Debt help required!!!

kimwp

I think it depends on the actual numbers. @soupyjnr, can you lay out for each card you have:
Balance, min payment, APR, (if applicable:) when 0% runs out, APR after 0% offer
Also what APR the Aqua would revert to after the 0% offer period.
We can then advise on the best route.

fatbelly

GeordieGeorge said:

Yes, the cheapest route is to pay the minimum on everything except the most expensive debt, and put everything that you can into that.

This is called snowballing and there is a calculator to help you with it

https://www.lemonfool.co.uk/financecalculators/snowball-calculator.php

enthusiasticsaver

soupyjnr said:

enthusiasticsaver said:

I would not recommend consolidating your debt especially at 36.9%!!! It will cost you a lot more than tackling the cards one at a time preferably with the highest rate card first. It makes no sense at all to move the 0% cards you have.   Moving the cards to a loan is not paying it off and you may well be tempted to start building up debt on the cards again so you have a loan and credit card debt. Consolidation almost always leads to higher debt eventually.  How much are the monthly repayments at the moment and do you know how the  debt occurred in the first place?

Thanks so much for your reply, I really appreciate it. Between the 4 cards the monthly repayments (I pay higher than the minimum payments) are approximately £280.. taking that into account I wouldn't be saving money per month. Basically I was a student and wracked up a lot of debt whilst at university. I earn a good salary now, £2000 per month, and have never missed a payment on any cards. Its just the interest atm that is killing me. Perhaps as you say, it may be best to pay the cards off one at time, starting with the one with the highest interest rate first. I assume if I were to do this I would just pay the minimum on the rest? I am not even going to adjust the payments to the 0% cards as I will have these paid off in full once the 0% period ends.

I would work out how much you can comfortably afford and pay minimums on everything (even the 0% cards) and throw everything you can at the card with the highest interest rate.  There is an argument for setting payments on the 0% cards to clear within the deal period but if you are paying very high interest on other balances I would tackle those first. 

Beaker99

Hi soupyjnr, 

All of these replies focus on changing how you're paying off the debt, but something else will also have to change.. how you look at money. It's just as important as the paying off bit.
Get used to living on less each month. Accept it's going to be a bit rubbish. It's  a bit like dieting. Lots of companies tell you that you can lose weight without eating less, and without feeling hungry. But face it now. And like a diet, once you get used to eating less (which feels horrible to start with) it feels like normal once you get going. 

So, this is what I did.. (and from be a far worse starting point that you're in)
1. Recalibrate what a lot of money is. £5? No, actually everything is very expensive from now on. Nothing is cheap.There are no bargains.
2. Potatoes are your friend. Jacket potatoes (in a microwave) - or if you're feeling ultra frivolous with 15minutes in the oven at the end to crisp it up - keep you going, and if you buy a big bag of cheap potatoes they'll last for ages. Then some cheap beans or cheese on top. And surprisingly lovely too.
3. Pay the bills (or transfer enough to cover all bills to a separate 'bill paying account first) then pay you credit cards with the overpayment. What you've got left you live on. Take it out as cash and put it on the shelf where you can see it. Count it. Divide it up per day left till you get paid. Look at it again. Spending this should feel like you're cutting you finger off one by one. Im being harsh, but this attitude to money will recalibrate how you feel about it. Admittedly,  with some things being cashless these days, that might be trickier than it used to be.
4. If you  don't need it, bin it (bills, I mean). But you do need something to do on rainy days so keep the tv and internet. Everything else, boot it. No, you dont need music subscriptions, charities, Netflix or the gym. Your job is to maximise your monthly/weekly/daily outgoing which will make that pile of cash on the shelf get bigger.

I don't mean to be patronising,  and I clearly don't know your circumstances, but so much on here  just looks at paying off debt, as if its something so simple. It's not. It's tough and more has to change than   just increasing a direct debit.  I'd tried to pay off debt for years, but it just gently grew. There was always some justifiable outgoing. In the end I had to be radical. It worked, and it's worth it in the end.

TheAble

Beaker99 said:

Hi soupyjnr, 

All of these replies focus on changing how you're paying off the debt, but something else will also have to change.. how you look at money. It's just as important as the paying off bit.
Get used to living on less each month. Accept it's going to be a bit rubbish. It's  a bit like dieting. Lots of companies tell you that you can lose weight without eating less, and without feeling hungry. But face it now. And like a diet, once you get used to eating less (which feels horrible to start with) it feels like normal once you get going. 

