Need Advice Urgently

tarici

Hi all,

This is my first post on the forum, I have most of the time just browsed around and read the posts on the forum for over a year, but now I guess it’s my turn... so I'll get to the point.

I am having problems managing my debts, & my credit rating is absolutely atrocious. I currently owe £7900 approx all over the place and if you include my £12000 Student Loan that increases it to just under £20K.

All these problems pretty much started when I became a student.. First my Lloyds TSB student account with the maxed out £2500 od was not changed to a Graduate account after my graduation, instead the bank removed the entire od and asked for me to pay it back..which I am now paying at £10 p/m (I know its not much!!) However they advised me they have frozen the interest, but that is not the case and are charging me over £60 p/m so I am just accumulating more debt with them.

I also had to resort to a student credit card with them as I had no funds to pay for my Uni fees. That is at about £700 with an APR of 27.9%

And other debts include HSBC od and Credit card which again amount to some of the debt, sufficed to say my debts are all over the place.

I have wanted to try and consolidate all the debts into 1 loan to try and pay them off, but because of my really poor credit history I am unable to get one unless its about 50-177% APR and I am not going down that route.

Please could someone give me some advice/guidance as to how I can pay this off?!!

nickelodeon

Hi and welcome to MSE!
Firstly I think consolidation is not the best route, even if you could get better interest rates!
You need to post up your SOA (statement of affairs) see Southern Scousers sticky for first time posters for all the details we need and then we'll be able to give you some advice on cutting down your outgoings and sorting out your debts.
In relation to your overdraft is there any chance you can talk to someone and see if they will change the account to a graduate account? If not maybe try applying for the Alliance & Leicester bank account that offers a 0% overdraft for 12 months, they will also match your current overdraft if you can show you have been in credit recently and you use their switching service. Martin has a whole article about current accounts so it is definitely worth looking at switching if Llloyds won't help you out.
Good luck and once you provide your SOA I'm sure a lot more people will be along to offer more advice!

scottishsuz

Hiya,

First of all, don't panic, you will get to the other side with some determination and much belt tightening.

Second of all don't count or worry about your student loan. Its the cheapest debt you can have. I make payments through my wages for mine plus £5 so it doesn't grow but its not costing much to keep it. There is a good thread which debates this somewhere.

Which debt has the highest APR? This is probably the one you should tackle first. Though I'm personally all in favour of little quick fixes from a motivational point of view. So if you think that would work for you and you have a smaller debt go for that and clear it, possibly your credit card @ £700?

Good luck!!

rog2

Hi tarici - and welcome to DFW.

In addition to posting your SOA, can I reccomend that you talk to one of the Debt Counselling Services, such as CCCS, PAYPLAN, National Debtline or your local Citizen's advice bureau. There are links to these organisations on the DFW toolbar. You will get free, impartial and professional advice.
One point, however, if LTSB agreed to freeze interest, yet are still adding it, you should complain to your bank manager immediately.

bargainbetty

tarici wrote: »

First my Lloyds TSB student account with the maxed out £2500 od was not changed to a Graduate account after my graduation, instead the bank removed the entire od and asked for me to pay it back..which I am now paying at £10 p/m (I know its not much!!) However they advised me they have frozen the interest, but that is not the case and are charging me over £60 p/m so I am just accumulating more debt with them.

Do you have any paperwork confirming that they said they would freeze the interest? If so, present it to them and point out that all fees accrued after that point would have to be stripped from your debt, as they would be classed as unfair and subject to refund.

If not, make an application for it to be frozen now, and also ask that your card be frozen too.

Then do your SOA, and let the good people here help you out!

tarici

Debts owed:

£2500 - Student Account (Lloyds TSB)
£700 - Student Credit Card (Lloyds TSB)
£1500 - Capital One
£3000 - HSBC CC
and I also have a HSBC account with a £700 o/d of which I am into by £300.

Currently earning £1400 monthly -£50 Student loan =£1350

Expenditure:
Rent £495
Vodafone £50 approx
Car insurance £50 (I do not drive to work, my gf does)
Lloyds TSB debts £20
Captial One £100
HSBC £200
Travel to work by train £200 p/m
Broadband £18
Sky £18

Totals £1151

The rest of the expenditures are paid by my gf e.g. Council Tax, Electricity,Gas e.t.c.

So at the end of all outgoings I end up with just under £200 for the month.

webitha

hi there

firstly you have left a few things off like food house insurance nothing in there for xmas b/days car matainace fuel gas electric etc
why are you paying for your gf car insurance and does she live with you?
if so you will need to put all incomings and outgoings inc those above

also your fone is rather expensive can you not get PAYG

also with broadband/sky im sure you can get cheaper broadband elsewhere and i would scrap sky altogether and just watch the free channels

i hope you find something in here that will help you

oh and use a spend diary and write EVERYTHING you spend in it you will be amazed at how much carp you actually buy i was shocked lol

lynzpower

why do you have a car if you dont drive- theres surely 50.00 there you could save on the insurance.

Have you checked that theres no cheaper season ticket you can get for the train?

I would can off sky, you clearly cant afford that over paying your debts

Who owns the car?

tarici

Food, house insurance, electrci and all that is paid for by gf,. Yes we live together, we have split it and her payments for the house are about the same as mine for the rent.
The car is a joint cost as she drives it to work as she works further away than I do, so she pays half of the insurance, she also pays all the fuel and tax & maintenance.

I am tied into a contract with Vodafone, same with Broadband & Sky.

But i will definitely try the spend diary idea.

MrsTinks

Car - you say it's joint... do you drive it AT ALL? If not then I don't think this is a joint thing and she should be payin the full cost - however... £100 a month insurance? You WHAT????What do you have? A Ferrari? :eek:
I have fully comp on a Mini Cooper 54 plate and it costs me under £400 with no no claims (being used on another car ATM until it's sold)
Sky's gotta go - if you want rid of this debt...
Other than that... read the good advise above and contact CCCS and payplan they might be able to help

tarici

I do drive the car, in the evenings and weekends and sometimes to work if I need to travel to different sites. I drive a 2001 Punto lol, but believe me that is the cheapest car insurance for both of us I could find and I did look at many different places e.g. confused.com and individual brokers. It is under my name as she is a relatively new driver with 0 no claims while I have 2 years.

I will look at both payplan and CCCS. Thanks