Credit cards please help

Clawingback

Yes, I'm in Scotland.

Clawingback

Thank you for the advice.

I will stick to letters. While you were back and forth with them to accept your payment plan did they keep adding interest on?

I sent them a letter last month but I made the mistake of not sending it tracked and received no reply but I sent it again tracked on Monday.

Clawingback

The catalogue debts are old debts that I've just been paying off I haven't ordered anything in quite some time.

System

Is your partner able to work at all? If you are on a low income you could claim up to 70/80% costs of childcare back through tax credits and the extra income could help, just a possible thought. My friend works in care, evenings only and her husband has her two kids to avoid childcare costs.

EssexHebridean

You say that YOU have no costs for clothing - well if you never buy new pants then fair enough - but there are two other people on your SOA and one of those is a child - judging by the fact that your partner isn't currently working I'm guessing q young child? I'm afraid they have a habit of growing, sometimes quite fast, and so SOME new (or at least new-to-you) clothes are going to be required at some stage! Likewise - your partner never needs a haircut?

There's a few imbalances on there - are nappies and baby stuff (if applicable) included in groceries? You're not showing anything for contents insurance which is a must - and will cost you well under £10 a month. It's a serious false economy not to have that in place.

The £80 a month I assume is child benefit? It seems a bit low though - should it not be more than that? Have you checked you're not entitled to anything else too? On that income it occurs to me that you may well be?

You say you're putting £50 a month to your emergency fund savings but no cash assets are shown? If that the figure you'd *like* to be putting away or are you actually doing this? You need to be very careful that a first draft of an SOA reflects your situation as it is - otherwise it's impossible to work out where you can make changes.

I agree with Ada & Sourcrates - first step needs to be to get a working budget in place, and actually try and test it so you know it DOES work over a few months. It needs to be realistic though. If any form of increase in income can be found then better still - can your partner take on an Avon round or something? Easily done with kids, suits SAHM's (or dad's, come to that!) a treat, and can give a nice little boost to earnings once you get established.

Clawingback

My partner is able to work and has been trying to get a job.

smiley333

I'm assuming your 80 benefits is child benefit what about child tax credits surely you should get them? When my partner had the same income as you and I wasn't working I still roughly got £500 in child tax credits.
I'd recommended trying to get the interest frozen on your credit cards and work out the interest rates and time left on all debts then work from there.
I'd also recommended speaking to the catelogue companies too. I know for a fact studio has a horrendous Apr once 0% is over... I know... I was trying to pay it too.
Gl.

Clawingback

You say that YOU have no costs for clothing - well if you never buy new pants then fair enough - but there are two other people on your SOA and one of those is a child - judging by the fact that your partner isn't currently working I'm guessing q young child? I'm afraid they have a habit of growing, sometimes quite fast, and so SOME new (or at least new-to-you) clothes are going to be required at some stage! Likewise - your partner never needs a haircut? my partner cuts her own hair. Clothes aren't an issue, my partner buys and sells(what's no longer needed) on eBay.

There's a few imbalances on there - are nappies and baby stuff (if applicable) included in groceries? You're not showing anything for contents insurance which is a must - and will cost you well under £10 a month. It's a serious false economy not to have that in place. I don't have content insurance, never have. My child isn't in nappies.

The £80 a month I assume is child benefit? It seems a bit low though - should it not be more than that? Have you checked you're not entitled to anything else too? On that income it occurs to me that you may well be?
The 80 is child benefit, I wasn't sure of the exact amount and was slightly off. It is 20.70 per week. So £82.80pm. We were getting working tax credits but are no longer entitled to them. We get a little child tax credits but I'm unsure if that will continue/change so left it out for now.

You say you're putting £50 a month to your emergency fund savings but no cash assets are shown? If that the figure you'd *like* to be putting away or are you actually doing this? You need to be very careful that a first draft of an SOA reflects your situation as it is - otherwise it's impossible to work out where you can make changes. this is what I'd like to put away for emergencies. I don't currently have an emergency fund

I agree with Ada & Sourcrates - first step needs to be to get a working budget in place, and actually try and test it so you know it DOES work over a few months. It needs to be realistic though. If any form of increase in income can be found then better still - can your partner take on an Avon round or something? Easily done with kids, suits SAHM's (or dad's, come to that!) a treat, and can give a nice little boost to earnings once you get established. My partner is looking for work.

