In a mess! Advice needed

Martico

Some of those interest rates are eye-watering. But also some of the balances within reach. If it was me, I'd commit at first to a few months of hair-shirt budgeting and hammer at those high-rate debts as much as you can.
I know little about cars (my second hand 2010 Fiesta cost £3-4k six years ago and has been reliable and cheap) and financing of them, but if you can, I'd seriously consider trading in that 17k one for something efficient and much, much cheaper. I'm sure you can find reliability for under half that amount.

Brie

Hi - I'm having a look at the debts and here's my initial thought.....

Is there any way you can reduce payments to Tappily given that it's the only debt/card/loan that isn't accruing interest?  The current payments of £100 would go a long way to reducing the amounts elsewhere where the interest rates are very high.

MrsCanary

Hi Martico,

I'm not sure I can because it is on HP. I would need to look at the terms and conditions as to whether I could cancel the agreement.

MrsCanary

Hi Ras,

I am so sorry for sounding stupid but is 'pay down' where you agree a payment plan with them to pay off?

Brie

And that Jacamo debt....(someone please check my calculations) but if you are paying only £10 a month that is only paying the interest and nothing more so you will never clear it.   

But it's the smallest debt there and the highest interest so it's to your advantage to find a way to pay it off asap.  Even increasing to £15 a month if possible would clear it in 18 months.  And then that's £15 you could put towards another of the debts.

So on that basis I would start off by asking all those debts where the interest is highest 69.9% for a freeze on your interest.  This will look bad on your credit score but this might be the only way to clear things.  Once you've asked for a freeze on these ones then move down to the next highest and so on.  

Should anyone allow you a payment holiday (you could ask at the same time) chuck every penny at those high interest rates.

Brie

MrsCanary said:

Hi Martico,

I'm not sure I can because it is on HP. I would need to look at the terms and conditions as to whether I could cancel the agreement.

You may find that you've not yet reached the tipping point of this actually being profitable.  It's possible that even if you surrended the car you would still owe them money.  As I understand it it takes until you are about half way through the span of the agreement for you to be able to walk away without owing anything.  I may be wrong in your case so do check.  And walking away is only doable if you don't need the car, or possibly any car.  (can you share your OH's?  there was something about 3 cars in the family so another you could use??)

MrsCanary

Hi Brie,

I agree, I think I ought to offer Tappily a token payment and then use that to pay more off the smaller debts like Jacamo and New Look etc. 

MrsCanary

Brie said:

MrsCanary said:

Hi Martico,

I'm not sure I can because it is on HP. I would need to look at the terms and conditions as to whether I could cancel the agreement.

You may find that you've not yet reached the tipping point of this actually being profitable.  It's possible that even if you surrended the car you would still owe them money.  As I understand it it takes until you are about half way through the span of the agreement for you to be able to walk away without owing anything.  I may be wrong in your case so do check.  And walking away is only doable if you don't need the car, or possibly any car.  (can you share your OH's?  there was something about 3 cars in the family so another you could use??)

You are completely right. At the moment I would be worse off walking away. Even if not, and with three cars, car sharing is just not possible. We all work miles from each other. Basically we all travel between 10 and 15 miles in different directions from home for our work. 

SaverRate

Just a few things looking at your SOA (Sorry if late to the party)

Contents insurance is £17.17 per month = £206 roughly which seems very high?

All mobile bills look very high. If you are out of contract please use https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cheap-mobile-finder/ or the Uswitch equivalent. 

Do you really need the Jewellery insurance (are you covered by home insurance too?) and the tumble drier and oven warranty?

RAC breakdown cover - You can go with other companies such as Start Rescue (there is a discount code on the main MSE site) who are Which? recommended and are alot cheaper. Check against AA too if you want one of the big names. 

SaverRate

Also, you need to factor in the price increases to your phone contracts. Many of them are around the 15% mark but you can check the individual websites. 
If you get a price increase letter from Virgin Media you can cancel for free or negotiate!