Advice Please

TrixMix666

Hello everyone

Longtime lurker first time posting .

I’m hoping for some advice on clearing my current debts over the next year in preparation of applying for a mortgage.

At present I have two credit cards;

1), Capital One - £1300 / £1500 - 30%
2), Aqua - £1800 / £3400 - 30%

So I have a total of £3100 of debt to pay off but I’m struggling with budgeting to enable myself to get the debt down fast enough against the terrible interest rates. I could look to sell some personal belongings and use that towards bringing the total balances down but I’d prefer not to if possible.

What would be the best means to approach my situation?

enthusiasticsaver

Ideally you should move the credit cards to a 0% card as 30% is a high interest rate and it will be making it harder to repay it.

If you are struggling with budgeting start a spending diary so you can see where your problem areas are - buying too many lunches or coffees out, too many take aways, too much online shopping, lots of top up food shops. Those are common over spending mistakes. If you have children or pets those again are costly.

Saving is as important as cutting back. Emergency savings, savings for holidays if you take them, Christmas and annual bills and car expenses if you have one. £3100 is not a huge amount to get to grips with repaying but the main thing is to stop spending on them especially if they charge you 30% for the privilege. If you can get them moved to 0% then you could repay them in a year by just paying over £250 per month.

TrixMix666

enthusiasticsaver wrote: »

Ideally you should move the credit cards to a 0% card as 30% is a high interest rate and it will be making it harder to repay it.

If you are struggling with budgeting start a spending diary so you can see where your problem areas are - buying too many lunches or coffees out, too many take aways, too much online shopping, lots of top up food shops. Those are common over spending mistakes. If you have children or pets those again are costly.

Saving is as important as cutting back. Emergency savings, savings for holidays if you take them, Christmas and annual bills and car expenses if you have one. £3100 is not a huge amount to get to grips with repaying but the main thing is to stop spending on them especially if they charge you 30% for the privilege. If you can get them moved to 0% then you could repay them in a year by just paying over £250 per month.

Unfortunately I’m not eligible for a 0% card (3 defaults on my credit file from 2014 meaning I can’t get anything decent), part of the reason I’m trying to address this now as I don’t want to spiral and end up back where is was in 2014.

Fortunately no pets or children, it’s just me. I would say I definitely overindulge on “trivial” things and socialising. I’m also single so dating can cost a fair amount over the course of a month. I don’t buy any takeaways, lunches out or coffees and I do one online shop a month with “top-ups” on the essentials like bread and milk once a week.

I try to save but never seem to gain much ground with it (currently £500 in my savings account), we seem to be a generation of non-savers who live to (and beyond) their means. I do have a car which does cost a fair amount across the month but I’m eligible for mileage through work so that covers all my monthly fuel usage plus a little more that pays for the vehicle tax (I have to claim this back). I no longer have either of the cards (destroyed a few months back) so the balance on them can’t increase and I have no intention of requesting replacement cards.

enthusiasticsaver

TrixMix666 wrote: »

Fortunately no pets or children, it’s just me. I would say I definitely overindulge on “trivial” things and socialising. I’m also single so dating can cost a fair amount over the course of a month. I don’t buy any takeaways, lunches out or coffees and I do one online shop a month with “top-ups” on the essentials like bread and milk once a week.

I try to save but never seem to gain much ground with it (currently £500 in my savings account), we seem to be a generation of non-savers who live to (and beyond) their means. I do have a car which does cost a fair amount across the month but I’m eligible for mileage through work so that covers all my monthly fuel usage plus a little more that pays for the vehicle tax (I have to claim this back). I no longer have either of the cards (destroyed a few months back) so the balance on them can’t increase and I have no intention of requesting replacement cards.

So you know where you are overspending on trivial things and socialising and if you are single I can see that going out on dates etc can be expensive. Can you suggest cheaper things or restrict the date nights to maybe two a week?

Doing an soa may help.