Credit card shuffle or consolidate help please

charlies_tribe

Afternoon all.
As title says, I'm a bit confused on what to do. We have a few cc and loans and today have been to the bank for a review and she looked into a loan to consolidate. Everything is a bit confusing, I confused both the lady and myself.
She offered a 5 year loan at 13.6% (about £561 a month) and we would still have a cc to pay.
We currently have...
Loan £11118, pay 372 a month, 38 months left at 14.6% (I think)
MBNA £1542 4.9% for life £25 min
Lloyds £7923 0%/17.9% £80 Think this has 1/2 months 0% left
Barclay +8.66 12008.66 available 0% jan 15 offer. Just transferred this balance leaving it in credit so could transfer the L card to it
Tesco 2080 0%/19% min £25 Was on 16 months 0% but cant remember when it ends
MBNA 4761 0%/19.9 48? Bcard just transferred here so not too sure on min payment.


We usually have about £750 to throw at it each month so if anyone could make any sense of it I would be very greatfull.
My head is saying to stick to the 0% cards but the lady made it sound like the loan was the best way.

thecassman86

Consolidation loans are generally frowned upon because most people tend to go straight back out and buy on credit cards again - thus compounding the original problem. The loan offered is at 13.6% which means you'll pay a huge amount of interest and it would still leave you with on CC so it's not a good idea at all.

The lady in the bank will try to convince you that consolidation is best - she works for the bank after all!! ;-)

At this stage if you're able to fill out an SOA here http://www.stoozing.com/calculator/soa.php then we can give better advice on where you can claw back that extra money... £750 is a good amount of money to throw at your debts but, with this much debt, every little helps!

You really want to get rid of the MBNA card and the Tesco card - and with your Lloyds card about to run out of it's interest free period, that's a big one to hit too. How much do you earn? Looking into another 0% card might be a good idea...

Also, enter your debts into this calculator: http://www.whatsthecost.com/snowball.aspx, what snowballing aims to do is allow you to plough as much money into the most costly debt and then once paid the repayments "snowball" into your next debt and so on. I think this is a good place to start.

Post the results of your SOA here and you'll be flooded with help.

Good luck

charlies_tribe

Thank you so much for your post. I did the snowball and the new loan would have about £9000 of interest!! We are, at the moment still looking at £7000 interest but it's still a £2000 saving! The snowball calculator also works on paying off the cards first but if I could get them all on 0% (or almost) I'm wondering if overpayments on the exsisting loan might be the way to go.


Will copy a SOA from my diary and update any bits I can and repost on here.
Thank you.

abby1234519

charlieyates wrote: »

Thank you so much for your post. I did the snowball and the new loan would have about £9000 of interest!! We are, at the moment still looking at £7000 interest but it's still a £2000 saving! The snowball calculator also works on paying off the cards first but if I could get them all on 0% (or almost) I'm wondering if overpayments on the exsisting loan might be the way to go.


Will copy a SOA from my diary and update any bits I can and repost on here.
Thank you.

What does the interest on the 0% jump up to at the end of the offer period/term.

charlies_tribe

Right here goes..
Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 5
Number of cars owned.................... 1
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 0
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1476
Benefits................................ 2071 (DLA/CB/TAX CREDITS AND CHILD BEN)
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 3547
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 580
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Council tax............................. 100
Electricity + gas............................. 190 (due to drop to 170 in may)
Water rates............................. 55
Telephone (land line)................... 22 (Includes internet and tv)
Mobile phone............................ 44.5 (mine and daughters, halfway through contract)
TV Licence.............................. 12.12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 54 (hoping the new box from talk talk is enough to get dh to cancel this)
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 910 (this always ends up more, will break it down underneath)
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 80
Road tax................................ 16
Car Insurance........................... 50
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 50
Other child related expenses............ 200 (goes into another account, covers swimming lessons, school trips, uniform...)
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 10
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 20 (includes contents)
Life assurance ......................... 15
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 150 (we know this is high but have 5 children and 13 nieces and nephews to buy for, anything left over at end of year will be paid to a card)
Haircuts................................ 5
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 80 (already booked by dh, will be paid in may)
Emergency fund.......................... 0(I know there should be something here)
Total monthly expenses.................. 2643.62

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 120000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 500
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 120500

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 90000....(580)......4.5
Total secured & HP debts...... 90000.....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
loan...........................11118.....373.......14.3
mbna cc........................1542......25........4.9
lloyds cc......................7923......80........17.9
mbna...........................4761......48........0
tesco..........................2080......25........19
Total unsecured debts..........27424.....551.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 3,547
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,643.62
Available for debt repayments........... 903.38
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 551
Amount left after debt repayments....... 352.38
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 120,500
Total HP & Secured debt................. -90,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -27,424
Net Assets.............................. 3,076
Created using the SOA calculator at www.stoozing.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using other browser.


