Young Couple Need Some Advice!

SamTheMan

Evening all,

Me (22) and my girlfriend (23) have recently finished University and started employment. We have a combined salary of £33,000 at the moment.

As far as debts are concerned I have:

£11000 student loans
£2200 on a HSBC Mastercard
£250 on a Virgin Credit Card

£1500 overdraft HSBC current account (Main account)
Goes down to £1000 in a years time.

£750 overdraft Natwest current account. Goes down to £500 in a years time.

So in total approximately: £15,700 or £4,700 without the student loan.

She has:

£20,000 student loan
£2,050 overdraft Natwest current account
£1,300 storecards

So in total approximately: £23,350 or £3,350 without student loan.

We've worked out our expenses per month at roughly £1,100 including rent, bills and food. We're looking at trying to pay off the debts (excluding student loan) in around six to nine months. Does anyone have any recommendations as to how to go about it? I've seen some great advice on here over the past few months.

Also, another minor problem. I've recently moved out of student accomodation. Eight of us shared and it was a group contract. At the end of the year the electric bill was £1,500. Myself and a friend paid our share straight away. However, noone else has. Now the letting agents won't give me back my bond (£250)as they say they need the bill paid and the Utilities company is threatening with debt collectors etc. Do I have any legal right to my bond? Where do I stand with the Utility company? I have a feeling i'm probably out of luck on this one but you never know.

Any help would be much appreciated! We want to look at buying our own place once we pay off the main debts.

Kind regards,

Sam:j

HairyHandofDartmoor

I'm afraid I can't advise you re the bond, I would try the CAB for this.

However if you post up a Statement of Affairs, there is a guide by Southern Scouser in one of the stickies at the top, then we can advise you better. We need to know exactly how much you spend on food, petrol, entertainment, etc.

With regard to your debts, can you post the APR's for us, and the credit limits on the store cards, which should be itemised seperately.

In_Search_Of_Me

Hi there, A note on the bill situation for old house. Are you in touch with the people you shared with? If so I suggest contacting them & reminding them that you all signed a contract & that if they dont pay the money back then the landlord/co would I suspect be entitled to legal action which would affect their credit rating! Good idea to contact CAB to confim what legal action they can take & where you stand.
Have you had a good look round the boards? Look at old style etc for general tips, keep a spending diary to see what goes where & DONT get stuck into the consolodation trap - thats where I started when I left uni instead of paying it off! Made me feel secure & I just went a bit nuts with spending now that I had a good salary so a word of painfully gained personal experience/caution for you there! ALso look at the "bar" the the top for budgetting etc...some great tools there for you! Hope that helps but most of all welcome!

sophiesmum_2

If 8 of you shard and paid £250 bond each that's £2000.
Surely the landlord could pay the £1500 bill using the bonds of those not paying as their share. If you and your friend have paid your share there should be plenty to pay the bill and still give you your share of bonds back. Or would it have to be paid as one bond for all 8 of you.

SamTheMan

Hey Hairy, thanks for the quick reply.

Right, heres a full breakdown. Monthly:

Rent - £550
Council Tax - £81
Water - £41
Gas - £30
Electricity - £30
Broadband - £25
Landline - £13
Mobile One - £20
Mobile Two - £35
Car Insurance - £60
Gym - £78 (For the two of us)
Store Cards - £25
Credit Cards - £70
Food - £200 (Approx £50 per week)
Fuel - £20
Leisure Activities - £80
Tv License - £13

Total = £1,371

Hmm maybe it worked out a bit more in reality!

HSBC Credit Card APR = 15.9% (Max limit of £3,500)
Virgin Credit Card APR = 17.9% (Max Limit of £2,000)

The store cards are currently with various debt collection companies. She's paying roughly £20 per month to cover the bare minimum she can get away with. That's another issue. They aren't threatening with CCJ's. We aren't sure if its better to pay off the store cards or credit cards first?

Thanks for the help guys!

SamTheMan

As for the flat issue.

The letting agents have refused to use the bonds to pay the bills. They say that the £2000 is getting 'in their way' but thats rubbish. They just want to keep the money.

I have contacted everyone multiple times about the issue. They just shrug it off as something that doesn't bother them. I'm sick of it to be honest. Unsurprisingly they're dossing at home with their parents. I've told them countless times it's not my responsibility to be sorting this out.

HairyHandofDartmoor

No problem. Well I know you won't want to but I would cancel the gym if you are not tied into a contract.

£80 seems quite a lot for leisure activities (to someone who spends 0 on leisure, anyway, lol), what does this cover?

I'm pretty sure the food bill could be cut down if you visit the money saving old style board for tips.

You should pay off the card with the highest interest first (which I'm guessing will be the store cards) and pay minimum payments on the others. Go to www.whatsthecost.com and type all your debts into the snowball calculator there to see which order you should pay them in.

Could you reduce the mobile bills at all? Are these on a contract or pay as you go?

I am pretty sure you could get the landline and broadband cheaper by combining but I am not an expert on this, so someone else will advise you on that.