Advice for a Student please.

Mad_old_tory

Fair enough, that's a bit of a trek!! I guess it's gonna be a case of booking as far in advance as you can to get the best flight deals then. I assume you take it in turns to visit, not just you travelling down every weekend?

bucketshop

Yeah that's the plan. I'm getting paid my last wage with attendance bonuses etc next week and I'm gonna book 3 or 4 flights, they should hopefully be only about £50-60 each. It's a lot to pay out but it's cheaper in the long run.
Yeah, we're taking turns to visit, I've just moved back home so we've not started yet but I'm going to try and save as much money as possible by not going out much other than when I'm at his or he's at mine which I hope my friends don't mind!

Spirit_2

Hello

Your SOA has your income but not a breakdown of your outgoings, can you do that to see if there is any way you can reduce your spending ? Do you keep a spending diary (see https://www.spendingdiary.com) so you know where your money is going.

I think this is important because your post implies that you have worked in previous academic years. If this is the case and you have built up a debt then you may be facing a double whammy

1 no part-time income as in previous years
2 trying to make debt repayments

You have described your family as generous. So it might be helpful to ask yourself a couple of questions. If you are unable to get a loan in your own right, is it fair to ask your mum to do this? If she does will you have the self discipline to always prioritise repaying her above all other spending decisions?

Good luck with your degree

bucketshop

After thinking about it, I don't think I'll ask my mum to get a loan for me. I'm just going to pay the cards as quickly as possible. I can't really break down my outgoings as I don't really know what I'll be spending money on when I get back to uni.
Even though I won't have a part time wage coming in, my student loan is more than I used to earn so I'm using that rather than working. In previous years I only got the min loan (£500 per year). I'm just going to throw as much money as I can at my cards each month. I don't really know what I should pay off first though, maybe the Virgin card as it has the most on it?

trying-very-trying

There is a snowball calculator that would help you decide which to pay first. I don't know the address, but I'm sure someone will post it for you.

RAS

bucketshop wrote: »

Halifax One - £100.88 at 24.9% - paying min £5 - limit £700
Topshop - £100.03 at 29.9% - paying £10 per month - limit £350
Virgin - 1804.96 (I can't find the overall interest for this I'll have to phone them tomorrow) but estimated interest next month is £22.72. Paying minimum (£13) - limit £3300
Egg - £1038.93 at 17.9% - paying min (£20) - limit £1200

Obviously I should pay the Halifax and Topshop cards first, but I don't know what to do about the rest. I applied for a Mint card today which has a 0% deal on BT for a year I think but the credit limit is only £650. Once it's posted out I might try and up it.

You need to know the APR in the Virgin cards ASAP., although it looks like less than 20%

Pay off, cancel and close the Topshop card ASAP, then the halifax card, if necessary using the Virgin Card.

Then use the Mint card to reduce the amount on the Egg card. You could pay the rest off using the Virgin Card, then reduce the limit on the Egg card.

Go to www.whatsthecost.com, find the snowball calculator and see what happens when you do this and how much less it costs you.

If you knock £1200- 1500 of high rate credit of your current limit, you might get Mint to increase the amount they will let you have?

bucketshop

Thanks very much. The only thing I can find on my Virgin statement is a monthly interest rate for non-promo retail, BTs and other at 1.2408% which is 14.9% APR per year so I assume that's the interest. I used the snowball calculator (which is vey good!)
I think I will do as you have said and close the Topshop and Halifax cards ASAP in the hope Mint will give me more credit. If I cancel those two cards will my credit score improve?

RAS

Hi your credit score may not improve (not an expert on this) but at present you have a lot of unused credit available, so many will assess how much creedit you can afford, less how much you have already available and only offer it if you can afford more than have available. closing high interest credit accounts should make you a more attractive proposition.

read martin's article on improving your credit score under cards and loans.

bucketshop

Ok, thanks!

mogwai

Do you apply for hardship funds at uni? I did every year I was at uni, and this was a significant portion of my income for the year. I worked as well, and you have to be able to show through your bank statements (last 3 or so) that you are in hardship. I used to get around £1500 a year from the November and April applications (my uni did them twice a year)

In the meantime, you could transfer your Halifax and Topshop balances to your Virgin CC, since at the moment it looks like it will take you a min of 10months to pay them off. Then if you get the mint CC, transfer £650 off either the Virgin or Egg balance. Watch out for BT fees though.

Also, try calling Virgin (and maybe Egg) to see if they can just reduce your APR. I did this with Virgin, I called their Customer Loyalty team and just asked if there were any special offers available to me, and they reduced my APR from 18.9 to 12.9%.

Good luck in your final year, try not to panic, and remember to enjoy your last year of uni!