28 day nightmare!!!

DomMcG

I bank with Natwest and currently have a current account and a loan with them, my loan is for about £12,000 and my current account has a £1400 overdraft on it. I get paid a fair amount about £1000 after tax.

My real problem is that the company i work for pays every 28 days rather than monthly, this makes paying any bills almost impossible at times, my direct debits default, which incurrs charges, sending me over my overdraft limit, which incurrs further charges and gets me into further debt. I never seem to have any money to pay off my loan and i get charged further on this. It seems that no matter how hard i save and budget myself i sink further and further into debt. I must have paid thousands in charges which is why i can never get any further out of debt let alone save or buy myself something.

I have spoken to my company and they refuse to change me to monthly pay, i have changed some of the DD's to 28 day payments but most of them refuse.

I have asked Natwest to help, but they say there is nothing they can do, they just keep charging me so i stay i debt.

Please please please can someone help me!

Many thanks

Xbigman

Well I'm paid every 28 days and I've never had a problem.

Buy yourself a wall calender with plenty of space to write things on.

Basic philosophy is that you pay your monthly bills using 4 weeks pay. Once a year you are paid twice in a month so you get a free pay packet.

So, how much are you paid per 4 weeks? Thats what you live on each month. Now work out your pay dates. Which month are you paid twice?

Now sort out your direct debits. I have them all set up for the 1st of the month so my extra pay packet this year is August (it varies between May and August) and I pay my yearly bills (TV licence, car and house ins) at the end of September using the extra pay now in my account.

You can change your DD's pay dates around and 'move' your free pay packet to fit in with your yearly expences if you want to. Using this method you have times of the year when you have loads in your account, others when you have little. You just need to realize that this is the case and don't spend the money you'll need later in the year.

Roughly every six years we get a 53 week year and you get an odd weeks pay. This tends to muck up your plans a bit, but if you are organized it is not a problem.

There is one variable that is not monthly or yearly, groceries. Four times a year you need to get 5 weeks shopping out of 4 weeks pay. I do my shopping on a Tuesday all in one go and I allow for this. As long as you know a five weeker is coming you can plan around it.

Sorry there is no easy solution. You just need to get organized with your dates.
Regards



X

Jacster_2

I also get paid 4 weekly and used to get paid monthly, but I now like 4 weekly better....

• no more 5 week months!
• free pay once year (mine tends to be around xmas/new year)

To cope, I have spread my direct debits out over the month (as my pay day moves throughout the year), and calculate my monthly outgoings and leave them untouched no matter what.

Might help you to set up a 'bills' account and a 'spending' account?

A bit of planning will get things into shape for you - try Martin's budget planner.

Good luck

stellagypsy

I get paid every 28 days and I have set all my DD's up to come out on 1st of the month - that way you always know when they are coming out and like every one says, once a year you get a "free" month. Most organisations will be OK about it and change your DD payment dates if you explain the 28 day thing to them.

HTH, Stella

Moncs_2

Why dont you open a second bank account and arrange for all your D/D and S/O's to be taken from the new bank account on a certain date each month, and when you get paid arrange for the money required to cover all your D/D and S/O's to be transferred over, thus leaving you safe in the knowledge that you bill's will be covered regardless what date you get paid.

homersimpson_3

ensure all direct debits are paid at the beginning of month. if company will not change date and you don't want them paid from another account ring up 'freephone' number and pay them by debit card. i do this with one of mine who has refused point blank to change date because of their stupid computer. even tv licence can be paid by direct debit. ensure you save some in an emergency/x-mas/birthdays/haircut/clothes/household cleaning etc - you don't need huge amounts. these things you don't need to buy every week. if are you are then why? after all essential bills paid divide what you have into 4 amounts and allocate yourself 4 mini pays days in the 4 week period. live off that amount for the week.
cheers

Iona_Penny

I agree with everything said and the separate account thing is a good idea esp if you speak to Nat West and transfer part of the O/D to this new account. My other observations are that your loan payment should be part of your monthly bill calculations not paid if there is enough left.

Your o/D is large compared to salary- perhaps if you post your budget there would be a way to cut back, not get charges and reduce your O/D over time.It really should be just as easy every four weeks and is a not uncommon phenomenon as you have seen.

ffs

Open a Basic Account at somewhere like Coop and have your DDs coming out of there. If they fail you do not incur bank charges. You will still have to be careful because they can close your account if you regularly mess up, but it's all to easy to take a £100 hit on a normal current account and that is simply devastating if you're living rather close to the edge.

ceegee

I am paid weekly and receive WTC 4 weekly and pay my bills monthly. What I do is work out the annual cost of my bills (individually) and divide the totals by 52 to get the weekly amount. I then set this amount aside each week.

For example, car insurance is £198.45 per year. They take one twelfth of this amount each month (ie £16.53 per month) but I put £3.82 (one fifty two'th(?)) aside each week. It works for me. :cool: :wave:

Love these new smilies. :hello:

ceegee

I also agree with Iona Penny......get a proper budget sorted out. You'd probably be amazed at how much less you could live on. £1000 per month is not too bad a whack.

Why not post all of your incomings and outgoings on here, along with details of any debts that you have? This usually results in loads of really helpful and sensible advice from the (normally) helpful and sensible people on this site. Go on.........you know it makes sense!

ps_live

Listen to what Moncs and Iona-Penny have to say about a second account. I cannot agree more.

I have recently switched to First Direct from LTSB. Within six weeks, I hated my DD's and SO's coming out of my "daily account". One phone-call was enough to open another account and have ALL my outgoings transferred onto it.

Work out how much your outgoings are, and put that amount into the second account, you could even have weekly SO's set up to do this for you.

You'll never miss a payment again, never be charged again AND you'll know EXACTLY how much disposable income you have to play with in your main account.

cheers :beer:

Pete