Advice Needed Please

Brettkemp223

Hi All,

New to the forum so apologies if this in the wrong place or anything is wrong.

I currently have a student overdraft due to end this year, using upto the £2k limit with Santander. An halifax credit card near the £1k limit and a loan I foolishly took out for a car with £11k remaining with Tesco. Also got a couple of very manageable phone contracts.

My income is just over 1800 a month. When I took the loan it was only 1400 so my terms weren't the best

My household bills reach about 700 without food at max. I rent a place and split the bills with my fiance

My loan is 336(interest is about 15%)
CC is about 45 at the moment(Interest is about 19 a month)
And what most worries me is the £2k on the overdraft and the charges that might occur after I no longer am entitled to it around august.

Ideally I want rid of all this debt, at the moment a month end can be a struggle and realistically without this debt it would be easy.

Because of the fact I could be facing ridiculous overdraft charges I have been thinking a consolidation loan could work if my total monthly repayment is similar to my current outgoings and my term is the same as the current bank loan which ends september 2019 I think.


I want to make a well informed decision going forward, my outgoings aren't likely to increase but its likely I could be earning more. Currently my credit score is poor meaning I seem to have few options.

leslieknope

as everyone recommends, you should do a SOA to work out what you have exactly going in and out.

are you a recent graduate? when i graduated my student overdraft became a graduate overdraft with an interest free period of a year, which then lowered to interest free on 50% of the overdraft, the following year it was 25% of the overdraft and then after 3 years it reverted to a normal arranged overdraft which means i accrue the normal interest on anything i go into my overdraft on. ask santander about the overdraft options after your student account runs out - will this be reverted to an arranged overdraft or will you have to pay it off completely and get rid of it?

arranged overdrafts are not ideal obviously (i think mine has an apr of around 19%) but they don't charge as much as unarranged overdrafts which can rack up a fee every day!

Brettkemp223

Hopefully the below SOA is correct and helpful.

My overdraft is 0% for 3 years after graduation. I've not got any info on what happens after that but any charge will not be ideal.

Household Information[/b]
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household.........
Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1826
Partners monthly income after tax.......
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1826

Monthly Expense Details (My half of the bills)
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments..............
Rent.................................... 350
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 50
Electricity............................. 21
Gas..................................... 24
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 15
Telephone (land line)...................
Mobile phone............................ 68
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 33
Internet Services.......................
Groceries etc. ......................... 350
Clothing................................
Petrol/diesel........................... 100
Road tax................................ 23
Car Insurance........................... 71
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc)....
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance......................
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)......
Haircuts................................
Entertainment...........................
Holiday.................................
Emergency fund.......................... 100
Total monthly expenses.................. 1197


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................
Car(s).................................. 4000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 4000

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly.. .APR
Loan 1.............................11700 336 15%
Card 1..............................1000 45 Unsure
Overdraft..........................2000 0 0

Total unsecured debts..........14700.....381.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1826
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1197
Available for debt repayments........... 381
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments.......
Amount left after debt repayments....... 248

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 4,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -14700
Net Assets.............................. -10700

leslieknope

you can definitely cut down on the groceries - that is a lot for only 2 people! also your mobile is really high - my highest with unlimited everything and the newest phone was only £54 but a sim only would cut that down a lot.

so you have the interest free overdraft for 3 years? or is there only 2 years left?

i would suggest snowballing the debts rather than getting a consolidation loan.

itchyfeet123

A couple of thoughts:

If you're reporting only your half of the expenses, then your partner's income shouldn't be on the SOA.

The amount you're spending on groceries is huge! I'm a single person, and my monthly expenditure on food, including takeaways twice a month, buying my lunch about half the time, and always making sure there is wine and ice cream in the house, is about 180. And that would be viewed as extravagant; most people on this board seem to report about that much to feed two or three people. Unless you're an extreme body builder or something, you could easily find a couple of hundred just in your groceries.

So you need to pay 2k in August. With your current budget, you should have 250/month, or 1500 by August. If you can trim 200/month from your other expenses, that's another 1200. That's your OD and most of your credit card, in just a few months.

Brettkemp223

Thanks for the responses. I put 350 for food as I tend to pay for that on my own. We can and do often do better but when I do the savings are soaked up by something unexpected occurring, days out or presents for people. So i rarely feel the benefit.

I can cut my phone bill down in December. I work for a big mobile company so have a work phone plus a £19 a month phone only deal for my girlfriend, its just £49 was on a pre existing deal until december.

To be honest I think I can reduce the overdraft amount but not all of it in time. A work bonus in March will help as a one off.