Am I in debt crisis yet?

gabriella90

Hi all

After a few ignorant months, i'm back i have managed not to reduce my debt and have instead racked up another £2000. Not only am i dissapointed in myself but i really have got to sort this out.

I have 4 debts
Loan with Egg £10891 7.9% with facility to over pay finishes Jan 2012
CC1 Barclaycard £4031.51 0% runs out May
CC2 MBNA £1757.35 0% has just finished so only paying interest
Overdraft £1000

Any help on sorting myself would be greatly appreciated. I know i can reduce my spending its comes from using my switch card and not thinking.

When i last came on here i was thinking of consilidating which i didn't do, and have also just found out that i can't get anymore credit which has made things really hit home. I'm beginning to struggle each month and just don't know what to do.

I spoke to Directdebtline (charityone) and they have sent information and have maybe recommend that i write to my creditors and ask to have my interest freezed and make a lower payment, or go through the CCCS and set up a debt managment plan. I am very wary of doing this as i know that it can effect your credit rating. I have not defaulted on any of the above and have always paid on time.

The main reason of also not doing this is also that my better half doesn't know of my situation and we are due to remortage in a couple of years. I know its a couple of years but maybe just maybe if i am super strict i could get myself out of this on my own, and woth your help:rolleyes:

I have done some reading and there is an article on snowballing my credit card that has the lower amount higher interest, then move on to the next one. Using any extra money left to pay off even more. My only worry is that my Barclaycard will not be 0% in May.

I have looked at everything and all my bills are at the lowest i/my partner can get them. my biggest thing is to stop my spending on non neccessities.

Any advice greatly received and wil be taken most sriously this time.

Thank you x

Sea78

Hi welcome back

Why don't you have another go at your SOA and we could hve a look and see if we can't help with any advice that might mean you don't have to do a DMP etc.

Sea xxx

gabriella90

ok SOA affairs

DEBT £10891loan CC1 £4031 CC2 £1757 OD £1000

INCOME £1750 EXTRA INCOME £100 PER MONTH VARIABLE

OUTGOINGS

Mortgage £492
Bills £170 this includes
Water, Electric, Internet, Council tax,BT land line, TV licence, Life insurance, Cat insurance, buildings & house insurance. All these are at there lowest as the better half deals with this.
Food £100
Loan £261
CC1 £90 min re-payment but have been overpaying @£140 a month
CC2 £25 min repayment
Gym £44.50
Mobile phone £60
National Deposit £25
Private health care through work £12.50
Petrol £50

Totaling £1379.50

With these figures i should be able to manage but feel like i'm making no headway because of being in my overdraft.

Would it be worth switching my bank account to start afresh and then tackle the OD that way.

i have to do this!!!

Thanks again peoples

stressed.mum

Hi Gabriella

I'm not an expert on SOa's but I think the first things that will be picked up are

£60 is this 1 phone? If so can you get PAYE or lower your tariff?

£44.50 Gym membership? do you really need it?

If you cancelled both these that would give you another £100/month to throw at your debts

Do you keep a spending diary? I find if I don't remember to write down every penny I spend, it seems to disappear, if I write it down I have to justify the spend to myself!

HTH

stressed

oopalah

Hi, I agree with "stressed mum". I would ditch the gym and change the mobile phone. Also, what is National Deposit?

gabriella90

Hi thank you for replys

The spending diary seems like a really good option for me, i know when i have actual money in my purse i don't like spending it. So i am going to leave my cash card out of purse as we

I will get my tarriff lowered with tmobile have jusy spoken to them so will save about £30 hopefully. We don't have the house phone plugged in sowe don't have that added bill. i did try PAYG but the cost was still quite high.

I'm tied into my gym membership until the summer, but i do use it 4 times aweek and if i'm there i don't shop and don't get agitated by sitting around at home.

The National Deposit is a savings scheme that i'm locked into for another 4 years if i cashed it i would loose money. i know you are not meant to have savings but its nice to knwo in 4 years that i would get a little payout. Maybe i should look at it though.

Do you guys think my situation is copeable if i really get my head down. My biggest worry is when my biggest credit card isn't 0% and i'm not able to move it to another in May.Will i actually be eating into the debt?

Also what should i do about shifting bank accounts, do i do it to really attack the OD, so it becomes a separate entity as opposed to my salary keep payingit off every month?

HELPPPppppppp do i need to look at agreements with creditors yet i can i et this under control.:eek: xx

ltm07

Hi gabriella. It is worth looking into whether the savings with National Deposit is worth carrying on with. I had a 15 year savings account with AXA & after taking advice from a kind person on here cashed it in early. The payout i received was about the same amount that i had paid in & i paid £1500 off my debts. It's worth searching he forum to see whether you wouldn't lose too much money if you cashed it in as this could bring your DFD closer & the money that you're throwing at your debts now could soon build up in a savings account once you are debt free. Good luck.

gabriella90

Thanks, i think i def look into it.

Can anyone else help with my other questions about shifting bank accounts etc?

x

TurnaroundSue

Is your savings scheme through work where at the end of it you get the option to buy shares? If so, I would look closely before cashing it in, as the share price is normally set at the beginning of the option (well my work they used to do it that way - not sure if that is the case with everywhere though) and hopefully in 4 years time the share price would have increased sufficiently for you to make alot more money than just what you actually paid in.

Good luck - at least you are looking at your finances now and hopefully you can get it under control before re-mortgaging in 2 years time. Is there any possibility of you getting a 0% credit card and put as much debt on it as possible for as long as possible before your 0% runs out in May?

Adrasteia01

I think it may still be worthwhile looking at how much you pay for gas/electric/internet/insurance etc, as handled by your o/h. Just because he's handling it doesn't necessarily mean he has the best price on everything. Also, is cat insurance necessary?
Tamara

mhe

you earn £1750 and spend £1380 a month inc CC bills. This leaves £370 a month that you are frittering away - SPENDING DIARY NEEDED!!!

This money should be snowballed onto your other debts. OD gone in 3 months time for instance. Or work on paying off 1 CC and at the same time reduce your OD facility by £100 pm . If you ring up the bank and ask them to reduce your OD on the day you get paid then the option to spend that money has gone. Most banks will let you knock £50- off at a time - mine did and my £1000 OD racked up when on maternity leave was cleared just before Xmas.