Although it seems to have surplus.. We never have any!
We had no idea on the grocery budget so was set at 1000 as everything came out of it. Ive tracked every penny this month and it breaks down to...
Groceries..£598
Other...£130 (includes cinema and swimming with friends, parties and clothes and hairdressers)
Savings tins...£68 (Christmas and holiday spends)
Dentist...£18
House bits...£98 (includes new shredded, kitchen bits, sofa throws as we have a few holes and want to make it last a bit longer)
Pet food...£20.50 (we still need dog food)
Diesel...£83
Car parts...£122


Diesel and dentist have been moved to their own bits. Some of the debt has been with us since we were both working and I had to give up to look after ds 8 years ago, It really is time for it to go.
Thank you to anyone taking a look.

charlies_tribe

abby1234519 wrote: »

What does the interest on the 0% jump up to at the end of the offer period/term.

Think its 17.9 and 19% but as we will have 2 empty cc I can only hope that there is a 0% offer on it to move the balance again so wouldn't be getting any interest hopefully.

Kate_fixing_it

Hi there,

the grocery shopping and Christmas leap out at me.

How old are the children? I have four (and 15 nieces and nephews :eek:) ranging in age from 16 to 5 in my house and other children are 14 to newborn. And £150 a month is massive. We cut back last year, our children had a maximum of £60 each spent on them (savy shopping on eBay and Amazon Black Friday deals) and a limit of £50 on birthdays. Nieces and nephews have a £10 max. That's £440 to cover household birthdays and Christmas. They each drew up a list, all got almost everything on it and we had our best Christmas ever. Other children's gifts were done in one shop and came in at under £100 - some of which was paid for with Clubcard vouchers and coupons.

Rounding that up to £600 annually is £50 a month - a saving of £1,200 (£100 a month)

As for groceries, we go to a meat wholesale supplier once a month spending around £60, split it and freeze and shop for fresh foods in Aldi spending 60-70 a week. This covers 4 adult sized portions of dinner (2 adults and 2 teenagers), a 2/3 size dinner and half size dinner for smallest child. We bulk cook at the weekend (DH and I both work full time in the week so this makes life easier) and we eat a LOT of fruit. Everyone has packed lunches ' NO EXCEPTIONS and our groceries (including cleaning products and toiletries) cost less than £400 per month. Increase that to accommodate the 5th child and the dog by £100 and thats saved £410 from the SOA.

We don't eat constant value range products and we plan the week's meals in advance so that we don't waste food or buy excess but we do vary things to avoid boredom. Plus I simply cannot live without chunky kitkats and decent coffee

Straight away that'd save you £510 a month and believe me, our first DFW Christmas was the least stressful I've ever had!

Kate x

Also, I'd seriously consider pet insurance. I've heard stories of vets refusing to treat without payment up front and one injury could quickly run into thousands before the animal is healthy again - not an expense you can support right now.

charlies_tribe

Thank you for our post Kate. My children are 4-12 but ds has KS and still needs nappies and things and dd's both have asthma and eczema and I have to be very careful with wash powders etc... Nieces and nephews range from 18 years to 8 months and we also but for 6 parents (mine have separated and remarried)


I know we spend way to much at Christmas. This year the kids ended up with over £200 each as they had asked for a bike and I felt so guilty that that was all they had got. They also have £100 for birthdays each (they have never had a party and this makes me feel guilty too). I have started early and already have a main Christmas present for my youngest 2 bought with left over vouchers at half price. I think this is one of the things I need to work on but it's so hard when eldest dd has friends with a lot of money.

Our groceries are at about £600 this month. When I did the first SOA I had no idea what was spent on what, Just that it disappeared. I have bought some much needed things for the house this month without putting it on the credit card. Still working on getting it lower and going to visit our local farm shop/wholesalers to see if it is any cheaper. Portion size is also a huge problem in our house.


Pets aren't so easy either, We have 3 large dogs, 2 cats snakes and fish. The cats and dogs I will not part with. We had them, they are part of the family and we will look after them as long as we can, I did an insurance quote for the youngest dog and its about £16 a month, dread to think what it is for the older 2 but once I've sorted this mess it's one of the first things I want to sort after my dad has a dog with epilepsy and one with condition needing blood tests every 2 weeks and steroids for life. The snakes were dh's, I have a fear of them but he wont part and at the moment there is only 4 fish left and then we will let the tank go.


