Help with debt

CliveOfIndia

MeganChar1 said:

The Tesco one isn’t no payments at all, it was a balance transfer to a 0% card which was very recent and they haven’t generated a statement yet for me to show what the minimum payment will be.

Check the T&Cs of your contract, but typically it will be about 3% or so of the balance - but it will depend on the specific offer you've been given.  But you must also put something away each month so that you're in a position to repay the full balance by the time the 0% deal expires - you may be able to transfer any remaining balance to another card, but you can't bank on being able to do so.

MeganChar1 said:

I put 0 for car maintenance because my MOT has recently been done and it’s not a monthly cost.

Having an MOT doesn't mean you won't have routine (or even non-routine) repairs/maintenance to do.  The MOT test itself is a known cost that you'll incur one a year, so budget a fiver a month for that.  But you're going to need to pay for servicing, tyres, brakes, all the usual "consumable" items, plus a contingency for unexpected repairs (unless this is all covered by some sort of finance deal you've got the car on?).  If the car is not covered by some other form of "insurance" - for want of a better word - then what happens when you need to replace a pair of tyres at £70 each, or whatever it may be?  Or if the next MOT says you need some suspension components replacing at a cost of £200?  Sorry, not meaning to be a doom-monger, but you need to be realistic and budget - as far as is reasonably practical - for likely costs.

MeganChar1 said:

I haven’t included things on there that aren’t regular monthly payments such as clothing, gifts etc as these are not very frequent, would there be a way to add them which most accurately reflects my average spending?

It's these kind of things that can throw an SOA out of kilter - and it's not always easy to work out.  Clothing is reasonably straightforward - if you're a single person then you kind of know what you need to spend each year.  Divide by 12 and put a bit away for it each month.  Gifts - well, again, work out how much you spend each year (or what you can realistically afford to/want to spend) and divide by 12.  £10 (or zero) per Niece/Nephew, £20 per parent, £x per sibling, whatever it may be.  Birthdays and Christmas tend to occur at the same time every year, so just budget in advance, put an amount aside each month, then you'll have the money available when the day looms 

backinbusiness

I put 0 for car maintenance because my MOT has recently been done and it’s not a monthly cost. 

^^This.  But the money for it has to come from somewhere.  Work out how much it's cost over the past year, divide by 12 and put this in the car maint category.  The idea being that once car expenses (for example) fall due, you have the relevant money in the relevant pot and it's coming from a budget, rather than being paid by card.  Hope this helps.  BiB x 

TheAble

MeganChar1 said:

The Tesco one isn’t no payments at all, it was a balance transfer to a 0% card which was very recent and they haven’t generated a statement yet for me to show what the minimum payment will be.

Think Tesco's 1% minimum.

Be aware though that 0% balance transfers are a slippery slope if you don't get a handle on your spending. Often what happens is that people take out more and more of them until the overall debt gets so high that it can never be repaid and the penny only drops when they can no longer get any more transfers. You're not there yet so do try and turn the tide around.