Hate myself for being so foolish

GettingThingsDone

Hi Squirrel29! Welcome to DFW - you're definitely in the right place. Certainly don't hate yourself. The best thing is to recognise that you've had (or are having) your light-bulb-moment; painful at first, but soon you'll feel massively empowered.

Although you can't come completely clean to your father, at least you're in the enviable position (compared to many people) of knowing the full extent of all of your debts. That alone means that if you do borrow money, at least you'll know deep down that you'll be allocating it to your debts correctly.

Imagine if you knew about DFW/MSE five years ago!

Anyway, you're doing great - get stuck in and keep focused. There are plenty of tips on here on how to cut back or make more money. Keep posting and hope to see you around. I'm nearly 40 and I've just got below £7k - just keep plugging away at it!

gtd

McSaver

Take the loan from your dad, at least you aint pressured by cahoot if you end up struggling and paying things late and get to work on the overdraft and the virgin credit card first since these have the hights interest charged onto it. Have a look at Cashback sites like quidco and topcashback for ways of generating a few quid extra in cash on your shopping... but dont spend too much as you have a debt to elimate. You have made a good start already by realising you need to do something about your debt.

Mrs_Sparkle

Hello and welcome! You're not on your own hun- there are lots of us here who've made silly errors and got on that slippery slope. You're here now so stop worrying and keep posting. Join quidco.com and pigsback.com to earn some extra pennies (let me know if you need more info). Get onto the old style money saving board and look at their cheap recipes and house-running ideas. There are lots of ways you can cut back and before you know it you'll have shaved months off that 50 months debt-free date.

I'm doing this without bankruptcy or payment plan and I know lots of others are too so you're not alone x

Squirrel29

have spoken to Cahoot today and I have to pay miminum of £50 per month on any flexible loan balance, as I daren't tell my dad that the actual balance is £5600 and not the £3500 he thinks it is, I can't really afford to give my dad a £100 per month plus £50 to Cahoot, so llooks will have to turn down his offer of an interest free loan :rolleyes: He is really nagging me to do it though. The problem is though I have been naughty and withdrawn funds from the flexible loan so instead of being the £3.5 grand it should be by now, it is £5.6 grand and I don't see how I can tell dad why it so high.

Anyway here goes.

Salary £1200 after pension (£100)/union (£11) (can occasionally earn overtime - this month earned £200 overtime but not guaranteed.
Tax credit £115 at moment but appealing against overpayment, if lose appeal will be £80 per month.
Maintenance £150
Child benefit £70
I also earn approx £150 per month after tax teaching ad ed classes between Oct and March.

Incomings = £1535 + extra £150 p/m over winter + occasional overtime.

Outgoings

Mortgage £423 repayment fixed for further 3 years at 4.39%.(£69,000 for 20 years)
Secured loan on mortgage (double glazing) £19 per month fixed 5.49% for five years (interest only). Borrowed £4000, don't need to pay off for 20 years.
Gas/electric £46
Water £16
Gas/plumbing cover £18.50 (have 20 yr old boiler)
Gym £36 (stupid mistake but can finish it in Feb 07).
Life insurance linked to mortgage £5 (have good life cover with local gov pension).
Dog insurance £6.90 (just got down from £11).
House insurance £21 (accidental damage build/conts).
Car insurance £25 (just down from £32).
Virgin broadband £10
Sky (committed until June 08) £22
I have Sky Talk free eve/wkd calls but still pay about £20 per month.
BT line rental £10.50
Mobile (£30 per month flex plan) - committed until Dec 07.
Petrol £60
Food £160
GUS catalogue £100 balance, paying off at £21 per month, - have now thrown out catalogues so not tempted again.
TV licence £12.00
Pocket money for son £20 (parents also give him £40 per month for jobs around their house).
Interest on £1000 overdraft £4
Nationwide CC 16.9% £1250 balance - limit £5000 min payment approx £25
Virgin CC 18.9% balance £2110 - limit £3500 min payment approx £50
Nationwide loan 30 payments left x £127 month (6.7%).
Cahoot loan £5600 15.9% payment £116 but can drop to £50 per month). min payment approx £50
Cahoot credit card £2700 balance, limit £3000 10.9% for lifetime of balance. £50 min repayment

Outgoings £1285.

