Getting myself debt free - consolidation?

zippygeorgeandben

GO on Ryan, you can do it!!

shteca

Hi OP
I haven’t read through all the replies just yet but I will soon.
With regards to your situation, you Can’t borrow your way out of debt. You need a drastic change and a commitment to yourself to stop.
I would suggest taking your entertainment budget down to £0. This is because you need a complete change in attitude. This will completely shock your system and help with the physiological side of things. How to best attack this, there are a few ways but you need to be 100% in it. It is going to take you a number of years of strict budgeting and hard work to get out of this and doing something drastic like that will be what you need.
You also should look at getting a second job. Can you work over time? Get an evening job?
Now to going into the replies

ryanm8655

Thanks for the replies - fair point re: card numbers being on statements.

Haven’t yet gone for the loan option. Have opened a starling account to keep track of spending and am going to increase payment to a little above minimum on all cards.

Still pretty wiped out from flu but once that is done I’ll redo the SOA.

In terms of additional income, I can’t work overtime...I put about 6.5% of salary into pension but my employer contributes about 20% effectively (have an average salary pension). I could stop paying into that but that would be a bad idea imo.

I could get a part time job, I have considered that. I couldn’t really work evenings but could do weekends and it’d also reduce opportunities to socialise and spend. After tax there probably wouldn’t be much extra income though. A better route is probably to apply for promotions which would secure a £10k plus pay rise.

Thanks.

EssexHebridean

ryanm8655 wrote: »

Thanks for the replies - fair point re: card numbers being on statements.

So the cards are cut up then?

If you are having ANY hesitation about cutting them up (as clearly you are!), that underlines the reasons why at this stage, consolidation is not the right route for you.

JayRitchie

ryanm8655 wrote: »

.Still pretty wiped out from flu but once that is done I’ll redo the SOA.
Thanks.

Hope you are feeling better. I'm not sure that monitoring spend and writing up SOAs is all that essential in your case and your income and expenditures are pretty straight forward. Try this:

Income: £2,930
Rent: £700
Shopping: £150
Extra shopping: £50 - emergency type situations - trip to a cafe is the weather is horrible and you need to stay out of the rain, tube breakdowns etc
Other stuff £200. Includes clothes, visits to family, mobile etc. Pretty generous and I may be criticized for this but I think flatshares can be tougher than people give credit for.

This leaves you with £1,830 a month to throw at debts. This will get them down pretty nicely. Even better all round if you can get a promotion. No need to worry about budgeting for a social life , but you get to form a deep relationship with you tube and your local library.

If you do this for a year - thats all - you'll have debts remaining, but not at a problem level, it will be easy to get good rates for the remainder and you can refocus and decide whether to take things slowly at that point.

May be worth thinking about what to do with free time. I'm sure some people here can give some ideas. Given you (presumably) have a great education how about some private tuition?

ryanm8655

Thanks for the further replies.

Have no anxiety about cutting up cards, most of them haven’t been touched, just been used for 0% offers. I’ll make a note of my log in details and last 4 digits then chop them in half...

I’ve scrapped the loan idea anyway...the rates suddenly went up (something must have updated on my credit file). So are only marginally better than the cards, so I’ll go with the recommended approach of paying down the cards. I guess I’ll start with the high interest MBNA!

The above plan does look sensible...a year is a longtime but at the same time not so long that you can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Willing2Learn

ryanm8655 wrote: »

I’ve scrapped the loan idea anyway...the rates suddenly went up (something must have updated on my credit file).

The rates go up or down according to the level of risk and affordability. Have you checked the data in your three credit files for data accuracy?

EssexHebridean

ryanm8655 wrote: »

...the rates suddenly went up (something must have updated on my credit file). So are only marginally better than the cards, so I’ll go with the recommended approach of paying down the cards. I guess I’ll start with the high interest MBNA!

Thank goodness for that. I'm guessing that in a handful of years you'll genuinely look back and say the same thing, too. Possibly while explaining to someone on here why consolidation won't work for them in their circumstances!

zippygeorgeandben

Yes! Pay them off and become debt free, quicker!

bertiewhite

Please tell us which job is so secure!!!