dfw - help and advice needed

kez27

Hi am a newbie, I would like some advice on being df and have listed my sop below.

debts are: catalogue 1 - £43
catalogue 2 - £332
Credit Card - £989 (although sitting at £1250 just now, card was used fraudulently so still waiting on money back)
Provident - £520
Abbey - £545 (although £260 is o/d / rest is bank charges)
ctax 2006 - 118.40
my income is £1250 per month - also get the odd shift in the pub whereby maybe get an extra £50 per month.

my outgoings are

Mortgage £500
Council tax £86
Telephone £25
Electricity £40 pm - (got to pay £134 this month tho)
den plan £10
tv licence £27
contact lenses £10
Food £ 30

also got a secured loan which is £168 which i start paying in sept - I remortgage next year so hopefully will add this to my mortgage.

debts per month are

provident £20
Abbey £20
cat 1 £20
cat 2 £30
Credit card £50 this month/ then £150 - 200
ctax 06 £59.20 - this will be clear by sept

Can anyone give me some advice?

Also failed my driving test 3 times due to nerves, so need to find money to take more lessons and resit my test. I did budget to be debt free by march 08 - hoping to do this quicker.. All I seem to do at moment is working all hours and this is getting me really down. As don't have much money and because I work shifts , dont really have time to catch up with friends etc.

Also this month owe my parents £100 and got bank charges of £145.

Help sought and needed please!

thanks

climbgirl

hello and welcome! First things, is this your full list of outgoings? Are you including things like insurances, expenses like that? What's "den plan", is that dental? What does it cover, is it really necessary?

Is there any way you can ask your parents to pay them in installments rather than one big hit?

In terms of getting down about it, it's a long, hard road I'm afraid but it's a good thing that you're working extra hours to pay this off. Keep thinking of the end goal and how much time/money you'll have to yourself when you've cleared those debts.

climbgirl

What are the interest rates and the limits on your credit cards? There may be some capacity for shuffling the amounts around so you lower the interest a little.

Have you used the snowball calculator to make sure you're paying off your debts the most effective way?

RAS

Hi Kez

Welcome

Can you advise us what your income is?

And what are the APRs are on your various CCs and storecards, as this affects which you should pay off first?

climbgirl

Are you claiming back your bank charges? If not, you need to start doing that! Martin has written advice on how to do this, I believe it's on the front page of this site.

misspoppy

Hi

You need to look at your out goings better you can't possibly be living off £30 of food a month.

Have you agreed the secured loan its not a good idea to take one really if you fall behind on your payments you will loose your home. how much are you borrowing and what for?

kez27

Hi climb girl, got to pay my parents back in full - wont take installments.
yes den plan is dental care which i have to pay to stay on dentist books.
did forget to put in mu insurance which is currently £18.38.

Dont know where to locate snowball calculator? can you help?

In regard to credit cards my credit rating is very poor and dont think I am likely to be offered a credit card with 0% int.

Kez

RAS

Kez

I does not matter what you credit rating is.

What matters is what the APRs are on your existing cards/catalogues.

For instance, if you have two cards with minimum payments of £20 per month and £50 to put towards them. If one has an APR of 13.9% and one is 25.9%, you put the extra £10 towards the card with the 25.9% APR. That way you pay off your debt quicker.

For a snowball, go to www.whatsthecost.com

kez27

yeah I have agreed the secured loan, will have until june next year.

it was to clear other debts.

my apr on my credit card is 17.9%

I am not a bigger eater and find that £30 does feed me enough. I have printed of letters to claim back bank charges but not sure if this will work with abbey as still owe them overdraft.

My income is £1250 every 4 weeks - sometimes a extra £50 on top

dont have any store cards

RAS

What are the APRs on the catalogues, provident, Abbey?

rayday2

If you have the secured loan why do you still have debts? Have you already taken the money from the secured loan because it is very worrying.