Anything more I can do?

glasgowm148

I was made redudant 2.5 years ago. I started my own business after that but I wasnt making enough to get by. I managed to get in about £8k in debt in the process.

I'm currently back at college (going back to uni to do a CS degree). And have paid off ~£3k of this debt.

My current debts are as follows

capital one - £1150
Barclay Card - £800
Halifax overdraft - £2100
npower - £1150

I have set up a debt repayment plan with nPower via StepChange at £1/mo so I can pay of the cards that are incurring interest first.

I've paid my bank something like £1500 over the past 3 years in overdraft fees. I've asked them for a refund, they refused so I've went to the ombudsman.

I've paid something like £300/year in fee's to my cc's over too. I'm going to go through the ombudsman and see if I can get any of that back.

The minimum I will pay in fee's and interest in any given month is £90. Up to about £200 (over-overdraft fees, late payments on cards, overlimit on cards)

Anything else I can do? My credit is shot (180) so getting a 0% balance transfer card is not an option. Would a student account give me an interest free overdraft or would i likely be declined for that too?

Ebe_Scrooge

glasgowm148 wrote: »

I've paid my bank something like £1500 over the past 3 years in overdraft fees. I've asked them for a refund, they refused so I've went to the ombudsman. Why would they refund you ? Assuming the fees are not extortionate, they're within their rights to charge them.

I've paid something like £300/year in fee's to my cc's over too. I'm going to go through the ombudsman and see if I can get any of that back. As above


Anything else I can do?

The first thing is to post an SOA, which will give you a detailed view of your income and expenses. Post it up here, and people will be able to give you advice on how to either increase your income or reduce your outgoings ( or both ). But as a starter, can you find evening/weekend work that will fit in around college ? You'll often find bar/waiting/cleaning jobs in the evenings.

glasgowm148

Ebe_Scrooge wrote: »

The first thing is to post an SOA, which will give you a detailed view of your income and expenses. Post it up here, and people will be able to give you advice on how to either increase your income or reduce your outgoings ( or both ). But as a starter, can you find evening/weekend work that will fit in around college ? You'll often find bar/waiting/cleaning jobs in the evenings.

I've been applying like crazy to any job that will fit in with my hours, but not heard anything back yet.

I don't have any expenses other than debts at the moment. (edit + £7/phone and £15/gym) Moved in with my Gran to save me traveling 3hrs+ a day to college. Bursary is £450 a month. I usually put £300-350 towards credit cards, and keep the rest for travel and overdraft fee's (£59 this month).

I do freelance webdev and make anywhere from 0 to 600 a month on that, and put it all into debt.

>Why would they refund you ? Assuming the fees are not extortionate, they're within their rights to charge them.

Sometimes they are, £80 for my overdraft last month as it's £5 day over my limit (which I only go into when my normal fee's put me over).

Ebe_Scrooge

glasgowm148 wrote: »

I don't have any expenses other than debts at the moment.

You don't buy food, or clothes, or contribute anything towards rent, or anything ?


You must have some expenses. Do an SOA - make sure you account for every penny you spend - and let's take it from there.

sourcrates

Hi,

Here`s a link to the SOA calculator :

http://www.stoozing.com/calculator/soa.php

You should really open a new basic bank account, these have no borrowing facility, and therefore no credit check to open one.

You would then treat your old OD as just another unsecured debt.

And not having access to an OD would allow you to live within your available means, instead of always having to borrow.

glasgowm148

Ebe_Scrooge wrote: »

You don't buy food, or clothes, or contribute anything towards rent, or anything ?


You must have some expenses. Do an SOA - make sure you account for every penny you spend - and let's take it from there.

Nope, My expenses are £32 + travel (£50 or so)

Statement of Affairs & Personal Balance Sheet

Summary

Monthly Budget Summary Amount(£)
Total monthly income 455
Monthly expenses (incl. HP & secured loans) 79.6
Available for debt repayments 375.4
UNsecured debt repayments 92
Amount left after debt repayments 283.4
Personal Balance Sheet Summary Amount(£)
Total Assets (things you own) 0
Total Secured & HP Debt -0
Total Unsecured Debt -5,200
Net Assets -5,200
Income, Expense, Debt & Asset Details

