At my wits end... (Help with debt and finances)

hiru1yoichi

I’m posting here today in need of some advice.

A bit of background first to shed some light on my situation; I’m 26 year old and work full time, I live with my girlfriend and 2 cats. I work full time coming out with around £1200 per month. I have been suffering from depression for as long as I can remember and have recently overcome an addiction to weed (33 days and counting). My girlfriend has recently lost her job due to illness, so I have the role of supporting us both financially until she gets back on her feet which I am more than happy to do, however this is starting to bring a great deal of stress and worry about what to do.

I have gotten myself into a bad situation with my money. I’m scraping on by pay-check to pay-check barely being able to feed my girlfriend and I as well as my cats. My first priority is making sure my cats are getting the diet they need as I wouldn’t want to put them into a bad place.

Over time I have acquired a debt due to stupid spending decisions in funding the addiction I once had and now I’m in a better place I am suffering because of this. I will list the loans and my outgoings, so anyone out there who is willing to lend advice has an overview on the situation I have gotten myself into. The following list contains what I am currently covering and doesn’t include the financial issues my girlfriend has gotten into.

Priorities:
• Rent - £375
• Utilities (Gas & Electric & Water) - £103
• Council Tax - £95
• Cat food/litter - £60
• Food - £150
• TV License - £22



Monthly payments:
• Phone contracts(2 phones & 2 tablets) - £150
• Internet - £45
• Netflix - £10
• Google Music - £16

Loans and credit:
• Credit Card - £450 limit – £550 due to not making payments.
• Very Account - £875 Limit – £80 remaining – up to date on payments.
• Avant Loan - £1700 – 48months – APR 79.6% - missed a fair few months of payments.
• Lending Stream 1 - £100
• Lending Stream 2 - £100
• Lending Stream 3 - £100
• Lending Stream 4 - £100
• Lending Stream 5 - £100
• BW Legal(Debt management) - £100
• Safetynet Credit - £400

I would like to thank anyone who is willing to read through this and offering advice it means a great deal to me and I appreciate it. I will be starting college in September and want to be in a place where I am able to focus on my studies rather than stressing about the mess I’ve gotten myself into. I have looked into several options of debt consolidation however haven’t been lucky with being accepted. I went as far as thinking a Guarantor Loan would be the right option however quickly discarded the idea due to not wanting to put my financial burden on anyone I care about. This is a mess I’ve gotten myself into and want to take responsibility in getting myself out of it.

sourcrates

Hi,

Have you not heard of debt management at all ?

Check out the debt charities in my signiture, stepchange probebly a good place to start, forget consolidation, numerous options available dependant on your circumstances.

Run your details through there debt remedy tool, see what it recommends.

hiru1yoichi

Thankyou for replying so fast, I will look into this and report back.

EssexHebridean

Comments in red as usual...

hiru1yoichi wrote: »

I’m posting here today in need of some advice.

A bit of background first to shed some light on my situation; I’m 26 year old and work full time, I live with my girlfriend and 2 cats. I work full time coming out with around £1200 per month. I have been suffering from depression for as long as I can remember and have recently overcome an addiction to weed (33 days and counting). well done - stick with it! My girlfriend has recently lost her job due to illness, Has she ensured that she is getting any benefits that she is entitled to? so I have the role of supporting us both financially until she gets back on her feet which I am more than happy to do, however this is starting to bring a great deal of stress and worry about what to do.

I have gotten myself into a bad situation with my money. I’m scraping on by pay-check to pay-check barely being able to feed my girlfriend and I as well as my cats. My first priority is making sure my cats are getting the diet they need as I wouldn’t want to put them into a bad place. Incorrect. Your first priority is to make sure that your priority bills (rent & council tax, plus heat/light & food for the two of you) are covered -
particularly in the light of your girlfriend's ill-health

Over time I have acquired a debt due to stupid spending decisions in funding the addiction I once had and now I’m in a better place I am suffering because of this. I will list the loans and my outgoings, so anyone out there who is willing to lend advice has an overview on the situation I have gotten myself into. The following list contains what I am currently covering and doesn’t include the financial issues my girlfriend has gotten into.

