Debt Advice

Ruln

Hi,

I'm 21 and living with parents because the situation I've gotten myself in is getting a little over my head - this was totally my fault but I'm not unsure what to do.

I currently pay my Car Insurance at £280.00 a month and my Car Finance at £160.00 a month. £10.00 a month for the TV, £30.00 a month for my phone and then I have living costs such as commuting to work, food etc. With this, I luckily pay only £100.00 rent to my parents as they know I'm struggling and these payments are usually enough for me to live on, but I'm overdrawn by £2,400.

Which means that I pay £480.00 a month usually. I've been working on a 0 hour contract for 2 and a half years at a call centre and bring home approximately £700 a month (my hours are being cut you see). With this I have £220 a month to live on, which is approximately £80.00 a week.

With this £55.00 I need to pay for petrol to work, food to live on and pay off this £2,200. What's more - they're charging me an extra £6.00 a month plus around £9.00 a month interest for being overdrawn.

I've never missed a payment in my life on any direct debits and as such my credit store is quite high. I'm scared to seek help as I don't want the bank all of a suddent not allowing me to go further into the overdraft or freezing the account and this will mean I have no money to live on.

Do you have any ideas?

thecassman86

Hi, welcome to the forum! :wave:


First of all...

Ruln wrote: »

Hi,
I currently pay my Car Insurance at £280.00 a month...

:eek::eek: That's £3360 per year!!! What do you drive, a Maserati!??! When is this due for renewal??

Right, now that's out of the way!...

Clearly, it's all quite tight! The obvious answer is to try and get a new job; is this a possibility? 0 hour contracts are just a bit dodgy as if they decide they don't want you next month, you could feasibly get £0 income!...

thecassman86

Also, what do you mean by "overdrawn" ? Is this an arranged overdraft? I'm assuming so because, relative to the debt, the charges aren't too bad...

Ruln

Hi,

Thanks for replying. I understand that I'm not necessarily in urgent need of help and would like to take control of my finances before it turns nasty. I'm only driving a ford focus but last year I reversed into someone at about 2mph, as there were no witness or CCTV they claimed whiplash and there was already damage to the car they blamed on me, making my insurance soar. This is due for renewal 2015.

The overdraft is arranged and my limit is £3,000. The main concern I have is getting rid of this £2,200 overdraft where I can then cancel borrowing, set up a spending diary and make sure I stay in the green.

Ruln

The thing I'm most concerned about is asking for help from Lloyds. I'm going to be in the red for a few months while I sort this out, after further digging the interest is around £14.32 a month. This plus a £6.00 monthly charge is far too much to pay for this amount of time.

If I tell them I'm having issues they have the right to just take the £2,200 and then I'm officially stuck.

marliepanda

Ruln wrote: »

Hi,

Thanks for replying. I understand that I'm not necessarily in urgent need of help and would like to take control of my finances before it turns nasty. I'm only driving a ford focus but last year I reversed into someone at about 2mph, as there were no witness or CCTV they claimed whiplash and there was already damage to the car they blamed on me, making my insurance soar. This is due for renewal 2015.

Sounds a silly question but did you shop around? I only ask as I had a 50mph prang also (not my fault... but was considered my fault haha. My car was written off, and they had some damage (no whiplash claim admittedly) My insurance with my current provider almost trebled (still to only just under £1000), but went down with another provider.

My friend had a similar prang, person claimed whiplash and a written off car, the car was already nackered though so it was all dodgy. His also went down/stayed similar with another provider.

Just seems such an insane rise, I know they DO go up with crashes etc, naturally, but that seems crazy!

Ruln

My first quote before the crash was £2,900 with LV. This one is with directline and I did quotes on the website plus spent 2 days ringing insurers, looking at my call log a total of 51 of them, most of them refused to insure me.

The most annoying one was my renewal quote with LV... £9,200.

Lloyds_Bank

Ruln wrote: »

The thing I'm most concerned about is asking for help from Lloyds. I'm going to be in the red for a few months while I sort this out, after further digging the interest is around £14.32 a month. This plus a £6.00 monthly charge is far too much to pay for this amount of time.

If I tell them I'm having issues they have the right to just take the £2,200 and then I'm officially stuck.

Hi Ruln. I can understand why you're perhaps a little concerned about getting in touch with us about this. However, we're committed to helping our customers find a way forward if they are struggling with their finances. For info on how we can help you at this time, click here.

So we can talk with you about this in more detail, please give us a ring on either 0845 3000 000 or 01733 347 007. If you'd rather not call, one of my colleagues at your local branch will be happy to help.

Thanks

Craig

19lottie82

Do you really need the car? You're shelling out over half of your entire income, before you've even thought about petrol or maintenance.

Can you not look for another job with a higher guaranteed income?