I need help with my debt

Ryan93

Hi all, not sure if I'm posting in the right place or if this is the right way to go about it but I've got nothing to lose.
Basically my back story is I'm now 24, I've had a credit card debt for as long as I can remember, since I was a teenager. when I was young I didn't realise what I was getting myself into and now I feel trapped. I've always managed to keep it a secret out of self-shame and disappointing my family but I've never had to knowledge or the confidence to deal with it. I'm now stuck in a spiral of when I pay off what I can afford each month the interest I'm charged is over half of what I pay, I see no end and it's slowly defeating me as I have no one I can turn to. I don't know how to go about 'balance transfers' to new cards and when I do look into it the cards I can apply for can't offer me the balance I require to transfer my whole debt meaning I would have to have two cards and I wouldn't be able to afford the minimum repayments. Does anyone have any advice or suggestions?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

[Deleted User]

Ryan how much do you owe? and what is your income/outgoings ?

sourcrates

Yes, contact one of the free debt agencies in my signature, they will be able to suggest solutions for you.

Ryan93

I owe £6,500 and my monthly income is around £1,200-1,500 (I'm doing an apprenticeship but im nearly qualified) and my dedicated outgoings for rent, bills etc.. are roughly £700

-taff

You can try applying for a 0% card, and if you are successful, move some of the debt if it won't take all of it to that card, set up a minimum payment each month, and most importatly, CUT THE CARD UP so you can't spend on it.
Then put more money towards paying off the one with interest, or try and move what's left [if there is any] to another 0% card.

Ilona

Hi Ryan. As you have been in debt a long time, you have not learnt how to budget and live within your means. Apologies for stating the obvious but you are spending more than you are earning. A change of mindset is needed to turn this around,

You may be able to transfer some of it to a 0% card, that will give you some breathing space, but it is not the total solution. You need to rethink your whole attitude towards money. It would help if you could fill out a Statement of Affairs, so you have it written down in front of you. Copy it here and someone will come along and give you some pointers about where you might reduce your spending.

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

If you feel overwhelmed a good place to contact is one of the FREE charities, as Sourcrates says, who will work with you to get it sorted.

This can be sorted with a bit of focus on your part. Best to tackle it now before it escalates. Good luck.

Ilona

Silver_Queen

Firstly, well done with dealing with this now before it gets too bad. You're only 24, loads of time to sort it out.

Sit yourself down, do a full HONEST statement of affairs (use the stoozing link template) showing your current spending, not your idealised spending. This will give your current day-to-day expenditure.

Find out what the APR on the debts are. List them all out. Figure out exactly how much you owe. Post it on here and people will comment telling you the best ways to deal with it.

At a glance it seems like you have £300-£600 a month before debt repayments. That's quite a big margin of error. Do you get paid fluctuating amounts or are you just not sure how much you get paid?

It is really hard to offer advice without the whole picture so it would be best for you to list out everything properly rather than giving rough estimates.

If you can get a 0% balance transfer, do that, but the most important thing is that you don't keep spending and spending, because then you'll just end up with more debt rather than curing the problem.

EssexHebridean

Exactly what Ilona & Silver Queen say above Ryan - take a deep breath and get all your figures down on paper is the first thing - until you do that you don't know where you stand. You've said it yourself - you ARE making headway on paying off the debts - it's now just a case of making sure you prioritise where the overpayments that you're now going to start making (oh yes you are!) go to make your money work best for you.

Have you cut up the cards to remove the temptation to carry on using them?

You need to move from figures that are "roughly" and "around" to actual, hard figures - you need to know to the penny what is coming in, and in turn, what should be going out. That in turn tells you what is left over and so can be thrown at debt.

At the moment don't look to move any debt about - you need to know fully what you're dealing with before you start shifting things or you'll just confuse yourself. Are you signed up to the (free) MSE Credit Club? If not get on to that - lots of benefits including giving you a good overview of what 0% deals you may be eligible for when the time is right and your figures are all in place.