2nd Attempt at SOA please advise

fishfinger1

triple_choc_chip wrote: »

I have to say that I don't think your gas and electric are high, I have a new, well insulated house and I can't do much better than that even though I keep the thermo on 18*. It doesn't take much to spend £50 on activities for kids if they do a club each and I presume that's haircuts for the whole family? If so, less than £10 per mth per person isn't bad. I think your food bill is low to feed 4 people too, well done if this is accurate.

The mobiles are the biggest unnecessary expense, sometimes you can drop a tariff once you're more than 3 mths into the contract, could be worth a phone call.

You have so many unsecured debts, these didn't appear overnight so as well as focussing on paying down spend some time reflecting on how they came about. Changing habits is as important as repaying and will ensure you stick to your plan. Jot all spending down each day - just in a pocket diary - it's enlightening when you see where the odd pounds go and how they add up.

Regarding the credit cards, focus all overpayments on the card with the highest APR. You've said three accounts are in arrears, do they charge a fine? If so get these up to date first. Others on here have reported that barclaycard has agreed to change their rate to 6.9% life of balance, I don't know what the criteria is but again it may be worth a phone call.

It's often been said that tackling a large debt is like stopping a juggernaut before turning it around. Aim not to increase the debt anymore and see this as your first success. Then throw any savings / overpayments at the same debt so that you can see the difference it makes.

Anyway, I'm writing too much, good luck and I will subscribe because I'm hoping you will suceed.

Thankyou so much for taking the time to reply, I have just started a new 12 month contract for my energy supply, the kids have swimming lessons and also do football, haircuts are for all the family approx. every 6 weeks, The majority of the debts have come from 10 years worth of car repairs and insurance, also spending silly on Christmas presents, is there an easy way of finding out the APR on the cards without having to look through all the paper work?

enthusiasticsaver

Your best option with the credit cards if you don't have a 0% balance transfer option is to approach the ones you are in arrears with and see if you can come to an arrangement or if they will freeze the interest.


You do have a lot of credit card debt so as someone else asked do you have anything to sell and how has it got so high? The debts in proportion to your income are quite high so you may have to consider a DMP. Which ones are up to date and which ones are yours and which belong to your OH?

fishfinger1

Debtslayer wrote: »

Okay; I've made some suggestions above where you could possibly make some cutbacks.
You need to enter the APR's against each credit card so we can see which are the highest APR's
Do you have any available credit on your 0% cards that you could move some of the high interest debt to?

ive literally just got into a new contract for the energy supply, At present we don't put anything away each month for presents which is partly why were in this and have to start managing our money properly, the mobile contracts are up in Oct so im going to put them both on a pay as you go,
Is there an easy way to find out what the APR is on each card? ive just literally just done an eligibility check on a balance transfer card which came back with a 9\10 chance for my partner

triple_choc_chip

fishfinger1 wrote: »

is there an easy way of finding out the APR on the cards without having to look through all the paper work?

Well it does involve looking at the statements but they usually show a monthly amount and you multiply that by 12. E.g. an apr of 26% would be 2.16% on the statement. When I first paid attention to mine I was shocked to find they had crept up from a normal 19% to a ridiculous 35% without me noticing!

fishfinger1

enthusiasticsaver wrote: »

Your best option with the credit cards if you don't have a 0% balance transfer option is to approach the ones you are in arrears with and see if you can come to an arrangement or if they will freeze the interest.


You do have a lot of credit card debt so as someone else asked do you have anything to sell and how has it got so high? The debts in proportion to your income are quite high so you may have to consider a DMP. Which ones are up to date and which ones are yours and which belong to your OH?

barclaycard....................3434......83.8......0
tesco..........................2706......67........0
lloyds.........................3073......30.73.....0
argos..........................950.......50........0
these are my partners and are all upto date, as far as mine are concerned the 2 Barclays and NatWest are in arrears

fishfinger1

Good morning. Could anybody tell me the best way to approach creditors. Im wanting to get in touch to see if they will freeze the interest and offer a repayment plan.

HappyMJ

fishfinger1 wrote: »

Good morning. Could anybody tell me the best way to approach creditors. Im wanting to get in touch to see if they will freeze the interest and offer a repayment plan.

You start by paying them all £1 per month then write a letter saying you are talking to a debt charity.

You will lose the car that is on HP though. If you fail to make payments on the car they'll just take it back. As you're paying £1 per month within a few months you should have saved enough to buy another one and pay with cash. It will take a few months for them to come and get the car so you shouldn't be without for very long,

Debtslayer

fishfinger1 wrote: »

ive literally just got into a new contract for the energy supply, At present we don't put anything away each month for presents which is partly why were in this and have to start managing our money properly, the mobile contracts are up in Oct so im going to put them both on a pay as you go,
Is there an easy way to find out what the APR is on each card? ive just literally just done an eligibility check on a balance transfer card which came back with a 9\10 chance for my partner

Should be stated on the cc statement!
Get all your statements together and go through them, you need to be doing this anyway to get on top of your finances

getmore4less

fishfinger1 wrote: »

she gets no fuel allowance from her employer, shes claims the tax back every year which is normally about £900 so were going to use that to pay off the argos card in April

You can't run a car for an employer on 9p a mile(tax rebate on the first 10k miles £900) as the string of debts for maintenance insurance etc. shows.

9p won't even cover the fuel.

this job is not earning the level you think it is while subsidising the employer

getmore4less

triple_choc_chip wrote: »

Well it does involve looking at the statements but they usually show a monthly amount and you multiply that by 12. E.g. an apr of 26% would be 2.16% on the statement. When I first paid attention to mine I was shocked to find they had crept up from a normal 19% to a ridiculous 35% without me noticing!

not that simple.

2.16% pm is in fact an apr of 29.23%
http://www.stoozing.com/calculator/apr-rate-converter.php