Help - advice needed re debts.

mayflo

Hi all,

I wonder if anyone can give me some advice...firstly heres my incomings/outgoings....

Monthly Incomings:
My salary - £1210

Monthly Outgoings:
Mortgage/Rent - £280
Council Tax - £52
Water - £10
Electric - £13
TV License - £6
Phone - £21
Food/drink - £230
Broadband - £20
Rail travel - £45
Sports subs £20
Monthly repayments (see below) - £352
House insurance - £5
Total: £1054

Amex Credit card - £1700 (Approx £44 per month) 4.9% APR for life of balance (intoductory offer, current rate for this card is now 19.9%)
Lloyds/Tsb credit card - £6000 (Approx £130 per month) 15.7% APR
Cahoot Loan - £8700 (£178 per month) 15.9% APR
Overdraft - £800
I also owe my wife £2450

I recently applied for a £19,500 loan via Alliance & lecester to consolidate all of the above into one debt, this was declined and refered to Dean House
finance from Freedom Finance. Dean House would only offer me a secured loan which I was not interested in and so I declined it.

We own 30% share in a shared ownership property with £59,000 mortgage which we only got in February this year so remortgaging is not an option.

I had my 'lightbulb' moment (or rather my wife had it for me) and now really want to start to make a dent in my debts. I'm not sure how I got so much in
debt (spending more than I earnt for the last 10 years) and I was made redundant earlier this year and was off work for a couple of months which
hasn't helped. I am currently meeting my monthly minimum repayments (although not on my overdraft or paying my wife back) but obviously would like to get the APR down so I could pay of my debts quicker.

My wife earns £1635 a month and is only £2000 in debt which she will have paid off by middle of next year and she is willing to help me, but is not sure
of the best way (joint loan?).

Has anyone got any helpful advice/suggestions on what I should do next to get myself on the way to clearing my debts?

Thanks in advance.

tealady

Hello, does you wife live with you and if she does what does she pay in regar to household bills? Also put you debts into a snowballer to see how quickly you can pay them off, its an eyeopener.

mayflo

Yes we live together, i've listed what I pay for my half of the mortgage/rent and bills, she pays the other half.

Karmacat

Hi mayflo

Welcome to mse.

What have you spent on? Is there anything you can sell?

Do you pay the whole of the broadband? If you only pay half, that looks *very* high.

You're right about getting the credit card aprs down, can you phone the companies asap and talk to them about that?

What about a second job?

What about the £230 on food? Is that for both of you? Even if it is it can be cut down (see the moneysaving old style board on this forum). If it isn't, stop buying the champagne and caviar immediately! Seriously, look at the old style board, you'l be amazed.

What are your sports subs? At £40k in debt, action has to be drastic. Is there a cheaper/no-cost option?

I hope this helps.