I’m a buffoon who is in 25K of debt and can’t think straight.HELP ME!

tifnstav

we're all so eager to help that we're repeating ourselves! ah well, you can never have too much help.
as well, if you can clear a few debts quickly, say the next balance and the catalogues, it will feel like a great inroad and they'll all start frittering away.
getting rid of the small balances with high APRs can be a great buzz!

MissKJ

tifnstav, doesn't do any harm to REINFORCE it!!!

Gemmzie

I notice your benefit amount looks like child benefit. On those income figures, you're entitled to Child Tax Credit too

RAS

trib_man wrote: »

WARNING ITS DIRE!

I feel worse now I have written it down and looked at the APR and amounts. :mad:

THE BANKS MUST LOVE A MUG LIKE ME.:j
Monthly Incomings:

My salary - £975
Partners salary - £735
Benefits - £72.40

Total - £1757.94

Monthly Outgoings:
Dental Plan - £18.50 - can you lose this?
Child Maintenance - £100
Mortgage/Rent - £507 - is this interest only or repayment?
Home Insurance - £10.37
Council Tax - £97 - can you pay this over 12 months to make budgetting easier
Gas - £52 - this is high. Check they are not sitting on losts of credit, and check the particle on suppliers, then switch via quidco.com
Electric - £52 - this is high. Check they are not sitting on losts of credit, and check the particle on suppliers, then switch via quidco.com
TV License - £11.37
Sky - £41 - get rid of these and use freeview, even if only for 6months to a year.
Phone - £11
Broadband/Phone Calls - £29.00
Mobiles x2 - £70 contracts up on 14/01/08 will be PAY AS GO THEN well done
Food - £200 - you might b able to cut something of this
Car Insurance - £20.41
Petrol - £100
Life Insurance £8.44

Clothes?
Car tax?
MOT, repairs?
Holiday?
Going out?
Kee a spending diary as you have obviously been buying a lot of something. It will help you find the latte habits



Total: £1,276.61

Car Finance – Balance £6,437.07 APR 12.6% Length of term 60 months, 47 months to go

Credit Union – Balance £400 APR 12.68% Length of term 24 months, 14 months to go

Mint CC 1 – Balance £ 3,373.78 (limit £3500) APR 0.0% till Nov 1st

Mint CC 2 – Balance £ 1,054.59 (limit £1100) £677.41 @ 14.88% APR Purchases % £377.18 @ 22.47% APR for Cash - you may find that the money you are paying only goes towards the 14.88%, so you need to get rid of the whole lot ASAP

Halifax CC -Balance £ 270 (limit £3,600) APR 0.0% till August 08 - if you cannot do balance transfer onto this then use it to pay the catalogues with the highest APRS

Virgin CC – Balance £3,408.53 (limit £3500) APR 15.9%

Bank Loan – Balance £9,797.21 APR 6.26% Length of term 60 months, 52 months to go

Next Catalogue – Balance £590 APR 26.49% - then this

Additions Catalogue – Balance £225.68 APR 29% - put any money you have on this - pay the highest APR first
Children’s Book Club - Balance £70

Lloyds TSB Platinum Overdraft - £500 (limit £500) APR 12.3%

Lloyds TSB Classic + Overdraft - £500 (limit £500) APR 18.9%

HSBC Overdraft - £200 (limit £200) APR 18.8%

Lloyds TSB Classic Overdraft - £500 (limit £500) APR 19.3%

And I have looked on experian and I have a good credit rating. 905/1000
Only blot is missed payment this month on Mint card.

Since you have been spending you may have stuff that you can car boot or e-bay?

On the other hand join www.freecycle.org and get things like kid's clothes for free. If something breaks down, you can get a short term replacements instead of credit.

Can either of you get additional part-time work?

Check out www.entitledto.com for info on CTC

trib_man

Gemmzie wrote: »

I notice your benefit amount looks like child benefit. On those income figures, you're entitled to Child Tax Credit too

Hi Gemmzie

We used to have tax credit however they paid us double due to their mistake and this year we have been told that your entitlement will only pay them the arrears back.

kizzykizzywizzy

Well done on realising you've got to sort this out:beer: We are all in the same boat, to different levels & with the help of people cleverer than me you can sort this:T you usually have to hit rock bottom before you can climb back up, I'm sure you'll do it, the same as I will:j Good Luck

Jacks_xxx

trib_man wrote: »

WARNING ITS DIRE!

I feel worse now I have written it down and looked at the APR and amounts. :mad:

THE BANKS MUST LOVE A MUG LIKE ME.

