my first SOA

gabriella90

Ok, here goes i'm a newbie and got to get my head around how much i have left every month.

My income is £1750 per month
Extra income min £100 paid in separate account.

Credit card MBNA £2000 0% Just paying min £10-£15
BArclaycard £2700 0% min payment £60 paying £80
Egg flexible loan £11643 7.9% eek at present £261

Ok got a quote from Alliance and Leciester can get a loan for £17000 :eek: 4 yrs 6.5% £401.99 per month no PP even thought they did push it fortuanty job is government so fairly secure. Not sure if this will leave me too short everymonth and maybe should take it to 5 yrs any ideas?

I like the idea of just one payment i'm not disciplined enough to work hard on the credit cards to get them down and need a structure.

Outgoings

Mortgage £492
All household bills inc buildings/contents insurances, Internet, council tax £170
Food £100
Gym £44.50 can't get out of contract with them.
Car insurance £25 AA
Benenden public service healthcare £13
Pet Insurance £10
NAtional deposit policy £25 p/m paid me £50 interest this yr, I have 7 yrs till it matures don't really wan't to cash it in as will get less back than have paid in. Also would be nice in 7 yrs to have a little lump sum. Any advice on this outgoing appreciated
Mobile phone £45-50
Petrol £50

Any advice on how to really budget and not spend appreciated. I haven't signed my loan papers yet as really scared I think the £17000 figure gave me a wake up call.

Thanks:D

david_hellier

Hi,

Thanks for the information. Before we can help, we need to know your car tax, mot and servicing costs and your current bank balance.

Thanks.

gabriella90

Ok car tax is £10 per month i collect the post office saving stamps every month It £99 for 6 months.
Mot and servicing around £200 per yr. car has been ok touch wood MOT due NOV have £100 saved already.
BAnk balance £90 until nxt Friday.

Thanks for help

sammiboo

First question is why do you need a 17k loan?

Also how long do your 0% last?

Lucy1982_2

Hi!

Welcome to the boards.

Now as a general rule we don't suggest consolidation as it doesn't work most of the time. Now I have just consolidated myself and IF you go down this route, you need to pay off everything else. And not just pay it off you MUST cancel everything as well.

Otherwise you will find yourself in this situation again. Now you current debt repayments are £356 per month, so the loan would only be about £50 extra. Have you checked that all your energy providers are the cheapest around? make sure as this can save you some money each month.

Also check out this website http://www.whatsthecost.com/snowball.aspx?country=uk as it will show you how to snowball properly if you don't take out the loan. I would also suggest that you take out some sort of protection on the loan (if you take it) although I think Martin has an article on this somewhere as you can get it cheaper than the bank will offer.

I hope that this has been some help and there are others who will be along soon to offer some more advice.

Take care

newlywed

did you get your Egg loan to consolidate credit cards and/or previous loans?

Is there a chance you would run up more credit card debt even with a new loan?

I think I had 5 consolidation loans to "sort out" my payments into one easy sum. Kept the cards each time for "emergency" - which means new shoes, holiday, new tyres for the car etc. Still ran up the credit cards time and again and ended up not being able to get any loan or any more credit. My advice - unless you are 150% sure you won't spend any more on the credit cards etc then DON'T DO IT!!!

gabriella90

Hi samiboo
0% mbna finishes this Nov 0% barclaycard finishes in 8 mnths.

The £17000 is to pay off egg the £11643 is the sttlement figure it all adds upto about £17000 well £16343.

i just don't think i'm disciplined to snowball the cards i'd rather have one payment a month. The cards are cut up now .

Lucy1982_2

Cutting up is good, but they can always send you another card out. It's best to close the account then you can't be tempted.

I know what I'm like so this is the only way consolidation is going to work for me.

gabriella90

Hi newlywed,

Your exactly right i have done it before but this is make or break now. I'm 26 and i can't carry on. Boyfriend is very good with money and watched me chop up the cards. I've got to do it for myself and for him now.

If i don't take out the loan and carry on as is does anyone have any tips. The only good thing with the egg loan is you can make extra payments,but i aren't you meant to clear you CC's first?

Oh i don't know, the loan papers are signed yet so i have got the option not to do it.

i don't know

jo1972

Just wanted to say hello and say welcome to DFW :wave:

Newlywed has struck the nail on the head when talking about consolidation loans, I have also had 5 or 6 of these - as soon as the money hit my account it was spend, spend, spend I have no control over money whatsoever and am now under no illusions, I can not be trusted when there is money in my account and I don't think that will ever change unfortunately. If you feel that you can control what you are doing and will pay off everything with a consolidation loan AND cut up all cards and close all loans, catalogues or whatever there is AND not go down that route again, then that's fine. But if you are wary of your self control, don't do it!

I look forward to seeing your progress.

Jo.

sammiboo

gabriella90 wrote: »

Hi samiboo
0% mbna finishes this Nov 0% barclaycard finishes in 8 mnths.

The £17000 is to pay off egg the £11643 is the sttlement figure it all adds upto about £17000 well £16343.

i just don't think i'm disciplined to snowball the cards i'd rather have one payment a month. The cards are cut up now .

Ok, well you dont want to consolodate especially if you have 0% interest on your cards. You want to take advantage of that as much as possible.

My suggestion is ( i am sure others will correct me if they dont agree) just before the 0% has run out on your MBNA move the balance onto another 0% card. I moved mine onto virgin. My 0% runs out in march. You need to take advantage of 0% deals and pay off as much as you can before the 0% runs out. If you can stretch to more than the min payment then do

Also with your egg loan. You can threaten them you are thinking of leaving them to go with A&L and to prevent them from losing your custom can they match or better your A&L offer.

I have done this with egg and in the past they would rather lose a few % than lose out all together

Edit: I must insist if you move from card to card on 0% then close the account of the previous card. 1 because you dont want to be tempted to spend on it. 2. the more cards you have then your credit rating will suffer