So, this is what I did.. (and from be a far worse starting point that you're in)
1. Recalibrate what a lot of money is. £5? No, actually everything is very expensive from now on. Nothing is cheap.There are no bargains.
2. Potatoes are your friend. Jacket potatoes (in a microwave) - or if you're feeling ultra frivolous with 15minutes in the oven at the end to crisp it up - keep you going, and if you buy a big bag of cheap potatoes they'll last for ages. Then some cheap beans or cheese on top. And surprisingly lovely too.
3. Pay the bills (or transfer enough to cover all bills to a separate 'bill paying account first) then pay you credit cards with the overpayment. What you've got left you live on. Take it out as cash and put it on the shelf where you can see it. Count it. Divide it up per day left till you get paid. Look at it again. Spending this should feel like you're cutting you finger off one by one. Im being harsh, but this attitude to money will recalibrate how you feel about it. Admittedly,  with some things being cashless these days, that might be trickier than it used to be.
4. If you  don't need it, bin it (bills, I mean). But you do need something to do on rainy days so keep the tv and internet. Everything else, boot it. No, you dont need music subscriptions, charities, Netflix or the gym. Your job is to maximise your monthly/weekly/daily outgoing which will make that pile of cash on the shelf get bigger.

I don't mean to be patronising,  and I clearly don't know your circumstances, but so much on here  just looks at paying off debt, as if its something so simple. It's not. It's tough and more has to change than   just increasing a direct debit.  I'd tried to pay off debt for years, but it just gently grew. There was always some justifiable outgoing. In the end I had to be radical. It worked, and it's worth it in the end.

Nicely put. This kind of radical approach does have the dual effect of getting the problem sorted quickly, while teaching good habits which stick with you for life (and leading to a life of surplus). Not only do you spend less, but you need less.

findingthisdifficult

Beaker99 said:

Hi soupyjnr, 

All of these replies focus on changing how you're paying off the debt, but something else will also have to change.. how you look at money. It's just as important as the paying off bit.
Get used to living on less each month. Accept it's going to be a bit rubbish. It's  a bit like dieting. Lots of companies tell you that you can lose weight without eating less, and without feeling hungry. But face it now. And like a diet, once you get used to eating less (which feels horrible to start with) it feels like normal once you get going. 

So, this is what I did.. (and from be a far worse starting point that you're in)
1. Recalibrate what a lot of money is. £5? No, actually everything is very expensive from now on. Nothing is cheap.There are no bargains.
2. Potatoes are your friend. Jacket potatoes (in a microwave) - or if you're feeling ultra frivolous with 15minutes in the oven at the end to crisp it up - keep you going, and if you buy a big bag of cheap potatoes they'll last for ages. Then some cheap beans or cheese on top. And surprisingly lovely too.
3. Pay the bills (or transfer enough to cover all bills to a separate 'bill paying account first) then pay you credit cards with the overpayment. What you've got left you live on. Take it out as cash and put it on the shelf where you can see it. Count it. Divide it up per day left till you get paid. Look at it again. Spending this should feel like you're cutting you finger off one by one. Im being harsh, but this attitude to money will recalibrate how you feel about it. Admittedly,  with some things being cashless these days, that might be trickier than it used to be.
4. If you  don't need it, bin it (bills, I mean). But you do need something to do on rainy days so keep the tv and internet. Everything else, boot it. No, you dont need music subscriptions, charities, Netflix or the gym. Your job is to maximise your monthly/weekly/daily outgoing which will make that pile of cash on the shelf get bigger.

I don't mean to be patronising,  and I clearly don't know your circumstances, but so much on here  just looks at paying off debt, as if its something so simple. It's not. It's tough and more has to change than   just increasing a direct debit.  I'd tried to pay off debt for years, but it just gently grew. There was always some justifiable outgoing. In the end I had to be radical. It worked, and it's worth it in the end.

Can I just say 100% this, during my journey out of debt one of the best things I did was open a separate account which was for spending, effectively meaning on pay day I made some manual payments to my debts, allocated my spending money and then left my bills account alone with enough to cover the bills.  I am also in the habit of checking my bank accounts at least once a day just to make sure everything is as I expect it to be.