Really need to clear my debts but debt charity cant help. What next?

BeingMe

He read out the latest transactions on the account and said a payment of £80 was made early May. I don't remember doing this and there is no record of £80 coming out of my current account. Is it possibly an error? Should I notify them that I don't think I paid it?

Willowpop

I would call them and just ask them where the credit has come from. It could be a refund from somewhere maybe, rather than a payment made by you? Just say you're going through your bank statements etc and just want to make a note of the transactions of the account so you know exactly where you're up to.
I don't think I would say it's an error at this stage if it was a credit on my account!

BeingMe

Actually, I have a PPI claim in progress with iphonics. Could it be from this? They haven't written to me about it.

Willowpop

Maybe. They might put the amount back onto the card I guess. Give them a call tomorrow and ask. Bet it's something simple.

BeingMe

Yes, I was told by iphonics that any refund of PPI will go back onto any accounts with a balance so this makes sense. Kicking myself now because if I'd done it myself it would have been more.

dancingfairy

Wow, sounds like you're on a roll.
In terms of the business I would keep it super simple for now. You might find more help on the small business part of this forum -it's near families and money saving.
What I would do is find a saving account and every time you get paid put 30% of the money away for the tax man. This will prevent a huge shock when they come for it.
In terms of records, you probably don't need to do 'booking' right now but you do need to keep proper records. You need to keep details of your customers and especially money coming and going out.
You could probably have a running total of your bank account and then details with each transaction so money out for materials or money in from joe blogs. You probably want to keep a seperate record for each customer what they owe as well.
Keep receipts as well (even if you just label them for each month and put them in an envelope).
As you get bigger you may want to buy in help but for now i'd just keep it simple.
df

[Deleted User]

BeingMe wrote: »

I think I might just be able to manage without stopping the savings payments but if it comes to it, I guess I'll have to.

BeingMe wrote: »

It also shows it will cost £12,038.95 including interest and take until 2033 to pay off at the current rate!

I think it just came to it.

BeingMe

Thank you dancing fairy, I do feel really motivated right now and a hell of a lot better about the situation than I have for months.

That's great advice about the business - I have kept all the receipts so far but good idea to separate them into months. I'll need some new files and things to store everything in but will budget for this next month.

Bob, I'm still reluctant to stop paying into their savings. Plan of action is to wait until I hear about the 0% card and see where I stand then. I've set up standing orders now for three of my accounts that will pay a bit extra on top of the minimum payments. Not strictly snowballing but just a way of redistributing the saving I made on cancelling the extended car warranty.

[Deleted User]

You don't want to be spreading any spare cash among the debts.

Any spare cash should be going to the Capital One debt, as that has the highest APR.

BeingMe

If I get the 0% card the cap 1 will have the lowest interest. If I'm declined though, I will cancel the standing orders and move the lot over to the capital one account.