Priorities:
• Rent - £375
• Utilities (Gas & Electric & Water) - £103
• Council Tax - £95 If this is not already spread over 12 months it may be worth enquiring about doing so
• Cat food/litter - £60 Look to reduce this - downshift on food if you're feeding branded and look to the cheaper options on litter. Stretch changing it by removing solids as soon as you see them appear and "agitating" the wet patches to aid the litter drying.
Consider feeding complete dried food rather than tinned if you're not already doing so
- it works out a lot more budget friendly
• Food - £150 You can pin this down a bit in the short term for sure -
do a full fridge/freezer/cupboard audit and then meal plan to use as much as possible of what you have in, buying only fresh ingredients for as long as you can.
• TV License - £22 Why £22?



Monthly payments:
• Phone contracts(2 phones & 2 tablets) - £150 This is extortionate!
See if you can shift to SIM only if you're anywhere near the end of contracts - suppliers sometimes let you bail early as long as you stay with them. Bin the tablet contracts as soon as you can and use tethering to your phones if needed.
• Internet - £45 Shop about - you will be able to get this cheaper I suspect
• Netflix - £10 Bin it and go freeview for now until your finances are in a better place
• Google Music - £16 As netflix above. It's a luxury - right now I'm afraid you can't afford them

Loans and credit:
• Credit Card - £450 limit – £550 due to not making payments. what should the minimum payment be? And the interest rate?
• Very Account - £875 Limit – £80 remaining – up to date on payments. what should the minimum payment be? And the interest rate?
• Avant Loan - £1700 – 48months – APR 79.6% - missed a fair few months of payments. what should the monthly payment be?
• Lending Stream 1 - £100 Is this the monthly payment or what you have outstanding? (Same question applies to those below)
• Lending Stream 2 - £100
• Lending Stream 3 - £100
• Lending Stream 4 - £100
• Lending Stream 5 - £100
• BW Legal(Debt management) - £100
• Safetynet Credit - £400 what should the minimum payment be? And the interest rate?

I would like to thank anyone who is willing to read through this and offering advice it means a great deal to me and I appreciate it. I will be starting college in September Does this mean you'/re intending to stop working and so stop earning?
If so, at the moment it looks like those plans will need to go on hold, no? and want to be in a place where I am able to focus on my studies rather than stressing about the mess I’ve gotten myself into. I have looked into several options of debt consolidation however haven’t been lucky with being accepted. That's fortunate as it appears that you've not currently got the situation even vaguely under control. Consolidation will NOT work for you. I went as far as thinking a Guarantor Loan would be the right option however quickly discarded the idea due to not wanting to put my financial burden on anyone I care about. This is a mess I’ve gotten myself into and want to take responsibility in getting myself out of it.

Sourcrates is right - you're currently in far too deep for a few tweaks to a SOA to make enough diffference I think. Might still be worth completing a proper one though as there's a lot missing from the above - find the link in the "sticky" post at the top of the board - fill it out accurately and reflecting your current situation and spending, and post it in here and we can see if we can make any suggestions. Based on your current expenditure you have £175 free for making repayments but I rather fear this isn't even scratching the surface of what you have to pay, is it.


Get the SOA done and then at least you can talk to Stepchange with the information that they are going to require, to hand.

Silver_Queen

£1,200 per month for two adults and pets is pretty tough. Can your girlfriend get jobseeker's and DLA? Any other benefits?

Well done for wanting to look after your cats but at the end of the day you can't afford to look after yourselves. You need to prioritise paying your bills, keeping a roof over your head, feeding yourselves adequately.

For now you can't afford the luxuries of netflix, tablets, google music.

My phone bill is already pretty huge and it's £35 per month. £150 for two people is obscene. You budget the same for your electronics, not including subscription services, as you do to feed yourselves.

You keep getting payday loans and you simply cannot afford to keep living this way.

hiru1yoichi

EssexHebridean wrote: »

Comments in red as usual...



Sourcrates is right - you're currently in far too deep for a few tweaks to a SOA to make enough diffference I think. Might still be worth completing a proper one though as there's a lot missing from the above - find the link in the "sticky" post at the top of the board - fill it out accurately and reflecting your current situation and spending, and post it in here and we can see if we can make any suggestions. Based on your current expenditure you have £175 free for making repayments but I rather fear this isn't even scratching the surface of what you have to pay, is it.


Get the SOA done and then at least you can talk to Stepchange with the information that they are going to require, to hand.

Thank you for taking the time to read through and reply - I'm sorry I haven't made myself clear in some of the expenses I have stated. I will try to clear up as much as I can whilst I'm at work:

- Council Tax - £95 - This is what I pay per month for the council tax as it has already been spread out.

- Cat stuff - £60 - This is something I will look into, thank you for the advice.

- Food - £150 - I do tend to fall back on easy eating, never really prepare my own food, if i'm pushing the boat out the best meal I can make is Rice,Chicken and vegetables.

- TV License - £22 - This was just something I set up and haven't really looked at since, thought it was a mandatory requirement if you watched anything on BBC or had a TV.

Monthly Payments:

- Phone Contracts - £150 - It has been pointed out to me that I'm an idiot in every sense of the word for paying this aha.. The contacts for the phones will be ending at the end of the year and I'm only 7 months into the contracts with the tablets. I will have to speak to EE to see what I am able to do in regards to getting these canceled.

- Internet - £45 - I honestly thought I was getting a good deal with this so it's something I've not looked into reducing, other's have stated otherwise so I'll get looking.

- Netflix/Google - As of making this post I have cancelled these subscriptions.

Loans & Credit:

Credit Card - Minimum payments should be around £45 per month. 23.7% APR
Very - Minimum payments are £74.91 per month.49.9% APR
Avant Credit - Minimum payments are £94.60.
Lending Stream - Minimum payments are £10 per loan per month. The £100 is what I have outstanding on each loan.
BW Legal - I stated it was debt management however, it is a debt collection agency.
Safetynet Credit - They seem to work different from any of the other loans I have gotten eg. They will allow me to take up to £400 per month, with 60p per day added as interest however there is no choice but to pay back the full payment every month.


With regards to college, I am able to put in flexible working request which will allow me to attend college as well as keep working full time.

I have recently realised that consolidation is not the option for me due to how poorly I manage my finances, which in turn would undoubtedly add to the fire I have started.

I have spoken to stepchange on my lunch break and got the start of something in place. Just need to put it all into action now.


Thanks again!

EssexHebridean

well done you - that's real progress there.

On the TV license - if you are within 6 months of starting paying for it it will be £24 odd a month as you have to pay in advance - after that 6 month period though it should drop to £12.12 per month. Might be worth checking as this would free up another bit of money for you.

when you talk to EE tell them that you literally cannot afford to pay for the tablet contracts - and point out that you are an existing phone customer - they *might* be willing to do something, but I'll stress that if they do it will be entirely goodwill on their part. As soon as you're within a month of the end of the phone contracts give them a call and switch to SIM only - they do a decent deal for £11 a month - which is what I'm on.

Tim to learn to cook then! Start simple with stuff like pasta, a straightforward tomato based sauce is a doddle. If you can make chicken and rice then learning to make a simple curry sauce gives you another string to your boiw too. Learning to cook is a skill for life and will enable you to keep that food down, p;lus you'll be eating better too. Visit the Old Style board and ask for help - they're fab over there.

[Deleted User]

Just want to say well done for acting on the good advice so quickly. I'm sure you'll get there and good luck!

hiru1yoichi

EssexHebridean wrote: »

well done you - that's real progress there.

On the TV license - if you are within 6 months of starting paying for it it will be £24 odd a month as you have to pay in advance - after that 6 month period though it should drop to £12.12 per month. Might be worth checking as this would free up another bit of money for you.

when you talk to EE tell them that you literally cannot afford to pay for the tablet contracts - and point out that you are an existing phone customer - they *might* be willing to do something, but I'll stress that if they do it will be entirely goodwill on their part. As soon as you're within a month of the end of the phone contracts give them a call and switch to SIM only - they do a decent deal for £11 a month - which is what I'm on.

Tim to learn to cook then! Start simple with stuff like pasta, a straightforward tomato based sauce is a doddle. If you can make chicken and rice then learning to make a simple curry sauce gives you another string to your boiw too. Learning to cook is a skill for life and will enable you to keep that food down, p;lus you'll be eating better too. Visit the Old Style board and ask for help - they're fab over there.

I'll look further into the TV License, it maybe the case that I might not even need it.

Fingers crossed, I have been a long time customer(4 years+ without missing a single payment) so hopefully they'll be able to lend a hand. I'll still have to see how I'd go about dealing with the tablet contracts - i've heard in the past from friends that after trying to cancel contracts, they have been frozen and still had to pay the outstanding amount...

It's gotta be done sometime hasn't it aha... it is something i've wanted to get the hang of for a long while however been down in the dumps with all i'm going through, i've simply not had the energy when i've got hom. It's now or never!

Thank you again for helping me out, really appreciate it!

zippygeorgeandben

hiru1yoichi wrote: »

I’m posting here today in need of some advice.

A bit of background first to shed some light on my situation; I’m 26 year old and work full time, I live with my girlfriend and 2 cats. I work full time coming out with around £1200 per month. I have been suffering from depression for as long as I can remember and have recently overcome an addiction to weed (33 days and counting). My girlfriend has recently lost her job due to illness, so I have the role of supporting us both financially until she gets back on her feet which I am more than happy to do, however this is starting to bring a great deal of stress and worry about what to do.

I have gotten myself into a bad situation with my money. I’m scraping on by pay-check to pay-check barely being able to feed my girlfriend and I as well as my cats. My first priority is making sure my cats are getting the diet they need as I wouldn’t want to put them into a bad place.

Over time I have acquired a debt due to stupid spending decisions in funding the addiction I once had and now I’m in a better place I am suffering because of this. I will list the loans and my outgoings, so anyone out there who is willing to lend advice has an overview on the situation I have gotten myself into. The following list contains what I am currently covering and doesn’t include the financial issues my girlfriend has gotten into.

Priorities:
• Rent - £375
• Utilities (Gas & Electric & Water) - £103
• Council Tax - £95
• Cat food/litter - £60
• Food - £150
• TV License - £22



Monthly payments:
• Phone contracts(2 phones & 2 tablets) - £150
• Internet - £45
• Netflix - £10
• Google Music - £16

Loans and credit:
• Credit Card - £450 limit – £550 due to not making payments.
• Very Account - £875 Limit – £80 remaining – up to date on payments.
• Avant Loan - £1700 – 48months – APR 79.6% - missed a fair few months of payments.
• Lending Stream 1 - £100
• Lending Stream 2 - £100
• Lending Stream 3 - £100
• Lending Stream 4 - £100
• Lending Stream 5 - £100
• BW Legal(Debt management) - £100
• Safetynet Credit - £400

I would like to thank anyone who is willing to read through this and offering advice it means a great deal to me and I appreciate it. I will be starting college in September and want to be in a place where I am able to focus on my studies rather than stressing about the mess I’ve gotten myself into. I have looked into several options of debt consolidation however haven’t been lucky with being accepted. I went as far as thinking a Guarantor Loan would be the right option however quickly discarded the idea due to not wanting to put my financial burden on anyone I care about. This is a mess I’ve gotten myself into and want to take responsibility in getting myself out of it.

Is Netflix £10? I thought it was £7.49?

breaking_free

zippygeorgeandben wrote: »

Is Netflix £10? I thought it was £7.49?

Depends which subscription plan you take out. There's basic, standard and premium. If you want to watch it on more than one device it costs more.