Income Amount(£)
Monthly income after tax 0
Partners monthly income 0
Benefits 455
Other income 0
Total monthly income 455
Expenses Amount(£)
Mortgage 0
Secured/HP loan payments 0
Rent 0
Management charge (leasehold property) 0
Council tax 0
Electricity 0
Gas 0
Oil 0
Water Rates 0
Telephone (land line) 0
Mobile phone 7
TV Licence 0
Satellite/Cable TV 0
Internet services 0
Groceries etc. 0
Clothing 0
Petrol/diesel 0
Road tax 0
Car Insurance 0
Car maintenance (including MOT) 0
Car Parking 0
Other travel 47.6
Childcare/nursery 0
Other child related expenses 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentists, opticians etc.) 0
Pet Insurance/Vet bills 0
Buildings Insurance 0
Contents Insurance 0
Life Assurance 0
Other Insurance 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc.) 0
Haircuts 10
Entertainment 0
Holiday 0
Emergency Fund 0
gym 15
Total monthly expenses 79.6
Secured & HP Debt Description Debt(£) Monthly(£) APR(%)
Mortgage 0 (0) 0
Secured & HP Debt totals 0 - -
Unsecured Debt Description Debt(£) Monthly(£) APR(%)
npower 1150 1 0
capital one 1150 30 27.75
barclay card 800 25 27.75
halifax overdraft 2100 36 0
Unsecured Debt totals 5200 92 -
Asset Description Value (£)
Cash 0
House Value (Gross) 0
Shares and bonds 0
Car(s) 0
Other assets (e.g. endowments, jewellery etc) 0
Total Assets 0
Comments on the results

You have sufficient monthly income to meet your expenses and your minimum monthly debt repayments with £283.4 left over. You can use this to pay off your debts more quickly or to build/top-up an emergency fund. Whatever your results show, it always pays to seek advice or comments from others. Why not post your SOA details on our Debt Management discussion board or on your preferred discussion forum elsewhere. Thankyou for using the SOA Calculator at https://www.stoozing.com.

ReadingTim

Given you haven't got much going out that you can cut, you need to look at the other side of the equation: increase what's coming in, either by a job, a better paying job, or a 2nd or part time job.

glasgowm148

Okay, I'll continue applying for jobs in that instance.

If I get a student account at TSB - would I be eligible for an overdraft? (starts at 0% £500). If I got that I could pay off my barclaycard in full next month and then just focus on the capital one card.

I've just applied for a discretionary fund through my college aswell. Which should hopefully give me another £200/mo I can put towards debt.

nPower

glasgowm148 wrote: »

I was made redudant 2.5 years ago. I started my own business after that but I wasnt making enough to get by. I managed to get in about £8k in debt in the process.

I'm currently back at college (going back to uni to do a CS degree). And have paid off ~£3k of this debt.

My current debts are as follows

capital one - £1150
Barclay Card - £800
Halifax overdraft - £2100
npower - £1150

I have set up a debt repayment plan with nPower via StepChange at £1/mo so I can pay of the cards that are incurring interest first.

I've paid my bank something like £1500 over the past 3 years in overdraft fees. I've asked them for a refund, they refused so I've went to the ombudsman.

I've paid something like £300/year in fee's to my cc's over too. I'm going to go through the ombudsman and see if I can get any of that back.

The minimum I will pay in fee's and interest in any given month is £90. Up to about £200 (over-overdraft fees, late payments on cards, overlimit on cards)

Anything else I can do? My credit is shot (180) so getting a 0% balance transfer card is not an option. Would a student account give me an interest free overdraft or would i likely be declined for that too?

Hi glasgowm148,

Please contact us using the details on our profile page if you'd like our help.

Thanks

Jen

glasgowm148

nPower_company_representative wrote: »

Hi glasgowm148,

Please contact us using the details on our profile page if you'd like our help.

Thanks

Jen

Thanks But npower is the one company I'm not having trouble with, the £1 is fine for now until I can get back on my feet.

Another quick question regarding credit score. Is it likely I'll be able to get approved for balance transfer card before I'm completely out of debt?

The negative factors on my report are high % utilisation and going over my limit.

Assuming I get down to 30% utilisation within a year (hopefully a lot sooner than then - 4mo ideally, but it takes a year for my over limit faults to come off). Should my credit bounce back after that or will it take years to recover?

Ebe_Scrooge

glasgowm148 wrote: »

Another quick question regarding credit score. Is it likely I'll be able to get approved for balance transfer card before I'm completely out of debt?

Unlikely. Aside from the fact that your "score" is meaningless, the fact that you're on a repayment plan, and that you're struggling to meet your current debts, means that your credit file is somewhat less than ideal. 0% cards are usually only offered to those with a very healthy record.