Time to be honest with myself!

andyfromotley

Halifax OD first. The APR may be low but the charges are killing you and in APR terms would equate to something horrific. After that use the debt snowball calculator that i put the link to.

Kitten868

Looks like you've come to the right place and have the determination.
I agree with what you've already decided but still think an SOA is needed as £700 being frittered away on petrol and nights out seems a bit much.
I would also contact your ex and get you both to pay half and get that Halifax gone. That's a lot to service your exs account. Get it closed. You don't want financial ties to her if she's bad with money.
Have you checked on the eligibility calculator on here what cards you can get? If you're good and close your overdraft a money transfer card is good and you can use that £30 a month to pay down the balance rather than just keep it going. If not as you start paying it off and closing cards you will get a better chance of getting new cards so maybe no 0% now but in a few months.
I find it easier to be strict from the start so you know where you can free up the money and the early wins spur me on. But you might find it easier easing yourself in.
Also £120 on food? Do you not eat with your family?
Good luck xxxx

InkAndDrink303

Good Morning,

Good to see some new replies this morning, very motivating so thanks people :beer:

@Kitten868 - No, I'd rather not contact her in all honesty. I want nothing to do with her and the chances of her paying anything are very minimal. I finished things with her, she stiffed me with all the bills on our rented place and the remainder of a £15,000 loan to cover her credit card spending.
I think I'll just pay this one myself
In terms of the £700 that is left over? No, I don't eat with my family due to their working schedule, and also due to the fact that I am always on the move so we are rarely ever all at home together. Also, and I should have said this at first - I have a Mini which was £10K, I put 2K down and financed the other 8K with the garage so that is costing me £207 per month as well!
I have checked the eligibility calc on here, and sadly I'm only good for BarclayCard balance transfer cards and as I already have a BarclayCard that's a no-no (you can only have 1!). I agree that the Halifax OD really does need to go however.

The above actually brings me on @ANDYFROMOTLEY's point - the APR I worked out as they simply charge £1 per day that you are in it. I agree it does need to go but right now it's costing me less (I think?) that the Outfit or Burton's card. Do you think I should tackle that one first though? It's more money initially and I like the idea of paying less on other's next month and clearing off Outfit (at least) and then denting Burton's.

@HORSEYGIRL2014 - Thank you for the advice, I guess it's the little things you forget. Petrol I'm already all over that, I refuse to fill up anywhere other than the big supermarket's and keep an eye on which is the cheapest, collect points to redeem a few months down the line etc.
Your birthday card idea made me laugh, to be fair card's are kinda pointless nowadays aren't they! I've switched to just doing one card for the whole family now rather than individual at Christmas time etc.
I've cancelled the Equifax, I kept an eye on the free trial thing and beat them before they started charging me, but they make it bloody awkward to cancel! I've started using an iPhone app called 'ClearScore' which is actually free, and provides me all of the same information both on the app and on their website on a PC.
In terms of statement date, my Barclaycard statement would reach me on the 12th of the month, and advise that payment was due by the end of the month, however because the statement was generated on this date and I didn't make payment until the 25th when I was paid they told me that I spent more days with the higher balance and so the interest was a little more. Anyway, they have now moved it like yours to a date of the 20th for it to be generated so it will reach me around the 24th/25th which is perfect. I hope that makes sense?

I really wish I could get a balance transfer card to move some of this too but I think I need to clear down, and close some accounts first which is fine. I feel a hell of a lot better now I have a "plan" in place and have admitted (if only to myself) the state of affairs at the moment.

Have a great day all :cool:

horseygirl2014

You already sound more positive! That's good!

InkAndDrink303

@horseygirl2014 - I feel it. Big time! I believe it is actually down to acknowlding the issue, and then having formulated a plan to deal with it. I feel much better for that, and feel more positive generally.

I'm listing bits and pieces on eBay too to try and generate some extra funds to plough into these debts. Not forgetting I have £32.58 'confirmed' and waiting to go to 'payable' on TopCashBack, and another £122.26 in 'pending' at the moment. I will definitely use those funds against the debt!