This leaves me approx £250 p/m for extras (spends/clothes) etc not including 2nd job plus overtime. I only go out approx once a week and have stopped buying rounds and don't drink myself so my night out now costs approx £5 for about 3 soft drinks. I am not into labels and quite happy to go to Primark/George etc. Daft thing is, I never seem to see the £250, I think I know where problem is though. I bad at planning meals so just decide on the day and end up going to local shop. I then seem to spend more than a proper weekly shop at supermarket so realistically food costs higher than budgeted for. Will tackle this from now on.

Regarding the Barclaycard, purchases are charged at approx 18%, I have a 0 balance but they are now allowing me to do 6,9% lifetime balance transfer that they previously offered to me.

I will def stop gym in Feb 08 (it is LA fitness and they won't let me terminate early).

I am also intending to do car boot this weekend, I was going to add the money made to the £15 on my Asda Xmas Saving Card. Have also started savinig £2 coins this week and have £6 already!!

I was hoping to snowball, have put in figures and it saying to pay off Virgin first, it giving me figure of approx 51 months but am hoping to bring this down with throwing any extra money at it.

Please tell me I am not at bankruptcy stage, I am so scared of losing the house. I am so determined now to get out of this stupid mess.

Squirrel29

Meant to say am not allowed to balance transfer to Barclaycard - don't know why as always paid on time!

Kevicho

Squirrel29 wrote: »

have spoken to Cahoot today and I have to pay miminum of £50 per month on any flexible loan balance, as I daren't tell my dad that the actual balance is £5600 and not the £3500 he thinks it is, I can't really afford to give my dad a £100 per month plus £50 to Cahoot, so llooks will have to turn down his offer of an interest free loan :rolleyes: He is really nagging me to do it though. The problem is though I have been naughty and withdrawn funds from the flexible loan so instead of being the £3.5 grand it should be by now, it is £5.6 grand and I don't see how I can tell dad why it so high.

Anyway here goes.

Salary £1200 after pension (£100)/union (£11) (can occasionally earn overtime - this month earned £200 overtime but not guaranteed.
Tax credit £115 at moment but appealing against overpayment, if lose appeal will be £80 per month.
Maintenance £150
Child benefit £70
I also earn approx £150 per month after tax teaching ad ed classes between Oct and March.

Incomings = £1535 + extra £150 p/m over winter + occasional overtime.

Outgoings

Mortgage £423 repayment fixed for further 3 years at 4.39%.(£69,000 for 20 years)
Secured loan on mortgage (double glazing) £19 per month fixed 5.49% for five years (interest only). Borrowed £4000, don't need to pay off for 20 years.
Gas/electric £46 - have you checked out uswitch for any cheaper deals? also use a cashback site such as quidco if you do swap to earn some money
Water £16
Gas/plumbing cover £18.50 (have 20 yr old boiler)
Gym £36 (stupid mistake but can finish it in Feb 07).
Life insurance linked to mortgage £5 (have good life cover with local gov pension).
Dog insurance £6.90 (just got down from £11).
House insurance £21 (accidental damage build/conts).
Car insurance £25 (just down from £32).
Virgin broadband £10
Sky (committed until June 08) £22
I have Sky Talk free eve/wkd calls but still pay about £20 per month.
BT line rental £10.50
Mobile (£30 per month flex plan) - committed until Dec 07.
Petrol £60 - can you cut down here, such as walking short distances instead of using the car
Food £160 - how many people is this for? also check out the old school board and start meal planning to make this as cheap as possible
GUS catalogue £100 balance, paying off at £21 per month, - have now thrown out catalogues so not tempted again. - good good
TV licence £12.00
Pocket money for son £20 (parents also give him £40 per month for jobs around their house). - can this stop? i know its tight but family financial freedom should be more important than sweet money
Interest on £1000 overdraft £4
Nationwide CC 16.9% £1250 balance - limit £5000 min payment approx £25
Virgin CC 18.9% balance £2110 - limit £3500 min payment approx £50
Nationwide loan 30 payments left x £127 month (6.7%).
Cahoot loan £5600 15.9% payment £116 but can drop to £50 per month). min payment approx £50
Cahoot credit card £2700 balance, limit £3000 10.9% for lifetime of balance. £50 min repayment

Outgoings £1285.

