Please help me get debt free

RAS

I'd suggest that you concentrate on clearing down Halifax 2. In the short -term, 50/50 with setting up and emergency fund, until you've got enough for an emergency trip home, a tradesman etc. 

Then go 90% Halifax 2 and 10% emergency fund until you have  £1k. 

Meantime, sort out the latte habit and lunches.

Consider cancelling one of the empty cards, may make you more appealing for a balance transfer on the Halifax 2 card? And also check whether you could switch banks and get another £200 there? 

Any stuff you can sell, or even share a car boot later in the spring?

Do check on Martin's email for possible 0% deals and do soft searches if anything looks good.

Martico

I'd keep hold of the zero balance Barclaycard - they regularly offer me new 0% balance transfer deals, which could be a lifesaver for you. And I agree, attack the Halifax 2 as hard as you can. Maybe overpayments on MBNA2 as well to get rid of that lower balance for an easy win (unless that 0% deal has more than six months or so to run?)

Can I ask about the £36 mobile cost per month? If that's for just one phone then see if you can switch to SIM only for around £10 a month. 

And every time you're tempted by a latte, make a £2 overpayment instead on one of your cards, it'll add up

debtfreedreamer23

Thank you for all the advice. 

I’m so upset with myself for getting in this situation but I’m also so set on sorting the mess out! 

RAS

Good advice, if you can switch any of Halifax 2 into a Barclays 0% it'll make your payments a lot more effective.

Another random thought, do you have a spending stash to cover your holiday? If it's not all inclusive, are there any tricks you can play to keep costs down? 

debtfreedreamer23

I’ll check on the phone but I think I’m in a contract for another 12 months. 

It’s a B&B, so just an evening meal really, we have a gifted weekend away at the end of the year so any money left over will be moved over to spends for that, but hopefully from July I’ll be able to put more towards paying bits off. 

I’m going to look at our joint outgoings such as Sky over the weekend and see what can be saved there. 

RAS

Good news, even if you don't find savings now, it's worth repeating at intervals.

EssexHebridean

Hi OP - well done for the lightbulb moment, it sounds like you are really determined to get things sorted, so hopefully we can give you plenty of help and support!

My question would be whether you know exactly the cause of the debt and have taken steps to make sure the cause is dealt with and can’t reoccur? We see people here for all sorts of reasons, but a quite high debt which relates to an individual, where there is a household in the background is always trickier to deal with - not least because family pressures can also come in to play. If you are fully aware of the cause, and have taken whatever steps needed to tackle it then brilliant, you’re all set. If not though that aspect will also need work. 

I’d also suggest that if you are wanting to tackle this without going for a DMP or similar then you need to keep a close eye on balance transfer deals that are available to you because you are going to need them going forwards. If you haven’t already then join the (free) MSE Credit Club which will let you see your Experian credit report for free, and also has a rather excellent guide of your likelihood of being accepted for various 0% balance transfer deals - very useful, as it only puts a soft search (which lenders don’t see) on your file.

thebikemechanic

Sorry if you've already said, @debtfreedreamer23 - but whats your living situation? Are your joint bills with a housemate/friend/partner/spouse? Even though you say the debt is your own, your contributions towards shared bills is still a relevant area to assess if you're trying to deal with this as effectively as possible, but of course the situation is very different when living with a housemate vs. a spouse. 

My only other thought is as EssexHebridean says above - have you made plans to deal with the causes for getting into this situation? In my own situation of clearing debt, it was only when I tackled the root causes of my poor decisions, that I understood how to prevent it from happening again. At this stage, I was able to go full gas at clearing the debt - living as frugally as possible and selling EVERYTHING i didnt need to raise money to throw at the debt. It felt extreme, but it meant when I got to the clean slate, I was able to start fresh. Selling things to raise money is a one time thing though, so if you get into a situation with credit cards again, that option is gone. 

Well done for acknowledging your situation and asking for help! You'll get this sorted! 

As said, a full SOA would be mega helpful...

enthusiasticsaver

debtfreedreamer23 said:

Firstly, I know I’ve made a mess for myself but I need to make this right so please no negative comments. 

I recently reached rock bottom, I’m not a bad person but for reasons I’m not proud of I’ve got myself in a terrible debt situation and need help to get out of this and get my life back on track.

My credit card debt is listed below;
Halifax 1 £12,029
Halifax 2 £3244
MBNA 1 £12,094
MBNA 2 £400
Tesco £4662

I currently pay £400 on payments across these cards and that’s realistically the most I can afford. 

I currently have a mortgage, have no missed payments and my credit score is good. 

What can I do to fix this is the quickest time possible? 

Do I just continue to make my current payments? I read about making offers to the credit card companies but I don’t know much about that. 

Any advice would be massively helpful. 

I’ve had a massive wake up call and know that I need to sort this mess out.

debtfreedreamer23 said:

That form is a little difficult for me as I have my own account and pay into a joint for all the house bills but embarrassing this debt is my own so I have to pay it myself. 

I also put money away each month for Christmas and birthdays which varies as the year goes on but I’ll put March outgoings below;

Income £1775
Money for household bills and weekly shops £880
Mobile £36
Petrol £50
Dentist £13
Savings for birthdays £45
Holiday £200
Payments on cards £400

Leaves me with £151 a month

Well the good news is that you are covering the minimum payments and you have a surplus.  You are also saving for things like christmas, birthdays and dentist.  The debt is substantial though at over £32k so £400 monthly will take a long time to clear and depends very much on whether you are able to continue to keep it at 0%.  I think with some financial discipline you can certainly sort this out.  The holiday is a shame as you cannot afford it but assuming it is too late to cancel I would agree that you should continue paying everything you can to the cards and keeping to your budget. Look for ways to cut back on bills and shops but the crunch will come when you cannot get balance transfers. You may then need to look at a DMP or IVA. You will not get settlements at this stage.  You would have to default and the debts would likely be sold on and after a period of time some of them may offer settlements.  It would trash your credit record though and not be a quick fix. 

Sncjw

Can you post your full.soa. we can take a look at it see where issues lie. 

T