my first SOA

gabriella90

What do you guys think is the best route try my best to hammer the cards whilst on 0% get them cleared then start on the loan? Or get the consilidation and try and make savings as much as possible to save up and pay off the loan early? If i really stick at the loan no more credit etc it can be clear in 4 yrs if i stay put and try snowballing how quickly could i get the cards down?

i don't know what to do now i'm in a quandry!!:eek:

My aim is to get rid of it as quickly as possible obviously this is easier said than done. Thank you for all your responses

Lucy1982_2

This is where the snowball calculator comes in. pop you current debts in and the repayments and see how long it would take to pay them off. You can always use the £400 as you are thinking of paying that anyway

sammiboo

gabriella90 wrote: »

What do you guys think is the best route try my best to hammer the cards whilst on 0% get them cleared then start on the loan? Or get the consilidation and try and make savings as much as possible to save up and pay off the loan early? If i really stick at the loan no more credit etc it can be clear in 4 yrs if i stay put and try snowballing how quickly could i get the cards down?

i don't know what to do now i'm in a quandry!!:eek:

My aim is to get rid of it as quickly as possible obviously this is easier said than done. Thank you for all your responses

My opinon if you can get something for 0% then why pay interest on another debt, your only giving the creditor that money, so you might as well pay it off your actual debt instead.

With my virgin card I had £1500 on there, from my overdraft and a card. I moved everything across and it was the best thing i did. The credit card is now cut up.

The exsisting cards I have - the egg and the virgin I treat like a loan. Just pay off as much as i can each month and NEVER spend on them

If you have debts then savings isnt a good idea. Once you are debt free then get saving as much as you can.

In all honesty I am much better off without savings, and the money i was using to save is now going on paying off debt.

I am financially better off

robnye

firstly - you are borrowing more than you owe......... not a good idea

Do you have any credit limit left on Barclaycard? If so can you transfer some or all of the mbna to it ? try contacting them about increasing the credit limit
can you get another 0% card - current best deal is for 12months

Mobile phone – switch to PAYG

can you confirm the following
Income = 1850
Outgoings = 1245.50 (includes debt repayments)
Difference = 604.50

if the above ifgure is correct - do you know what you are spending your money on?
perhaps you need to do a spending diary

david_hellier

Hi again. I agree with the others; consolidation is suicide. It's an invention of the banking industry which fuels their business and is ruining the economy.

Looking at the figures, your situation is quite managable. According to my figures you have £103.35 per week to spend on food and anything else. If you spend any more than this you will be getting deeper in debt. To prevent this write £103.35 in a little note book (a spending diary) on a Monday and keep a note of what you spend/withdraw by subtraction. If you have anything over by Sunday, carry it forward to the next Monday, adding another £103.35.

Set up SOs not DDs to pay the fixed amounts shown for the CCs. Then cut them up and make no more purchases using CCs, use a debit card, keeping a note in your book.

Good luck, the figures:

incomeweeklymonthlyself £ 1,750.00 partner other £ 100.00 total0.001850.00divide by 4.33 £ 426.93 £ 426.93 total weekly incomespendweeklymonthlyrent/mortgage £ 492.00 council tax elec gas water secured loans TV licence fines bills £ 170.00 loan £ 261.00 gym £ 44.50 car ins £ 25.00 health £ 13.00 pet £ 10.00 policy £ 25.00 mob £ 50.00 petrol £ 50.00 car tax £ 10.00 mot/service £ 16.67 mbna £ 100.00 BC £ 135.00 total0.00 £ 1,402.17 divide by 4.33 £ 323.58 £ 323.58 total weekly spendStart= income - spend = £ 103.35 per week

gabriella90

hi again.

I def need to do a spending diary and make it my religion. I do see the sense in paying off the CC's with no interest. I'm just going to have to make myself very disciplined. According to the snowball calculator if i start on the MBNA then bcard then the extra goes on the loan it will take 4 yrs i think it took into account the cards APR.

Ok i've made a decision i'm not going to go with the loan and really try and face this head on. I think i'm going to be on here an awful lot for support.

I'm going to try and get my mbna and bcard all together i think that will help and get one account closed

Thank you for all your advice.
Speak to you all soon know doubt

robnye

well done and good luck

HairyHandofDartmoor

Good decision not to go for the consolidation!

Your mobile phone bill is high, can you reduce this? Is the £100 for food just for you? Because if so I think you could reduce this (try the money saving old style forum for ideas).

Definitely keep a spending diary, come on here every day for motivation, and CANCEL THOSE CARDS (if you haven't already).