Money problems - HELP please - what can I do?

Jay442

Hi all,

I am currently experiencing some financial problems and I'm writing here for some help and advice on what I can do to improve matters, I'm not a 'money' kind of guy so I think I need some expert help.

I realise my problems aren't massive and nothing compared to some, but regardless for a large amount of the month we can't buy necessary things and there is a lot of stress at home because of it.

I earn annually £35k and have a partner that isn't working and 2 young children, my partner will be going onto UK benefits in 2 months if she hasn't found work, she is currently not based here but in Germany most of the time and is looking for work in England. She has been putting £600 into my account every month for the past 4 months but even that added to my salary hasn't been enough.

I have an £1800 overdraft which is up to its limit 10 days before the end of the month - meaning we have to borrow anything from £200-500 to tide us over till the end of the month - the overdraft costs 75p per day for being overdrawn up to £1k and £1.50 per day for anything between £1000-1800

I went to the bank today and I have had a new account set up which deals with all transactions now, salary goes into it, direct debits and standing orders/food etc. will come out of it. - The other account will purely have the overdraft in it and I can gradually try and reduce it, I will move money to the overdraft account in order to try and at least keep it under £1k for as long as I can so I don't pay the higher interest.

I have a Barclaycard with a maximum of £800, I checked my account today and I do have the possibility to transfer money from it to my overdraft at no interest for the next year - I presume it would make sense to move the maximum I could?.. I will try to extend the maximum to £1800 to then use it to clear the overdraft.
I will be arranging an appointment with Citizens advice but I think we earn too much to get anything, as I said before my partner isn't applying for benefits here and she currently receives more money from Germany than she would from the UK and only when that finishes in a months’ time will she go on to UK benefits. I will ask if we can get help with housing benefit etc., if anyone can advise on anything I might be able to get that would be appreciated.

I do need to fully work out my outgoings, we currently have child vouchers for our 3 year old to go to nursery, she will go to School in September which will save some money but then the 1 year old will have some hours at the nursery. I do wonder though, if my partner finds work on £20-25k and we're paying £1k for nursery every month it doesn't help financially much at all.
In terms of bills, I am with British Gas and will soon change to Npower after using a compare website. My telephone/internet bill doesn't need changing, are there other bill savings I could make that I'm not aware of?

I have told my workplace about the situation and that my only alternatives are to find a job with a higher salary or as I my partner would like, move back to Germany where the cost of living isn't nearly so high.

I may also ask my brother or my work for a £1-2k loan to clear the overdraft and pay them off instead of paying the interest every month.

....is there anything else should I be doing?

Apologies for a slightly scattered email, my thoughts are a bit jumbled with all the money issues, I hope someone can help.

Cheers
Jay

EssexHebridean

Your first step is to get yourself a Statement of Affairs done and posted here - link can be found HERE for that. You'll be amazed what people come up with to find places you can cut back once that's on here!

Well done for realising you've got problems - to some extent that's the hardest bit done.

sourcrates

Hi,

So how much debt do you have ?

All you have listed is an £1800 overdraught, and an £800 Barclaycard.

Is there more ?? ?

MrsSave

Agree with others that you need to post an SOA. That will give a clear picture of all your incomings and outgoings and will show the extent of your debt. It will be far easier to make a plan to move forward afterwards.

Jay442

Thanks all for the quick responses, I've been reading a few other threads and saw the SOA thing mentioned, I'll do that and post it here.

In terms of other debt, it is an £1800 overdraft and I have £250 on my barclaycard which has a maximum of £800. Like I said I know it's not huge debt but £2k can soon become £5k-10k and I never want to be in that position and my partner would leave to Germany if she thought we were getting into more debt.

EssexHebridean

On your income, and with that level of debt, if you feel that you're struggling there's probably good reason for caution - you're right that if it's not checked it can quickly escalate. That might not be much debt to some people, but to others psychologically it can feel huge too, entirely depends on your mind set.

Lanzarote1938

What UK benefits would you be expecting your partner to be able to claim?

MrsSave

It's not a massive debt compared to your income, but well done for recognising what can easily happen and doing something about it before the debt increases into a less manageable amount. I bet the soa will open your eyes to your spending habits!

Jay442

Lanzarote1938 wrote: »

What UK benefits would you be expecting your partner to be able to claim?

Presumably job seekers allowance and then child benefit for 2 children. - though by no means am i relying on them for much help, it's barely pocket money.

Jay442

I've also just gone on the Credit Card Eligibility Calculator to see if there's a card with 0% interest that I can move my overdraft to.
I listened to Martin Lewis on Radio 5 live last week, it opened my eyes/ears to a number of things, really good website and helpful people here.

Are there other websites/podcasts people listen to that my inform me even more?

enjoyyourshoes

Cut out, fags, mags, booze, lotto, extended warranties, sky, tv subs, mobile, snacks, coffee lattes, sweets, water from petrol stations, lunches at work etc etc. Its a sieve and you need to block as many holes as you can. Keep daily reconciliation of you bank balance and accrue monthly for ALL annual/1/2 & 1/4ly bills. Review monthly.