This leaves me approx £250 p/m for extras (spends/clothes) etc not including 2nd job plus overtime. I only go out approx once a week and have stopped buying rounds and don't drink myself so my night out now costs approx £5 for about 3 soft drinks. I am not into labels and quite happy to go to Primark/George etc. Daft thing is, I never seem to see the £250, I think I know where problem is though. I bad at planning meals so just decide on the day and end up going to local shop. I then seem to spend more than a proper weekly shop at supermarket so realistically food costs higher than budgeted for. Will tackle this from now on.

- i think a diary will help here, money easily slips through our hands (especially with the platic) so a diary (and keeping receipts) gives us the root of the problem

Regarding the Barclaycard, purchases are charged at approx 18%, I have a 0 balance but they are now allowing me to do 6,9% lifetime balance transfer that they previously offered to me.

Why not look for a better card?

I will def stop gym in Feb 08 (it is LA fitness and they won't let me terminate early).

I am also intending to do car boot this weekend, I was going to add the money made to the £15 on my Asda Xmas Saving Card. Have also started savinig £2 coins this week and have £6 already!!

I was hoping to snowball, have put in figures and it saying to pay off Virgin first, it giving me figure of approx 51 months but am hoping to bring this down with throwing any extra money at it.

Please tell me I am not at bankruptcy stage, I am so scared of losing the house. I am so determined now to get out of this stupid mess.

Well done on posting and starting your journey.

There is no need for thoughts of BR at the moment, one idea, why not get a 0 percent balance card and also the loan from your dad, that way you should be able to pay off the cahoot loan, this will give you 116 a month more to pay (ie 100 to your dad, and 16 to the 0 card)

I think if you work hard on cutting back you will be able to get this sorted in 3 years easily

Kevicho

Squirrel29 wrote: »

Meant to say am not allowed to balance transfer to Barclaycard - don't know why as always paid on time!

Id ditch barclaycard to be honest

Im not an egg salesman but i have just sined up with egg through quidco and received 35 quid cashback, and can do 0% balance transfers.

There are cards out there that ont charge a fee as well.

To me looks like barclays are using your loyalty against you.

Cancel the card and have the pleasure of cutting it up

Squirrel29

Sorry, missed council tax off my SOA - £57 (have 25% single person discount).

HairyHandofDartmoor

Maybe Barclaycard think you have too much debt in proportion to how much you earn, as they do normally offer existing customers the 6.9% balance transfer, and as you haven't missed payments. Their explanation doesn't make much sense, certainly!

If you can follow people's suggestions on here and try and pay off the debt with the highest interest, or the smallest debt to boost your morale, then it would be worth trying again in a few months time.

While you are managing the minimum payments then all is not lost. I was in a similar situation to you in Jan '06 with 5 credit cards between me and OH, all maxed out and all on high interest. But now, all the cards are on low life of interest offers ranging from 6.9% at the highest to 3.9% at the lowest.

It took a while to achieve this. We worked hard for about 6 months to pay off one card completely so that we could balance transfer onto that card. Once we had done the first balance transfer, it meant a second card was empty, so we did another balance transfer onto that one, and so on.

It took time but we did it with hard work and patience, and now our debt is being paid off much quicker. We used to pay £500 interest a month and £100 off what we owed (approx), now it is the other way around! We pay off about £500 on what we owe and only about £100 in interest, so it is really worth persevering with this. Martin's article on balance transfers is very helpful.

Squirrel29

Looking at my unsecured debts, should I go for paying off lowest balance first or highest interest? What works best do you think?:eek: