Advice, Please!!!

Swifty1982

I am at a total loss at what to do about my debt..

I currently owe aprox £4000, that is after getting my bank charges back, (£1250, thank you Mr HSBC), £600 of this debt is in control on a low interest and a 0% interest card, however....

I have aprox £3400 of this debt on my egg visa card, the interest on which is a whopping 21.9% because I missed some payments with them last year.

I pay £75 per month off this card but the interest rate is so high it means I am paying about £60 per month in interest!! I'm just not getting anywhere.. Here are the things I have done to try and clear it...

1 ) Credit card shuffle to my other 2 cards, one has 0% on transfers, one has a low-ish rate.

2 ) phoned egg and reasoned with them for a lower interest rate as i haven't missed a payment in ages, they declined.

3 ) applied for 2 other 0% balance cards to transfer balances, got refused both.

4 ) sold all available items on ebay!! Taken an extra job and doubled my hours at work.

I really don't know what else I can do! I'm paying so much a month but clearing so little, I know i'm not in debt crisis because i can make the repayments but this is really starting to wear me down.. Any ideas??

rog2

Have you written to Egg and asked them to freeze the interest and accept an offer of monthy payments? There are some good template letters on the National Debtline website: http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk
You could also try talking to CCCS or your local CAB Money adviser.

the_cat

hi and welcome

the first step is to post a detailed SOA with all your income/expenses here and then the many experts on here will be able to suggest things to help

See the sticky thread at the top of the page by southern scouser for how to do it

tooties

hello Swifty and Welcome to the DFW board
congratulations on taking this first step and posting, i agree with the cat, you need to post a detailed SOA and then the real experts on here will be able to help loads
tooties

sammiboo

As others have posted, get your SOA up and we can see where we can trim down some of your outgoings

Swifty1982

Ok, here it is in black and white!!!:eek:

Salary (take home) 890.00
Bits and bobs work 60.00
Clicks and Surveys 25.00
Total income 975.00


Rent 240.00
Gas & Elec 30.00
Phone (contract min) 35.00
Water 20.00
C.Tax 45.00
Food 110.00
Car Ins 22.00
Petrol 60.00
min pmt to Halifax (o%) 15.00
min pmt to mint (17%) 15.00
min pmt to Egg (21.9%) 70.00
min pmt to argos (25%) 8.00
Unicef 2.00
Sponsored Child 15.00
Total outgoings 687.00


Thats before and luxery items!!!(beer!!! :beer: )

That does leave me extra to pay off my debts, but i never seam to have any left over at the end of the month?!???!!!

Swifty1982

and i think i have added my current situation to my signature below?? (maybe, i'm not very technical)

Shineyhappy

I hate to say it but could you cut out your charity donations until you are debt free as 17 pounds a month could go towards your rip off Argos card.

If youre just feeding one person then you could probably cut some money off your food shopping too.

Have you read through the first few pages of the Olmypic challenge thread? There are some great ideas on there for making additional cash.

Good luck!

CLAPTON

The SOA needs to show all your spending i.e. including what you spend that other £300 per month on as its there that you are likely to find 'spare' money to pay the debts off if you wish to.

the_cat

hi

The fact that you seem to have money in your budget that is 'disappearing' each month is probably a major factor in your problems.

Start a spending diary. Note down every single item that you spend on - yes, even a chocolate bar. That way you will find out your true outgoings and be in a position to curb those spending habits that are out of control

Swifty1982

If i wrote to Egg asking them to freeze the interest and accept a monthly payment would it affect my credit rating lots? Or should I really not worry as it seams to already be quite bad? i'm not planning getting any further credit (mortgages etc) for a while.

Defo think I need to start a spending diary.. This SOA is the first time I've looked really at what I spend I can't beleive i am meant to have so much spare and yet I have nothing!!!

Going to start the £2.00 savings thing that everyone seams to be doing, have one in my purse now!!!