Looking for advice

peterc2609

Hi All

Looking for a bit of advice.

I'm not in a 'massive' amount of debt, nor do I earn a low amount. However, I am stupid. I also don't like paying interest so am looking at options.

I have the following debts (I'll include my mortgage just for a clear picture)

Mortgage: 133,000, currently paying £252 interest only.
Loan: £20,000 at 17.9% APR over 36 months. Outstanding is £15598.22, however I think settlement today would be around £13700.
Credit Card 1: £4796 (0% APR till Nov 2016)
Credit Card 2: £12000 (0% on £8228.47 till Jan 2017, 1.4525 on the rest)

Whats my best approach to get rid of the debts? Should I be hitting one hard initially, should I put them all together in one big loan, should I balance transfer??

Thanks

andyfromotley

Hi peter,

yuk you have some pretty horrid interest rates there and the ticking time bomb of an interest rate mortgage. 37k of unsecured debt too. Urgent action is required. But fear not it can be resolved.

We cant really give any proper advice unless you fill in one of these and post it (theres an mse button on there)
http://www.stoozing.com/calculator/soa.php
Once we have the figures the answers will be clear.
hope this helps
andy

peterc2609

One of the problems with these things (forms) is the first question...
I'm self employed and never know what to put in the income box!

peterc2609

And then for the likes of groceries, clothing, petrol, entertainment etc... are these averages of last X months, just last month, expected this month, just for me, whole family etc

I'm really not disciplined when it comes to all of this.

National_Debtline

peterc2609 wrote: »

One of the problems with these things (forms) is the first question...
I'm self employed and never know what to put in the income box!

Hi Peter

If you contact Business Debtline they can go through a financial plan with you and suggest how to account for a fluctuating income.

www.businessdebtline.org

James
@natdebtline

thriftylass

peterc2609 wrote: »

And then for the likes of groceries, clothing, petrol, entertainment etc... are these averages of last X months, just last month, expected this month, just for me, whole family etc

I'm really not disciplined when it comes to all of this.

For this you need to budget. Keep a record of those spends for a few weeks/months or look back trough statements if you can. And then say, ok I need (just an example) £300 to feed the family, put £30 away for clothing and drive roughly £100 pounds worth of petrol. Use these as a guide/budget (i.e. try to live of that number and don't go over) and everything else goes to the debt. With your amount of debt be strict, limit entertainment, make sure you are on the best phone, electricity, tv deal etc.

Also I would include the whole family. Or is it just your debt? You still have expense etc that involve the whole family. Does your wife work, are you both working on paying those debt down?

Do you have a minimum income each month that you can work with. Any extra chuck at the debt.

Good luck

andyfromotley

you can do one of two things, put in the minimum that you earn and work from this. Or put in an average of your taxable imcome for the last few years.

If you and your partner share finances for the household then put in the household income. If you dont put in your share of the bills. I would include the income and costs for everyone. You can either go through bank statements to find out what you apend or use a good guesstimate.

I know this can all seem a bit daunting but it is essential that you get a grip of this. You cannot hope to get control of your finances without sorting out a budget and knowing where your money is going. The alternative is just winging it and hoping for the best. That doesnt seem to be working out to well for you. So knuckle down and crack on. You will get there, the SOA isnt an exam, you can revisit it and adjust it.