24 with too much debt - help!

glcxo

I'll cut to the chase. I'm currently in an estimated debt of £7,376. The breakdown is -

£190 - Current account overdraft
£993.90 - Lloyd's credit card - monthly standing order of £100 but of course I keep spending it
£1028.37 - Curry's PC World account - monthly repayment of £72.17
£4858.56 - Lendable loan (taken out as debt consolidation and has allowed me to close two credit card accounts, included the dreaded Vanquis) - monthly repayment of £186
£306.00 - Barclays Finance (loan for MacBook) - monthly repayment of £33

Total monthly repayment - £391.17 (not including overdraft fees because I'm not 100% sure what they are)

I'm earning around £1,100 after tax per month.

I need advice on how best to tackle this because I don't want it spiralling out of control

JayRitchie

Hey - congratulations on getting a grip of the problem. First things to do:

- what are the interest rates on the different loans?
- How much money do you have to repay the loans? If you look at other posts on this board you can see how people fill in SOAs to give a better idea of how best to address their debts.

glcxo

JayRitchie wrote: »

Hey - congratulations on getting a grip of the problem. First things to do:

- what are the interest rates on the different loans?
- How much money do you have to repay the loans? If you look at other posts on this board you can see how people fill in SOAs to give a better idea of how best to address their debts.

Hiya, thanks so much for your response.

- The Lendable loan is fixed at 17.6% each year - balance £4858.56 with 32 months remaining on fixed contract.
- The Barclays finance, I'm not sure what the % is but the loan amount was £956 with £219.76 interest. This one is a 36 month fixed contract from 05/11/16, so quite happy to just let it run it's course.
- Currys PC World is purchase interest of 24.9% - balance £1,028.37
- Lloyds Credit Card is 18.94% p/a (variable) - balance £993.90
- On the overdraft, there's no fee between £0-£100, and over £100 to £190 it's 1p per every full £6 borrowed. Mine is £190 and I always end up going into it at the end of the month.

Whats an SOA?

Karonher

It may be best to get rid of the overdraft first as that can be pulled at any time. Next - hide the credit card so you cant spend on it.

Without knowing what the rest of your money is going on it is hard to say where to cut. Deprive yourself for a month or so and cut back on everything you can - no new clothes, no haircuts, limited entertainment - cancel Netflix etc if you have it.

Sell anything that you don't use anymore.

Can you up your income - second job even for a few months?

glcxo

Rough estimate of SOA because the Stoozing site is down.

STATEMENT OF ACCOUNT

INCOME

Income after tax - £1,185

OUTGOINGS

Rent share - £362.50
Electric share - £50
Water share - £21.50
TV/Broadband share - £16.50
Council tax share - £83
Gym share - £30
Credit card - £100
Lendable loan - £186
Barclays loan - £32.66
Curry’s bill shared - £36.08
Overdraft - £5 (estimate)
Gadget insurance - £10.25
Food/dog food share - £100
Spotify share - £7.50
Netflix share - £5

£1,045.99 monthly payments

Plus Thomas Cook holiday - £298.32 (March & April)

glcxo

JayRitchie wrote: »

Hey - congratulations on getting a grip of the problem. First things to do:

- what are the interest rates on the different loans?
- How much money do you have to repay the loans? If you look at other posts on this board you can see how people fill in SOAs to give a better idea of how best to address their debts.

Karonher wrote: »

It may be best to get rid of the overdraft first as that can be pulled at any time. Next - hide the credit card so you cant spend on it.

Without knowing what the rest of your money is going on it is hard to say where to cut. Deprive yourself for a month or so and cut back on everything you can - no new clothes, no haircuts, limited entertainment - cancel Netflix etc if you have it.

Sell anything that you don't use anymore.

Can you up your income - second job even for a few months?

Rough estimate of SOA because the Stoozing site is down.

STATEMENT OF ACCOUNT

INCOME

Income after tax - £1,185

OUTGOINGS

Rent share - £362.50
Electric share - £50
Water share - £21.50
TV/Broadband share - £16.50
Council tax share - £83
Gym share - £30
Credit card - £100
Lendable loan - £186
Barclays loan - £32.66
Curry’s bill shared - £36.08
Overdraft - £5 (estimate)
Gadget insurance - £10.25
Food/dog food share - £100
Spotify share - £7.50
Netflix share - £5

£1,045.99 monthly payments

Plus Thomas Cook holiday - £298.32 (March & April)

I already work full time so don’t really have the time or mental capability to work any more hours, I also don’t think my work contract allows it. I share a lot of the bills with my partner.

theoretica

Without the holiday you would be spending less than you earn - with it you are getting further into the red. Once those last two payments are over don't commit to anything else or another one. Any way you could raise the holiday money as extra? Anything to sell?

WhenIam64

If you can get the debt down below £5,000 (and pick up a parking ticket/CCJ) you might consider an Administration Order.

https://www.nationaldebtline.org/EW/factsheets/Pages/administration-orders/what-is-an-administration-order.aspx

Above £5,000 would be a Debt Relief Order but you might have just too much surplus income (!!) for that
https://www.nationaldebtline.org/EW/factsheets/Pages/debtrelieforders/droadvice.aspx

Self-managing your debt is better as the impact of either form of relief will be felt for some time. But they are options if you find the debt issue getting worse.

Debtnomoreplease

Morning, first of all, well done on admitting things have got slightly out of control-always the hardest step.

Secondly, when you got the consolidation loan and paid two credit cards off? Did you honestly pay every penny off the debt with the loan or use some as spending money? Be honest with yourself. I've done it, got a consolidation loan and by far the worst thing ever for me, I saw it as spare money and spent it just adding to the debt. Abyway, point meant to be, consolidation loans very rarely work.

Thirdly, I have a full time job and had to force myself to get a second job-It can be done, as painful as it is. Getting a second job was the main reason that I'm now debt free. I grabbed as much overtime as possible, worked my second job on my days off for extra money. Don't get me wrong, I've never been as exhausted in my life, but a good exhausted-I was paying down my debt, which in return let me sleep at night! Try something this week, try and keep track of how much time you chill, watch TV, do something that isn't work. Add that time together over a week and multiply that by your hourly rate-how much extra would you earn? May seem silly, but it's amazing how much time you can really find in a day when you are desperate to be debt free, and the good news is-it's not forever! I still have my second job now whilst I build a healthy emergency fund for the future. I well and truly had my light build moment and would of worked 7days a week, 12 hours a day to not be in debt and be able to sleep at night.

Only other advice to become debt free is: try to build an emergency fund first, so if something happens you aren't relying on credit. Don't get another consolidation loan (another loan to pay another loan off-you're just moving the debt) budget and stick to it to the penny. May work for you, may not, but I made a chart for every loan/credit card and Everytime I paid £10 off, I crossed it off and this really made me feel good to see the physical side of things. Also did the same with Monopoly money; if I had £1000 I put £1000 as Monopoly money in an envelope and very time I paid some off, I loved seeing the money get smaller in the envelope.

Anyway, I wish you luck and really hope you've had your light bulb moment to attach this debt as quickly as possible and get rid of it-it's really not worth losing sleep over-get rid. :-)

All the best and keep checking in on here-it's one fabulous site!!