Money problems - HELP please - what can I do?

enthusiasticsaver

Generally speaking your manager is right. You should have a clean bank account and live within that. No overdrafts and no credit cards and a savings account to put money aside each month for large, unexpected bills or birthdays, Christmas and holidays. If you can get a money transfer card to clear the £1800 overdraft and barclaycard at a 0% deal that would be ideal and repay that over the 0% lifespan. Balance transfer cards are no good as the debt is on an overdraft not a credit card.

enthusiasticsaver

I think nationwide does a 0% overdraft account so that may work better for you.

Jay442

enthusiasticsaver wrote: »

I think nationwide does a 0% overdraft account so that may work better for you.

I can only find an overdraft with 0% interest for the first 3 months from Nationwide

Jay442

I did an eligibility checker for money transfer cards and got these 3 possible ones - is this what I'm looking for?..

1.
100% MBNA - up to 24 months 0%, 1.99% fee
Two years 0% with a low fee 18.9%

2.
100% MBNA - up to 36 months 0%, 2.99% fee
Long money transfer card, with a low fee 18.9%

3.
100% MBNA 4.9% FOR 60 MONTHS, 0.5% FEE
Low interest rate for five years, 0.5% fee 8.9%

Jay442

What's also the deal with spending cards?... I wasn't aware there were so many cards, credit cards/money transfer cards/spending cards - though from the name of them alone I imagine I should avoid spending cards!

Jay442

enthusiasticsaver wrote: »

Generally speaking your manager is right. You should have a clean bank account and live within that. No overdrafts and no credit cards and a savings account to put money aside each month for large, unexpected bills or birthdays, Christmas and holidays. If you can get a money transfer card to clear the £1800 overdraft and barclaycard at a 0% deal that would be ideal and repay that over the 0% lifespan. Balance transfer cards are no good as the debt is on an overdraft not a credit card.

Can you explain what you mean?.. when you say 'Balance transfer cards are no good as the debt is on an overdraft not a credit card' - is a balance transfer card a credit card?.. what card should I be after?.. I imagine i need a money transfer card like the 3 possible ones I'm entitled to a few posts up, then transfer the whole £1800 across to them, split the payment of them into how ever months interest free I have to make sure it's cleared by the time the 0% interest is over... am I right to be thinking that way?... I'm afraid to commit to any other card without knowing there's no horrible small print

EssexHebridean

Jay442 wrote: »

I can only find an overdraft with 0% interest for the first 3 months from Nationwide

Don't take this the wrong way, but I think the very last thing you need is another account with an overdraft facility. Your SOA shows a surplus but you're not reducing that current overdraft, which suggests you're a long way off living within your means - you need to address that as a starting point.

As for the difference between money transfers and balance transfers, Martin has an excellent guide on this subject - you'll find it on the main site.

Jay442

EssexHebridean wrote: »

Don't take this the wrong way, but I think the very last thing you need is another account with an overdraft facility. Your SOA shows a surplus but you're not reducing that current overdraft, which suggests you're a long way off living within your means - you need to address that as a starting point.

As for the difference between money transfers and balance transfers, Martin has an excellent guide on this subject - you'll find it on the main site.

I wasn't planning on having another overdraft to max out, I was planning on moving the cash from the overdraft with interest on to the overdraft without, then closing the one with interest

LannieDuck

Am I reading your SOA correctly - that you have £400/mth left after debt repayments? Do you actually have that left over every month?

Where does the £200/mth on entertainment go? I have two young children and I don't spend anywhere near that on entertainment per month.

Jay442

LannieDuck wrote: »

Am I reading your SOA correctly - that you have £400/mth left after debt repayments? Do you actually have that left over every month?

Where does the £200/mth on entertainment go? I have two young children and I don't spend anywhere near that on entertainment per month.

You are reading it right but it's a mistake, as in I did this as a draft SOD to get my head around my expenditure, it's probably more like £100 a month for entertainment, though we rarely go out to a restaurant or cinema, it fluctuates as other payments do. I've already said that I do not have £400 a month left after all my expenditure even if this draft SOD states I should have. I'm doing a spending diary to really see where the money goes and going over my last 3 months bank transactions to have a better picture of things.