Monthly Incomings:

My salary - £975
Partners salary - £735
Benefits - £72.40

Total - £1757.94

Monthly Outgoings:
Dental Plan - £18.50
Child Maintenance - £100
Mortgage/Rent - £507
Home Insurance - £10.37
Council Tax - £97
Gas - £52
Electric - £52
TV License - £11.37
Sky - £41
Phone - £11
Broadband/Phone Calls - £29.00
Mobiles x2 - £70 contracts up on 14/01/08 will be PAY AS GO THEN
Food - £200
Car Insurance - £20.41
Petrol - £100
Life Insurance £8.44

Total: £1,276.61

Car Finance – Balance £6,437.07 APR 12.6% Length of term 60 months, 47 months to go

Credit Union – Balance £400 APR 12.68% Length of term 24 months, 14 months to go

Mint CC 1 – Balance £ 3,373.78 (limit £3500) APR 0.0% till Nov 1st

Mint CC 2 – Balance £ 1,054.59 (limit £1100) £677.41 @ 14.88% APR Purchases % £377.18 @ 22.47% APR for Cash

Halifax CC -Balance £ 270 (limit £3,600) APR 0.0% till August 08

Virgin CC – Balance £3,408.53 (limit £3500) APR 15.9%

Bank Loan – Balance £9,797.21 APR 6.26% Length of term 60 months, 52 months to go

Next Catalogue – Balance £590 APR 26.49%

Additions Catalogue – Balance £225.68 APR 29%

Children’s Book Club - Balance £70

Lloyds TSB Platinum Overdraft - £500 (limit £500) APR 12.3%

Lloyds TSB Classic + Overdraft - £500 (limit £500) APR 18.9%

HSBC Overdraft - £200 (limit £200) APR 18.8%

Lloyds TSB Classic Overdraft - £500 (limit £500) APR 19.3%

And I have looked on experian and I have a good credit rating. 905/1000
Only blot is missed payment this month on Mint card.

Hey sweetie,

First things first: input all the debt details in the snowball at www.whatsthecost.co.uk to see how you should be playing the debt repayments.

Next, if your credit is good then how about a 0% card (Or two!) to transfer some of the debt on to?

Check out The September Grocery Challenge and the Eating for 1 month on £60 thread on Money Saving Old Style - and the whole of MS OS in general to be honest for ways of cutting back on the food budget.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=534829

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.html?f=33

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=534160

After that, eBay or Carboot everything that's not nailed down!

That's pretty much how I'm doing it.

We got rid of our mobiles all together but we kept Sky TV - but got rid of sport and movies so now it costs us £21 a month. We sold my car. (Hubby needs his.) and I turn things off at the wall a lot in the hope of reducing our leccy bill.
You're in good company here honeybun. :beer:

Love Jacks xxx

trib_man

WARNING ITS DIRE!

I feel worse now I have written it down and looked at the APR and amounts.

THE BANKS MUST LOVE A MUG LIKE ME.

Monthly Incomings:

My salary - £975
Partners salary - £735
Benefits - £72.40

Total - £1757.94

Monthly Outgoings:
Dental Plan - £18.50
Child Maintenance - £100
Mortgage/Rent - £507
Home Insurance - £10.37
Council Tax - £97
Gas - £52
Electric - £52
TV License - £11.37
Sky - £41
Phone - £11
Broadband/Phone Calls - £29.00
Mobiles x2 - £70 contracts up on 14/01/08 will be PAY AS GO THEN
Food - £200
Car Insurance - £20.41
Petrol - £100
Life Insurance £8.44

Total: £1,276.61

Car Finance – Balance £6,437.07 APR 12.6% Length of term 60 months, 47 months to go

Credit Union – Balance £400 APR 12.68% Length of term 24 months, 14 months to go

Mint CC 1 – Balance £ 3,409.56. (limit £3500) APR 0.0% till Nov 1st then 15.756 APR%

Mint CC 2 – Balance £ 1,032 (limit £1100) £677.41 @ 14.88% APR Purchases % £[EMAIL="377.18@%2022.47%25%20APR"]377.18 @ 22.47% APR[/EMAIL] for Cash Gone

Halifax CC - Balance £ 3,425.74(limit £3,600) APR 0.0% till August 08

Virgin CC – Balance £1,897.00. (limit £3500) APR 15.9%

Bank Loan – Balance £9,797.21 APR 6.26% Length of term 60 months, 52 months to go

Next Catalogue – Balance £ 590 APR 26.49% Gone

Additions Catalogue – Balance £ 225.68 APR 29% Gone
Children’s Book Club - Balance £ 70

Lloyds TSB Platinum Overdraft - £500 (limit £500) APR 12.3%

Lloyds TSB Classic + Overdraft - £500 (limit £500) APR 18.9%

HSBC Overdraft - £200 (limit £200) APR 18.8%

Lloyds TSB Classic Overdraft - £500 (limit £500) APR 19.3%

I have jigged the balances around a bit and this is where I am at the moment. I have used the Snowball calculator and it was inspiring however very scary. I have missed a minimum payment this month on a mint card which is the first time ever in my life and this is hitting me hard mentally. It’s also wrecked my credit rating down to 845 out off 1000 and it stands at fair now ( was 905/1000 last week). I know I don’t want a credit rating and shouldn’t worry about this but it is stopping me getting further 0% balance transfers. Does anyone know how long I should leave it before applying for any further credit? I have applied a few times this month and this along with the missed payment is I think messing me up.

Squirrel29

Hi, I think applications for credit drop off your report after 6 months. I know I have wrecked mine with too many applications in last couple months so am sitting quiet until next April. xx

jpwhittle

dont beat yourself up for a missed payment theres nothing you can do about it now and as far as i know your credit rating will go back up if you keep on top of future payments.
everyone here is in the same boat and will be able to give you some great advice. well done on th first changes you have made keep going like tht and it wont be long till you have some money spare.