Hello Everyone - MY SOA and Debt Dairy

joeblack066

If you use the snpwball calculator on www.whatsthecost.co.uk that will tell you how best to go about paying your cards etc.
It seems to me that you need to look at increasing your income as well as decreasing your outgoings. On your current SOA you have budgeted to your exact income. Could you take a lodger? You can charge up to £75 per week under the Govt Rent a Room scheme without it impacting on your tax. Alternatively, could you take a 2nd job for a while? Bar work or similar?

Teacher2301

Hi Stevenc75,

Just read through the posts - lots of good advice, if I can add a few of my own...

1) Have you checked your tax situation, you never know, the tax man may owe you money? If you've changed jobs and were paid more in a previous job than you are now, you may have paid too much tax - if you changed within a tax year. Check the inland revenue website and use your P60's. You can go back as far as 5 years and 10 months!
2) Try to pay essentials by direct debit if you can, most companies offer a small discount and at least you know you can live and will have all bills fo gas, elec, water, council tax etc paid.
3) Do you live on your own? If you do - you are eligible for 25% discount for council tax I think - check it out with your council.
4) Get rid of sky! Watch the terestial channels until you can afford it again! But you still have to pay the TV licence fee though.
5) Change your house/contents insurance - get another quote and change.
6) When doing changes, register with cashback sites eg Rpoints of Quidco - you don't make money but they pay some back?
7) Change bank account to Alliance and Leicester ( I have done this) and they generally honour any overdraft facility you have with your bank at present (and it's 0% for 1 year) and pay £50 if you introduce someone else (a friend/ wife/ colleague?) - tell you what if you say I referred you - I get £50 as well as you - how about that? Bit cheeky I know - sorry guys.
8) You don't mention if you have a mobile - ditch it - and switch to talk talk - they are the cheapest to date - only £20 (I think) for broadband and phone.
9) Have a food budget and stick to it - shop around and always shop on a full stomach - I found that shopping on a Monday night after work and a meal better and that used to be a time when loads of offers were out.
10) Don't worry - we have all been in a similar situation. This forum has been a great help to us all and don't give up.

clairel_3

Hi Steven,

Well done in getting all the info together and trying to tackle it!

I'm not saying that this is the best thing to do - I'm sure someone will jump in with better advice if I'm wrong - but have you thought about a debt management plan?

The worst thing about them is that they damage your credit rating, but if you're already pretty badly off in that department, then perhaps you don't have so much to lose?

Don't even think about ringing any of the companies that advertise on the TV - they all charge fees and are a total rip off. The CCCS and Payplan are both non-profit making, and do it all for free. They also have the respect of the debt companies because they are there to genuinelyhelp people out rather than profit from other's misery!

They've both got excellent websites, and I know you can speak to CCCS over the phone anonymously.

They work out exactly how much you've got coming in and out each month EXLUDING debt repayments, and then whatever is left goes to them and they share it out between your creditors. The bonus is that the vast majority of creditors will accept whatever these companies offer, even if it's just a couple of quid a month, because they know that they are fair and they wouldn't be able to get more out of you in court. If you earn more, you can pay more off.

Looking at your SOA, the most horrendous part is some of the interest rates youre paying - in my very humble but honest opinion, unless you double your income, I can't see these debts being paid of at all in the forseeable future so long as this interest is being applied (sorry to be the gloomy about it, others please say if you think I'm being too pessamistic), whereas if you went onto a DMP then the companies would more than likely reduce or freeze the interest altogether, meaning that the payments you do make actually reduce your balances rather than just paying off interest and charges.

There are some really good threads on here somewhere about Payplan, CCCS and DMPs - it might be worth considering and taking a look.

Whatever you decide to do, very best of luck to you!

P.S. Good on you for keeping Sky - if you only spend £80 a month on EVERYTHING else, then why not? Every little helps, but £40 a month isn't going to be the answer to all your problems, so why make yourself miserable for the sake of that? It might be worth threatening to leave them though - sometimes they'll reduce your package costs or offer fre channels to get you to stay

jo1972

Hi Steven,

Just wanted to say welcome to the board and well done for posting

There are lots of people on here that will give you tons of good advice and get your debts down and feel as though you are on top of everything again.

Good luck and look forward to seeing how you get on.

Jo.x

Teacher2301

RE: SKY - yep I agree but my wife battered me over the head and said we couldn't have it when we moved! Shame because we don't get freeview here - you could just watch free view though with your sky package for free!

Teacher2301

RE: House and contents insurance - check you are not paying for contents worth £75,000 if you only have a flat/ house with just £35,000 or so worth of goods, including carpets, white goods, electricals, personal items and fixtures and fittings. Declare any really expensive items (Plasma TV's PC's, Collectables, jewelery etc). It may reduce your premium - just a thought!

skint_spice

Well done Steven, you've made a great start. Keep it up. I've heard we're going to have an indian summer so it'll be lovely cycling then. it's not reached Scotland yet though...

tealady

Don't forget to check out the old style board theres loads of fantastic tips on saving on the house keeping, most of which you can do easily. I found it a real eye opener.

pandapaws

Hi Steven,

Just thought I'd say good luck! You've made a great start by selling your car (wish I could do the same, but 60 mile round trip to work while pregnant on a bike... probably not!). And I agree that you're right to stick to your guns about keeping Sky TV! I saw someone else mention that they sometimes give a discount if you threaten to leave - its well worth a try if you're out of contract, a friend of mine got 3 months free (or something like that) just for making a phone call!!!

You had £42 in your SOA for car insurance as well - can you get any rebate on the period that you haven't used now you've sold up?

Best of luck, especially in getting shot of those 2 hellish APR cards! You're doing great so far, keep inspiring the rest of us!

xx

pandapaws

That's great- once you get rid of the first one, and are able to move on to clearing the second one with the extra money you used to have to put to the first and so on, so on, you'll really feel you're getting somewhere!

Keep going, good luck!!!:D