I think that's everything. Thank you again, it's nice to hear others do Christmas so much cheaper and still have a lovely time.

thecassman86

charlieyates wrote: »

Right here goes..
Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 5
Number of cars owned.................... 1
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 0
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1476
Benefits................................ 2071 (DLA/CB/TAX CREDITS AND CHILD BEN)
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 3547
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 580
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Council tax............................. 100
Electricity + gas............................. 190 (due to drop to 170 in may) Even at £170, this is high. Have you looked on comparison sites?
Water rates............................. 55 This is also high. Do you have a meter? If not, it might be worth looking into getting one (unless you have a big pond on the garden!).
Telephone (land line)................... 22 (Includes internet and tv)
Mobile phone............................ 44.5 (mine and daughters, halfway through contract)
TV Licence.............................. 12.12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 54 (hoping the new box from talk talk is enough to get dh to cancel this)
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 910 (this always ends up more, will break it down underneath) This is crazily high - as mentioned in above comments.
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 80
Road tax................................ 16
Car Insurance........................... 50
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 50
Other child related expenses............ 200 (goes into another account, covers swimming lessons, school trips, uniform...)
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 10
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0 As mentioned above, look into this.
Buildings insurance..................... 20 (includes contents)
Life assurance ......................... 15
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 150 (we know this is high but have 5 children and 13 nieces and nephews to buy for, anything left over at end of year will be paid to a card) It is high - it's £1800 per year!
Haircuts................................ 5
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 80 (already booked by dh, will be paid in may)
Emergency fund.......................... 0(I know there should be something here)
Total monthly expenses.................. 2643.62

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 120000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 500
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 120500

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 90000....(580)......4.5
Total secured & HP debts...... 90000.....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
loan...........................11118.....373.......14.3
mbna cc........................1542......25........4.9
lloyds cc......................7923......80........17.9
mbna...........................4761......48........0
tesco..........................2080......25........19
Total unsecured debts..........27424.....551.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 3,547
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,643.62
Available for debt repayments........... 903.38
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 551
Amount left after debt repayments....... 352.38
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 120,500
Total HP & Secured debt................. -90,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -27,424
Net Assets.............................. 3,076

My comments are in red. I think if you get the groceries under control (like, halved!), then you'll all of a sudden have a good chunk to throw at the debt.

It's showing a £350 surplus (even with £900 groceries!!) but you say this isn't usually the case so i'd recommend keeping a spending diary. Every penny goes in the book. You'd be surprised how your money seeps away! It also makes you stricter on your purchases - we're all guilty of quickly buying something, screwing up the receipt and not considering the cost long-term!

You're currently paying £550 on your debts; once you establish where it's going you should find that additional £350 per month that you *should* be left with, and then if you can get your groceries halved (or near enough) you could be looking at £1300 per month going towards your debt - which is a pretty strong position!! Get those debts kicked! :j

Just think of it this way, budgeting your groceries might be a bit of a drag after this long of not doing, but, once you're debt free you'll have over £1000 left to spend each month. Lurvely :cool:

charlies_tribe

Thank you Thecassman. It's good for others to look over it as we just get used to the amount and never think about it.
The £550 to debts is the minimum, we ALWAYS pay £750 so this eats into the surplus.
Gas and elec.. We are on the cheapest tariff, we just seem to have a very high usage. We have got some switched plugs for the childrens rooms in the hope they will turn everything off (at the moment the wall plug is under the bed and everything gets left on).
Water rates are our normal rate, no water meter. But we use a LOT of water with ds disabilities and 3 loads of washing a day, I would be scared to switch to a meter.
Groceries, have broken this down this month and have spent about £600 on actual groceries, the rest has been school parties, clothes needed, dentist etc.. Now I know where I seem to be spending it I can cut it down.
Present fund, will work on this. DD1 has just asked for a laptop for her 13th birthday:(Had to tell her not this time.
Right, off to get DD off the sofa to help me clean.

thecassman86

charlieyates wrote: »

Thank you Thecassman. It's good for others to look over it as we just get used to the amount and never think about it.
The £550 to debts is the minimum, we ALWAYS pay £750 so this eats into the surplus.
Gas and elec.. We are on the cheapest tariff, we just seem to have a very high usage. We have got some switched plugs for the childrens rooms in the hope they will turn everything off (at the moment the wall plug is under the bed and everything gets left on).
Water rates are our normal rate, no water meter. But we use a LOT of water with ds disabilities and 3 loads of washing a day, I would be scared to switch to a meter.
Groceries, have broken this down this month and have spent about £600 on actual groceries, the rest has been school parties, clothes needed, dentist etc.. Now I know where I seem to be spending it I can cut it down.
Present fund, will work on this. DD1 has just asked for a laptop for her 13th birthday:(Had to tell her not this time.
Right, off to get DD off the sofa to help me clean.

Ahh that's good - well that at least accounts for where £200 of the £350 goes to - and debt payments is a pretty good place for it to go!

Yes water meters aren't for everyone and it sounds like you might be an example of where a fixed rate is best. Certainly, any disabilities in the household will cause higher utilities generally so that's understandable.

DD1 will be able to get a bigger and better laptop when you're debt free! ;-).... Of course, you could, from now, put £10 away each month and get her one for her 14th... They needn't be expensive nowadays.

You sound like you've got a strong debt-tackling plan! Good luck! :T