 2013 I decided enough was enough and I was going to sort my problems out - I think I've been naive over the past year taking these out not really understanding how this was affecting me or my credit score. Anyway, for the past 4 weeks overtime has been available in my work and I've been working 12 hours a day, 7 days a week. - I really want to fix my life.

I get paid on a certain date of each month and have just recently been paid, I have contacted all of my payday loan companies and set up repayment plans and I've been confident in reducing my debt. Payday has just gone by at the weekend and my payments have all been taken from my bank account, this has now left me with very little money in my account to last me for the next 3 and a half weeks. I REALLY want to stay away from taking out another loan as this is why I am facing my financial difficulty. I am just really looking for advice and any tips you may have of other ways I can keep myself afloat over the coming few weeks.

Thanks for taking the time to read and really appreciate any help you may have.

Forever the optimist.

Apples2

You need help on budgeting. You should not be giving everything out leaving you without enough to live on.

If you are already in payment plans, your credit file is already shot even more than having the loans in the first place. That's water under the bridge now so not worth getting stressed about.

You could contact Step Change who will help work out how much you need to live on and thus, how much you can reasonably pay toward your debt.

Step Change are free and will help deal directly with your creditors for you.
http://www.stepchange.org/

On no account should you take on any more debt, it has taken you this long to work out those short term fixes just make things worse in the long run.

Well done for having your "light-bulb moment" and good luck in getting rid of debt.

You may not know them but you can be assured there are many many people of your age in the same position. Most of whom haven't had the fortune of a light-bulb moment.

JunkUtopia

Optimist321 wrote: »

I am just really looking for advice and any tips you may have of other ways I can keep myself afloat over the coming few weeks.

Hard to say without more details, are we talking trivial things like going out with friends or buying un-needed things that everyone would normally do, or actual bills you need to pay and won't be able to afford?

Optimist321

Thanks @apples2, you are right I do need to know how to budget better and thanks for your kind words, I'll definitely look into step change!

DCFC79

Optimist321 wrote: »

Thanks @apples2, you are right I do need to know how to budget better and thanks for your kind words, I'll definitely look into step change!

Or theres payplan, both payplan and stepchange are free to use so use either. Its easy to budget or I think it is but its sticking to it that might be hard to do. At least you have had the LBM now rather than when it could be much worse.

When you did setup the repayment plans did you work out how much to leave yourself for food etc ?

Maybe setup a second bank account and pay in x amount each month just so you have something to to fall back on for food etc. For food there might be a food bank near you, for food banks you apparently need a voucher

and you can't just turn up, it gets you 3 days worth of basic foods.

Put into a spreadsheet all of your bills and how much they cost, put your pay in and subtract your bills from your pay and it leaves you with what you have left to live on. You can set it up so 1 colum per month and a row for each bill and so on and so on (apologies if you have already done this).

Clive_Woody

Beans on toast for a month and no going out. Reduce/cancel any SKY/TV and mobile packages. No impulse buying, take sandwiches to work and do not eat out or takeaway coffee. Give yourself a small allowance for the week and stick to it.

If you are still short of cash eBay your stuff but on no account take another payday loan.

Make this a change for life. Good luck :money: