Getting going on my debt free journey

TurboDuke

Hi all, newbie to the forum but sadly not a newbie to debt. Hope everyone is well.

I’ll try and keep the background as short as possible. I’m in my 30’s, no kids. Around 6 years ago I had a bad accident that left me facially disfigured, I spent the following 5 years in a deep depression, part of which involved reckless spending in the form of credit cards & bank loans as to be honest I didn’t expect to be alive long enough to deal with the consequences. I know, stupid and I’m not proud of it.

Well thankfully I’m still here and doing better now, however that does leave me with the debt to get rid of, which are as follows - 

Credit cards - 
Barclaycard - £11k - £350 per month
Tesco - £10k - £320 per month
NatWest - £4500 - £170 per month
Monzo - £1500 - £130 per month

Loans - 
NatWest - £8400 - £210 per month 
Natwest - £3300 - £190 per month

Other - 
Overdraft - £2500 (actually just cleared this after selling a lot of things on eBay) 
PayPal - £2300 - £110 per month

Hire Purchase - 
Santander car - £270 per month 
Santander bike - £180 per month 

I’ve been keeping up the payments and never missed one, however it’s gotten to the point where even minimum payments are leaving me short each month. Is it worth reaching out to the credit card companies and ask for a reduction in interest for X amount of time? 

My basic salary is £2700 per month however depending on the amount of overtime I do this can and does regularly go up to £3500 per month. I live with my partner, we each pay half toward mortgage & utilities which is £1000 per month each. 

Really just here to pick up any advice, tips and get some motivation and inspiration along the way. Thanks in advance 

Brie

Sounds like you really did go through a dreadful time.  Glad you're out the other side and trying to get things straight!!  

The problem with all the debts will likely be that there is interest being charged at a very high rate (particularly for the credit cards) and that prevents you making much head way.  And there are ways to deal with it all.  Whether one of the methods is right for you will take a bit more information to help you decide.

OK - so in my signature there's a link to the statement of accounts (SOA).  If you can fill that out as honestly and completely as possible and post it back here that would be a big help to anyone wanting to advise you.  Part of that will be to get exact figures for your debts and how much the interest is on each.  That will help us see what the extent of the problem is in more detail.  

The SOA includes income and normal expenditures.  I expect you'll need to check what the bills actually are and then you can mark them as you paying half.  It will stop anyone questioning how you've got such low bills for gas etc.  

TurboDuke

Brie said:

Sounds like you really did go through a dreadful time.  Glad you're out the other side and trying to get things straight!!  

The problem with all the debts will likely be that there is interest being charged at a very high rate (particularly for the credit cards) and that prevents you making much head way.  And there are ways to deal with it all.  Whether one of the methods is right for you will take a bit more information to help you decide.

OK - so in my signature there's a link to the statement of accounts (SOA).  If you can fill that out as honestly and completely as possible and post it back here that would be a big help to anyone wanting to advise you.  Part of that will be to get exact figures for your debts and how much the interest is on each.  That will help us see what the extent of the problem is in more detail.  

The SOA includes income and normal expenditures.  I expect you'll need to check what the bills actually are and then you can mark them as you paying half.  It will stop anyone questioning how you've got such low bills for gas etc.  

Perfect, thanks so much. I will get cracking with that this evening then post it up.

Brie

So here's your first question that I need to ask - why do you have hire purchase for both a car and a bike?  Or are we talking about 2 vehicles for 2 of you?  And the bike is actually an expensive ebike or a motorcycle? 

And my first suggestion is to stop paying everything except the priority bills that you split with your partner.  Give it a couple of months for the CCs and loans to respond and maybe look to default on some/all of these.  Meanwhile you build up an emergency fund so you can see what you might be able to pay off and consider whether any of the lending was responsible given your mental health at the time. 

No doubt the rest of the gang will be stomping along to make more suggestions for you!! 

Brie

Oh and I always recommend people read this as it will help you to understand what debt solutions there are available.  Debt solutions - what is your best option?

TurboDuke

Brie said:

So here's your first question that I need to ask - why do you have hire purchase for both a car and a bike?  Or are we talking about 2 vehicles for 2 of you?  And the bike is actually an expensive ebike or a motorcycle? 

And my first suggestion is to stop paying everything except the priority bills that you split with your partner.  Give it a couple of months for the CCs and loans to respond and maybe look to default on some/all of these.  Meanwhile you build up an emergency fund so you can see what you might be able to pay off and consider whether any of the lending was responsible given your mental health at the time. 

No doubt the rest of the gang will be stomping along to make more suggestions for you!! 

The hire purchase for a car is my every day mode of transport. The other hire purchase is a motorbike which was just a silly extravagance. I am looking to get both of these shifted, the motorbike should be straight forward however the car not so much as I’m currently in around £3500 negative equity with it.

I have been reading about the defaults and such and it does make me incredibly nervous as I’ve always had it drilled into me no matter what to never miss a payment. But thank you I will delve into this some more 

PennysIntoPounds

Hi @TurboDuke, welcome

Sorry to hear of all you've been through, and glad you're feeling more settled now and wanting to get things in order. 

I don't have anything to add at the moment to the great advice given by @Brie but will follow along on your debt free journey,  and would really encourage you to do the SOA via the link in Brie's signature as that's the best way for us to make suggestions as to where your money and payments can be most effective

Wishing you all the best 🍻

TurboDuke

PennysIntoPounds said:

Hi @TurboDuke, welcome

Sorry to hear of all you've been through, and glad you're feeling more settled now and wanting to get things in order. 

I don't have anything to add at the moment to the great advice given by @Brie but will follow along on your debt free journey,  and would really encourage you to do the SOA via the link in Brie's signature as that's the best way for us to make suggestions as to where your money and payments can be most effective

Wishing you all the best 🍻

Thanks my friend, much appreciated. SOA is being done as I type 

RAS

OK. Your debt situation isn't massive, given those we regularly see on MSE. But it isn't fun either.

Take a bit of time over your SOA. You need to look at three months, preferably 6 months. And to look at thing like how much did you spend on Christmas last year. It and many other festivals are predictable but most are funded by debt.

You need to start planning for irregular annual events and making monthly provision. Birthdays aren't a surprise either. If you want a holiday, work out what you can afford, or start saving at least 1/12 each month. There are some holidays where saving 1/20th may be unreasonable .