Being an adult and pulling head out from sand

dearbarbie

Mnd wrote: »

See if you can get a 0% card as well, then use some savings to reduce some of the 20% balsnce you are paying.
You seem to be ok regarding your income and outgoings, so with your new focus you can get back in control relatively swiftly

I'm not doing great on the eligibility side of things sadly thank you! I need to check my credit file and see why things have changed so much since I moved

dearbarbie

Willing2Learn wrote: »

Where is the spare £252/month going?

If you have breathing space on your credit card limits then it may be possible to stooze on a 3 year % balance transfer. Lenders want to see a solid credit history without defaults, late payments or arrears. Is that you? If so, then try going for the Tesco 36 month 0% balance transfer card. One solitary credit search is not going to negatively impact your credit report.

And ignore your credit rating. Lenders score you independently. They consider the data in your report and application and score you against their criteria and policies. They never see your credit rating...

Interesting. I have never defaulted on a credit card payment, had arrears.

I moved from a house I owned and was removed from mortgage 10 months ago to a rented property and also started a new job around the same time. Could that be causing a problem?

Or...I owed some money to my previous power supplier before moving to Bulb. It was a real shambolic org where I couldn't actually get through to them then went on holiday and a debt collection co contacted me - I paid it off instantly. I bet that's the badger. DARN.

Thanks for this food for thought!

DD265

On the medical side, could a pre-payment certificate help if you have multiple prescriptions per month?

Look into the cost of buying Adobe CC for the year instead of monthly; I can't remember what the difference was but it felt substantial when we used it to design our wedding stationary and by being clever with the trials, managed to get away without paying for it.

We are also electricity only and like you, our costs feel extremely high. Make sure your bills are based on actual meter readings not estimates.

What are the limits on your credit cards? Could you use savings to pay off one, then do a balance transfer from the second to the first to get it interest free? This is what I do, rather than taking out new cards, but I have balance transfer offers every month on both cards.

Definitely see if you can shave a bit off your entertainment budget, and possibly food. If you're actually spending £50 a month on clothes, do you actually have a lot you don't wear and could sell?

As you're paying interest on your debts and have a healthy savings account (even if you pay one card off), I'd nix the savings for now. When the debt is interest free, small £50/100 a month payments are good.

If these figures aren't accurate it'd be worth keeping a spending diary, and eventually morphing that into a budget. Personally I like You Need A Budget, whereas plenty of people set something up in Excel and there are other apps available.

theoretica

Can you trim beauty and personal care a little? Go a week longer between appointments? Only buy stuff when you have actually run out.



A soft drink after work is cheaper than a beer and still sociable.

zippygeorgeandben

I'm intrigued as to which city you have moved from and to?

skint_chick

That contents insurance looks a bit high - check out the home insurance pages on here to get that down, along with your groceries etc then add any savings to that £100 you're paying into savings and pay it off your cards too. If they're both the same interest rate then pay the minimum on the larger balance and pay the additional money to the smaller bill - seeing the balance reduce more quickly than splitting it equally will make you feel better.

If you keep a better record of your spends then the £250 you're supposed to have left over each month might actually be left over - then you can pay even more off the cards! You'll feel much better once your debt is gone, then you will have more months income in the bank and you can start using the money you paid the debt with to save for holidays and fun things.