Dealing with the debt!

enthusiasticsaver

Also a word of advice and you can back this up by reading other diaries on this forum. I would never take out debt for someone else even a SO as you are liable for the debt regardless of who you took it out for. If your SO wants or needs a loan why can he not take it out himself (or herself?).

Huskyrunner

If it were me i would bin the pet insurance and set yourself up a separate savings account and pay 5 pounds per month into it. Pet insurance companies are the biggest rip off on the planet.

EssexHebridean

Remember on the car tax you can split the cost if you need to - paying monthly incurs a small extra charge but may be better for budgeting purposes for you next year. If you can split it into two six monthly payments though that's a straight 50% each time I think.

As things stand you need to look at putting away a minimum of £75 a month into an account for your car. That starts to give you a means of paying stuff upfront without needing to fall back on cards.

Watch the timescale for getting rid of the Currys debt - you want that cleared by March remember.

On your phone - why does your bill sometimes go higher than your contract? If it were me I;d look back over the last 12 months bills and see exactly where you are paying more - are you using more than your call allowance? Blowing your data limit? If it's data, make sure you're making the best use of it - so maybe turning to wifi only some of the time, make sure you've got apps set to log you on to free wifi like The Cloud automatically, for example. If your folks have Sky TV you can get free wifi from the cloud network via that, and some tarriffs have BT wifi included, you'd just need to activate it.

ladya94

I have made Very my top priority - I do have some babysitting this weekend so that money I earn will go onto that! Thank you.


Re the loan, I think what your saying sounds about right! Make big overpayments, reduce the term then the interest on the final balance should be lower... I am waiting for my SO to get a job at the moment, but I feel as though I am being taken for a ride slightly so that I think will need to come to an end and I'd rather take my independence back and get that cleared myself! I know that is not a good attitude as that part of the loan went to him but unless I go onto "Judge Rinder" I don't think I will have a case to get the money back haha.
With my previous SO, I took out a loan for him as he had bad credit and he needed a car, he did however pay all the monthly payments back and the loan was cleared - that did help my credit rating.
This year I took out the loan for my current SO to clear off his debts so we could move out together and live the dream... he was working at the time and making an effort etc .... now this has changed and all I seem to do is make excuses... I have learnt my lesson and will definitely never do it again! I am lucky to an extent that the money he owes me is fairly small compared to some of the other diaries, I will have a serious conversation this evening.


Very and then the overdraft is my priority ... I have an incentive at work and the money earnt gets paid into my account in Feb, I should have over £1400 land in my account. I need to make a dent in the overdraft before then but I can then clear the rest in Feb and have money left over to pay off something else.


Phone/ gadget insurance was cancelled yesterday PM - that is now an extra £12.58 a month to pay off my debt! I will check with my mum ref the contents insurance though as I can be clumsy.... :rotfl:


Phone Bill - unfortunately I am half way through a 24 month contract (It ends in Nov next year) I am currently with Vodafone .... does anyone have experience with getting them to reduce your phone bill? I have definitely paid the handset off by now so surely if I kick up a fuss they will reduce my bill?? Any advice on this would be great!!
Most of the time I go over due to my data - sometimes Vodafone tells me I have gone over so I know to turn my mobile data off (as I have done today as I have run out again and it doesn't renew for 2 more days...) but sometimes they don't let me know so I have previously had a bill of around £90 ... is this grounds to make a fuss and ask for a cheaper contract?? I do have wifi at home so I don't use my 3g at home.


Husky Runner - have you had a bad experience with Pet Insurance? I have a pet rabbit and from past Vet experience I know it can be expensive if something happens... I think you are right though - it would be better to save the cash just in case!


Car Tax - I would rather have it paid in one big sum so it is less direct debits to come out of my account - but at the moment I think it is better to do the direct debit and whack the money straight on a debt - that is due to be renewed in Feb I believe...


I like the idea of putting some money away for my car ... in September 2016 when my service/ mot was due I had £80 saved by the difference did go on my CC....


Currys needs to be cleared by the 17th March 2017 - if I miss this it is then £30.61 per month - I feel this will definitely be paid by March - I do have the incentive money landing in Feb that I can use to clear what ever balance I have left.




Thank you everyone for the advice so far!! :beer:

ladya94

I have spoken to Vodafone today - there is nothing they are willing to do to reduce my monthly payments.
They can put me on a sim only deal but I would have to pay £438 to come out of my contract.


I am currently looking into how much I can sell my current handset for and take out a sim only deal with Giff Gaff - currently looking at £23.68 a month - more than half the price of my current plan!!!


Will keep you posted!!

Huskyrunner

438 jaysus thats a lot how long is left on your contract?

Can they not even put you on say the lowest price plan till then end of your contract.

Huskyrunner

EssexHebridean wrote: »

Remember on the car tax you can split the cost if you need to - paying monthly incurs a small extra charge but may be better for budgeting purposes for you next year. If you can split it into two six monthly payments though that's a straight 50% each time I think.

As things stand you need to look at putting away a minimum of £75 a month into an account for your car. That starts to give you a means of paying stuff upfront without needing to fall back on cards.

Watch the timescale for getting rid of the Currys debt - you want that cleared by March remember.

On your phone - why does your bill sometimes go higher than your contract? If it were me I;d look back over the last 12 months bills and see exactly where you are paying more - are you using more than your call allowance? Blowing your data limit? If it's data, make sure you're making the best use of it - so maybe turning to wifi only some of the time, make sure you've got apps set to log you on to free wifi like The Cloud automatically, for example. If your folks have Sky TV you can get free wifi from the cloud network via that, and some tarriffs have BT wifi included, you'd just need to activate it.

Might be worth asking your network provider if you can cap your contract ie dont let you go over your mins/data allowance etc

I have done this with 3g and no nasty bills.

ladya94

I still have a year left, £54 a month.
Expect it's only been that price once in the year I've had the phone! They don't give you enough notice before you go over the Internet, so you go over and spend £6 for every 250mb or something stupid.

I've been speaking to them this afternoon, they won't reduce my tariff (i.e. Calls/ texts etc) . I asked what other options there were and they mentioned sim only which is obviosuly less a month but they want the £438 cancellation fee! I asked nicely if they could do any deal as I've always paid on time and been with them for a while etc but nope.
I finished the conversation with "i don't think I'll be staying with Vodafone at the end of my contact as your too expensive" . His response was "ok take care"

I read the forum on how to haggle with the phone company and got through to the retentions and he wasn't interested in the slightest!

Huskyrunner

Hmmmmm i would call again, i work in call centres sadly and it looks like you have got an idiot on a bad day. If you dont get a deal that benefits you with call centres always try again.

Retention teams have a huge scope for discounts i rang virgin recently and got 10 percent off our bill by saying the words sky have just rang me and """"".

The advisor you spoke with had probs hit his targets 4 the day or had pre you spent 45mins on a complaint etc etc

ladya94

Ahh excellent thank you!

I do have a £54 24 month contract with an iPhone 6s. As I said I'm only a year through, do they normally do something during the contract to reduce it?
I imagine they know I can't leave because of the high cancellation fee? ��