Newbie

Lemon_Tree

you may need to check when you pay extra. I know with my cahoot CC if i paid the extra before the direct debit went out they would reduce what they took so i still only paid minimum. So ask them if it will reduce what they take or will that be taken in full as well.

buxtonrabbitgreen

I really sympathise. I get paid 4 weekly as well, which is why I have prepayment meters for gas and electric and a paying in book for the mortgage. I still get DD's coming out of the bank at really bad times (a week before payday)
Re the credidt card, I had this argument with Virgin who only wanted to let me pay the minimum by DD. Thier argument was, that if I suddenly spent a lot my fixed (by me) DD wouldn't cover the minimum. I managed to persuade them to take a higher amount by DD and said that when my bill comes that I would pay an extra amount if neccessary. So it might be worth persuing this one. They don't like it as they prefer to get as much interest out of you as possible.

SarahNeedle1872

Hi Villain, welcome to the boards.....

Looking forward to seeing ur SOA so we can see where t o help...

Ref the 4 weekly pay, I'm also paid 4 weekly, and it can be a bit of a bummmer, but I just do similar to what Conor said - the 'bills' money sits in one acc, and isn't touched, so it doesn't matter when the DD comes out. Everything else goes into another acc to be used as it needs to....

I must admit I don't actually mind 4 weekly pay - it can be a bit annoying sometimes when u run short of money with two weeks still to go.... but I'm looking forward to Jan/Feb when I can bank the 'extra' Council Tax/Loan/Rent money

Sarah x

squirrel_pigeon

Hi. Welcome to MSE. My ex used to get paid 4 weekly and spent most of his time cancelling DDs.

He eventually set as many payments as he could up on Standing Order. Most companies will let you do this but you have to ask, and in some cases explain to them very slowly in words of one syllable.

Another solution is to have 2 bank accounts - 1 that your wages go into and that you use day to day. Another for your DD payments - work out how much money you need to have in there per calendar month and transfer stuff every 4 weeks. It also helps with budgeting cos you know your priority stuff is getting paid and you know that whatever is in your day to day account is what you have to spread out.

squirrel_pigeon

Have just seen Conor's post. I think High School Musical has destroyed some brain cells. oops

squirrel_pigeon

Bump - more advice needed?

GettingThingsDone

Hi and welcome to DFW!

The key thing is is to take charge. Of course you can pay more than the minimum balance.

Check out the snowball calculator at http://www.whatsthecost.com/snowball.aspx and plug your credit card numbers into there. You'll soon see why they don't want you to pay more than the minimum every month. Just by overpaying by a small amount can make a big difference to the amount of time it will take to pay off the debt.

Re: problem 1. why are you using direct debits? Do you get discounts for doing so? If not, why bother - just pay the bill when it suits you. Set up reminders in your diary to remind you when regular bills are going to appear.

Where you benefit from paying by direct debit, identify the exact amount that will come out monthly and just make sure you have that to one side ready to pay. Using a separate bank account can help focus this - i.e. every 1st of the month you must ensure that you have £x in your DD account to cover all of your outgoings for that month.

Good luck and keep posting!

gtd