Where do I start?!

ManyWays

In a year, I've gone from having a 999 Experian Credit Score with £3000 debt, to a 324 score and £27k in debt. 
What has gone wrong this year for the debt to go up so much? Is there nothing wrong on your credit record apart from high card utilisation? 

FightingOnInto20256

In a short answer, I was stupid, and kept on giving money to a friend who never paid me back.  I was unfortunately releasing my wage early to help him, and then didn't have enough on pay day for me to pay my own bills.  Over time, I had to borrow money to help me through the month, and we are, £24k later (£11k of this is my car finance).  And no, I was never paid any of my money back, and no, that person is no longer a friend

FightingOnInto20256

Credit file is fine from high credit utilisation (87%).  I've not missed or been late with any payments.

tigergambit

Is your home single bedroom? If not could you rent a room?

Smudgeismydog

The car finance is £225, but you only pay £30 per month on fuel. Is that right? Do you not use the car much?

FightingOnInto20256

That's right, I work from home, and only go into the office (8 miles away) once of week or fortnight, depending on need.  I'm not really a social body, so home is my sanctuary!

ManyWays

There will be a point in your car finance agreement when you can voluntarily terminate it and not owe any more and it wont harm your credit score. That could save you a lot of money if you could manage without the car (bike? scooter? buses? minicabs?), not just the finance but the insurance and servicing

Myci85

Does sound like the car is a bit of an unnecessary expense. £225 per month for something you use 2-4 times a month isn't worth it. Definitely worth checking if you can get out of the agreement. 

moneywastingexpert99

I don't know where to start either. I'm on a variable income as work freelance. I've made a list of all CC debts £14.5K and want to target them this year. I've stopped spending on them and now trying to figure out best way to attack them. Do people start with highest balance first or target the smaller ones to get them out of the way. They're all pretty high interest rate at present and no chance of a 0% one as credit rate terrible due to credit utilisation, missed payments and variable income. 

ryandotdee

@moneywastingexpert99

Generally you will want to go after the card with the highest interest rate first, as it will be the most beneficial in terms of reducing your overall debt, but, if you have smallish balances on some cards then it may make sense to attack them first so that you can roll their payments into a higher monthly pay down on the bigger cards.  So it kinda depends on your circumstances.

I have a free tool where you can put your credit card details in ( balances, interest rates etc ) and it will plot them out and allow you to see the most efficient way of paying them off.  Happy to send a link if you are interested as I am not sure what the rules are on posting it here.