MoneyMission2015

Have you tried applying for a 0% balance transfer card to put your current credit cards on to 0%? You'll save yourself loads of interest because you wont be paying interest on those balances anymore and you can put more money towards the debts that are charging interest.


Good luck

InkAndDrink303

@MoneyMission2015 - I have tried, as above;

have checked the eligibility calc on here, and sadly I'm only good for BarclayCard balance transfer cards and as I already have a BarclayCard that's a no-no (you can only have 1!).

I checked on a Virgin Money one yesterday but likelihood with was low. I'll keep an eye on this however because that really would be the ideal situation to transfer some of these balances.
The other thing is that I have some high balances so trying to find a card provider that will accept me, and also with a limit that high is a tall order.

I'll keep this updated

InkAndDrink303

I actually just this moment applied for a Halifax 0% BT upto 23 months but was declined

I won't be trying again for a while now until I have a couple of smaller bits paid off.

MoneyMission2015

Sorry, I did skim read a bit as I am on a lunch break. Coming on this site is the only thing stopping me going out & spending money :rotfl:


Yes it's definitely worth checking in a few months. My OH was the same, he had debts and I did the eligibility checker for him and they all came back 0% because of his bad credit!! I took over for a few months and made sure we overpaid on the cards, checked 4 months later and he had a 95% chance of an MBNA card, so I applied for him and he now has all his debt on 0% too.


FYI on the high balances, Barclaycard gave me £8500, Halifax gave me £3500 and I had £2500 on my own banks credit card at the time, so it is possible to get those sort of levels. Thankfully the 0% has helped me to massively clear these balances because all my payments are paying of the balance rather than interest.


And another thing to note, my Barclaycard recently wrote to me saying they are raising my limit to £10500 and another balance transfer offer. Luckily I don't need that now, but it seems to me like they are throwing money and offers at me at the moment, so my hard work must be paying off. I'm just glad I'm in a debt paying mode now rather than a spending mode!

enjoyyourshoes

Hi

you are accruing £287 pm in interest alone PLUS £100 in bank changes identified.

Halifax in Priority 1 as annually your on 83% in int+charges annually.(previous comment above)

If you found an additional £550 pm to throw at the debts you could be debt free in 18 months or so.

Its unpalatable but you have to look at the facts, you have spent this money so enjoyed it and made conscious decisions to do so. As you are still spending (fags= £45 pm- nights out (£ whatever you fancy per month) etc (let alone all the little things Lotto/mags/coffees/lunches/snacks etc etc) you will never generate the spare £ to reduce the debts.

Radial overall of spending and you psychological attitude to spending is possible what may be required to rid yourself of your debts.

At your current payments (£500 pm as you have identified earlier) your debt is only reducing by £96 pm. (due to high interest and high bank charges)

To change this, if you add another £550 pm (as discussed with radical spending changes) you can become debt free:-

P1 Halifax (then use the bank charges savings to add to the £550pm to make £615 to throw at debt)

P2 Outfit (relatively high interest + small amount)
P3 Burtons (there could be paid off in month 2 and agin the additional allocations thrown against the remaining debt)

P4 Llloys OD (mainly as a function of high bank charges) will take 6 months to pay this off at the arts mentioned above

P5 Capital 1 (there may be an adjustment in priorities if Lloyds bank charges pm reduce dramatically) (another 2 months to pay off) and again use funds to hit next priority

P6 Lloyds Loan 5 months to pay off

P6 & 7 Barclaycard and Next (I assumed 18.9% apr for B'clay as thats what their web states, but you need to check actually what your being charged)

Everything is doable.

But you need to work out what you want from LIFE, what you cab achieve within your own financial envelope and most importantly why you NEED to spend (its often psychological). Identify the triggers and work them out of your life so as you can then achieve your REAL goals/aspirations/desires, but within your own financial envelope.

Just think once your are clear of debt you can save and benefit from compound interest instead of being its slave.