StopIt

Clawingback wrote: »

You say that YOU have no costs for clothing - well if you never buy new pants then fair enough - but there are two other people on your SOA and one of those is a child - judging by the fact that your partner isn't currently working I'm guessing q young child? I'm afraid they have a habit of growing, sometimes quite fast, and so SOME new (or at least new-to-you) clothes are going to be required at some stage! Likewise - your partner never needs a haircut? my partner cuts her own hair. Clothes aren't an issue, my partner buys and sells(what's no longer needed) on eBay.

There's a few imbalances on there - are nappies and baby stuff (if applicable) included in groceries? You're not showing anything for contents insurance which is a must - and will cost you well under £10 a month. It's a serious false economy not to have that in place. I don't have content insurance, never have. My child isn't in nappies.

The £80 a month I assume is child benefit? It seems a bit low though - should it not be more than that? Have you checked you're not entitled to anything else too? On that income it occurs to me that you may well be?
The 80 is child benefit, I wasn't sure of the exact amount and was slightly off. It is 20.70 per week. So £82.80pm. We were getting working tax credits but are no longer entitled to them. We get a little child tax credits but I'm unsure if that will continue/change so left it out for now.

You say you're putting £50 a month to your emergency fund savings but no cash assets are shown? If that the figure you'd *like* to be putting away or are you actually doing this? You need to be very careful that a first draft of an SOA reflects your situation as it is - otherwise it's impossible to work out where you can make changes. this is what I'd like to put away for emergencies. I don't currently have an emergency fund

I agree with Ada & Sourcrates - first step needs to be to get a working budget in place, and actually try and test it so you know it DOES work over a few months. It needs to be realistic though. If any form of increase in income can be found then better still - can your partner take on an Avon round or something? Easily done with kids, suits SAHM's (or dad's, come to that!) a treat, and can give a nice little boost to earnings once you get established. My partner is looking for work.

A few things:


First: Child Benefit is weekly, so you need to calculate monthly amounts by multiplying the weekly amount by 52, and dividing by 12. So, £89.70 p/m. When calculating budgets around things like this and maternity pay etc it is crucial to be accurate otherwise you'll lose track easily.


Get contents insurance ASAP. It might sound far fetched but wake up one day to a water based disaster for instance and you'll rue now having it.


Same with an emergency fund. Once you've built up a fighting fund you'll be better prepared to deal with shocks that would otherwise have gone on the CC.


Check your entitlement to Child Tax Credits again. You say it's due to go down? But on a sole income of approx. £23k pre tax you should have at least some entitlement.


Also, while your partner is looking for work, check out the Boost Your Income boards here. There's lots that can earn a few pounds here and there that soon add up.


Lastly, I think this is solvable with some snowballing, and making sure that money in your SOA actually is available to go towards debt so don't despair. Get a spending diary going, note ALL of your spending and eliminate things that are nice but not essential like trips to the coffee shop, cheeky Nandos and the like. The sooner you give up just for a while, the sooner the debt is gone and then you can be debt free.


Edit: You didn't list your loan in your unsecured debts. How much is it and how long is the term and at what APR?

EssexHebridean

Good call on your partner looking for work - I wish her luck in finding something soon.

If there isn't baby stuff on that grocery bill then you might be able to tweak a little bit on that - but probably no more than £50 or so without going really hardcore.

The contents insurance thing - "I've never had it" isn't really a good reason for not doing so, particularly once there are others to consider as your respsonsibility. Let's just say you get home at the weekend after a family day out to find a Policeman with an apologetic face and a pile of smouldering ruins where your home once was - how do you replace everything? Even basics like clothing etc? Honestly - we've had people on here get contents cover for as little as £6 a month - it's genuinely not something worth skipping.

Your partner does an excellent job if she manages to cover all clothing costs by the eBay route - there's not many who can do that with no additional spend so well done her!

Your child benefit calcs - are you working on a "worst case" month scenario with using straight 4 week amounts? Or is your whole SOA on a 4-weekly basis because that is how you're paid? If so then check you've adjusted things like the council tax to that same method of calculating too.