Please help new and desperate

MissEyre

Total Debt
15,000 - northern rock 5.7% 9 years
2,000 - northern rock 5.7% 10 years
15,000 - natwest 6.8% 7 years
6,500 - Barclaycard not 0% Interest rate?
3,860 - mbna not 0% Interest rate?

Outgoings (Debt)

Northern rock = 150.00
Northern rock = 25.00
Natwest = 230.00
Barclaycard = 125.00
Mbna = 75.00
total = £605

Outgoings (Household)
Mortgage = 587.00
Elec = 55.00 This is high-are you on the cheapest tariff?
Gas = 35.00 This is high-are you on the cheapest tariff? Read Martin' articles about reducing utility bills
Phone = 35.00 Can this be reduced?
Water = 30.00 Are you on a meter?
Car tax = 30.00
Life insurance = 18.00
Home insurance = 23.00 This is high-can you get a better deal?
Council tax = 78.00 You can ask the council to bill you over 12 months rather than ten-this would free up a bit more money
Sky = 45.00 Get rid of this
TV licence = 10.00
Mobiles = 60.00 Extremely high-when are the contracts up? Threaten to leave/demand a better deal/ask to move to a reduced tariff if you can't get out of the contracts
Food-Can't remember the exact figure you gave, but join the Grocery Challenge and start cutting it down-you've had a link to the Old Style board in a previous post, they can certainly help reduce your spend.



Please get everything sorted in your head, get your budget done and then sit down with OH and take him through it line by line. Your OH needs to understand that this is serious and is going to take a lot of effort from both of you to get it fixed-no good you making savings all over the place if OH is going to book a surprise holiday in Barbados as a treat!
You can get it sorted out-once you have found the interest rates on your credit cards, the basic rule is to meet the minimum payment on the lower one(s) and then throw all your extra cash at the highest until it's clear. The you repeat the process. I would suggest cutting your cards up NOW, both yours and OHs, to stop either of you from spending any more.

jaapie

Thank you for your posts they have helped alot I feel I have to look at it in small chunks to be able to deal with this. I have shown my husband all these posts and he is really upset that I feel this awful and had not let him know how bad i was feeling and he is 100% behind me. I thought maybe if we started with this (please advise if this is going the right way.) My main problem is the credit cards and I feel this is what I need to deal with before they get more out of hand

Bills inc loans from the one account dd every month
put cc onto 0% and pay off 400.00 a month or put onto a loan?
Live on a weekly cash budget do not use cards
Do not shop in any major supermarkets

has anyone else come back from debts this large or is dithering dad right and I am going to lose my home and go bankrupt?

Keeping_Motivated

There are people on here who had a minus amount of their wage left each month and still managed to not go brankbrupt. So if you really take control of this now and don't do it half hearted as a 'quick fix' then I think it is totally salvageable in my opinion.

Your list is a very good start (I agree small manageable chunks) but I would not put the cards on a loan I would try the 0% or a life of balance rate first.

And top marks to your husband too :T

Keeping_Motivated

Go through your cupboards and freezer/frdige and write down everything you can use for a meal and you may find that you don't even need a big shop next time just maybe milk, fruit etc which will be your first saving.

jaapie

Thank you for everything I know it is only a small saving but I have just reduced sky and saved 20.00 on my phone bill which means I have saved 30.00 a month (360 a year) in a day. This could get addictive! I have also worked out a weekly cash budget for me and husbandand any over will go into the credit card pot.

I am determined to crack this or I wouldn't have posted but somethings been said have worried me more. Can you lose your house and be made bankrupt even if you have never missed a payment on anything? I thought that if you paid things off and never missed a payment then they could not take your house off u is this really stupid of me?

Keeping_Motivated

No your house cannot be taken off you if you have kept up to date with all your debts.

I think what that poster was saying that if you continued the way you were and if your husband continued not to think it was a problem then things were going to spiral out of control more than they are now and that bankruptcy would then have been a big possibility.

But you have had your 'lightbulb' moment before any payments have been missed and while you still have a surplus amount at the emd of the month so even though things look bleak at the mo you are still very lucky.

Well done on your savings so far and you got it in one it is 'very addictive'

Keeping_Motivated

Can I just say that for a while all the savings I made each month on different things then just got eaten up in my current account with the day to day spending which really wasn't that productive so anything I make/save that is 'extra' (i.e what I didn't have before so couldn't miss it) I now straight away pay off a debt or I would dwindle it away.

So maybe with the £30 you have saved already you could up your direct debit by that amount for the highest interest debt or like me i n the past it could just end up 'more' spending money and it won't have been used productively.

Up to you but just a thought from my experiences.

jaapie

thank you very much for that I don't think I could cope if I thought it was going down that route and changing everything would not make a difference.

Keeping_Motivated

Believe me even the tiniest things you do will make a difference.

Keep us updated with your progress.

Don't forget to check out your interest rates on the credit cards then you can decide which debts to over pay first and also if your credit rating allows apply for a 0% card or a life of balance. Click Martins tab on CREDIT/LOANS at the top of the page and check out the best balance transfer deals if you haven't already.

Buffythedebtslayer

Being in debt can be so frightening Jaapie, I have just read your post and relate so much to what you have written.

This place is incredible, I have belonged to many forums for various hobbies or interests but I have never had one be truly life changing. I 've been here since August, I can't believe how much I have learnt or how I used to be - not having a clue where my money went or what I did with it.

If you keep up your payments - which you have been doing then your house is safe. You have had your light bulb moment and MSE will help you figure out what to do.

I consolidated my CC 's and would say don't since once you have the loan it can cost you so much money, it will be much more satisifing to pay off the CC's?

P.S - I am starting on Monday (eek tomorrow!) to take out 50 pounds as my weekly spending money, I will try VERY hard not to spend all of it so it can go the loan that's my rule anything left in my account goes on the loan on the 30th of each month.



You are already making the changes and know what is going in and out of the bank account, excellent Hubbie too.

its really great to have you along for the journey - we will be free of debt!!

take care

Buffy
xx