Fastest, Easiest way to clear debt and be happy?!

Sugarplum634

I'm coming at this from a different perspective maybe, but getting the OP to ask his parents to give him (amd his girlfiend!) so TWO people a further reduction in rent/ultilities etc... How do we know his parents can afford it? It's all well and good saying ask parents for a free ride... but not whilst he spends £20 a month on tv subscription and £92 (!!!) on his phone! I was paying my parent £250 a month in 1999 out of job with a take home of £550!) And some real life bill awareness is no bad thing when you are in debt. And not taking the proverbial with your parents is a good idea. Well done OP for being sensible enough to be paying your parents board and bills.



Look at debt snowball v debt avalanche.. I'd be paying the minimum and then throwing everything I could at the highest debt to repayment ratio - get those gone quickly and you'll have a sense of achievement.

David2Prit

Spotify, sack it off, Deezer always running free subscription.

getmore4less

I think the debt payments have some charges mixed in with them so are really costs and hiding the true cost of the debt.
The two OD are probably maxed out every month and the payment is charges.

Once analysed and targeted along with the obvious cutbacks this should start to turnaround quite quickly.

Sanctioned_Parts_List

In the same position, I think I'd be printing off a copy of that SOA and discussing it with my parents, to ask/beg/plead for 3 months payment holiday from the rent and groceries.

3 months holiday from rent/groceries, along with Netflix and Spotify cancelled, would enable OP to clear completely both the Argos and Tesco credit cards, which I believe to have interest rates closer to 30%, and the Tesco overdraft, which charges up to £75/month if it exceeds the agreed limit plus whatever other interest and fees are applied. These three are money wasted. There would then be a couple of hundred pounds left over to lift the Lloyds account off rock bottom, which will reduce its fees, too.

After that, assuming rental payments to parents restart, it would take roughly 5-6 months to clear the Lloyds overdraft (these are normally very high interest rate, too), at which point OP can decide whether to build a safety buffer, or to proceed with tackling the more structured debts. My own inclination would be to save the minimum £1000 safety buffer recommended, then to plug what's left into the snowball calculator. Gut feeling is that all this can be made to go away in 18 - 24 months.

EssexHebridean

Sugarplum634 wrote: »

I'm coming at this from a different perspective maybe, but getting the OP to ask his parents to give him (amd his girlfiend!) so TWO people a further reduction in rent/ultilities etc... How do we know his parents can afford it? It's all well and good saying ask parents for a free ride... but not whilst he spends £20 a month on tv subscription and £92 (!!!) on his phone! I was paying my parent £250 a month in 1999 out of job with a take home of £550!) And some real life bill awareness is no bad thing when you are in debt. And not taking the proverbial with your parents is a good idea. Well done OP for being sensible enough to be paying your parents board and bills.



Look at debt snowball v debt avalanche.. I'd be paying the minimum and then throwing everything I could at the highest debt to repayment ratio - get those gone quickly and you'll have a sense of achievement.

All good points but if you read what is being suggested people mostly aren't suggesting a free ride - just a short term reduction. We're also suggesting that the unnecessary stuff also has to go. Also I'd not read it that the OP's girlfriend was living there at all? If these figures are for two people then clearly it's a different picture, but in that case we also need the girlfriend's income etc to take into account!