Debt free to become mature student.

playford

Well, debts have snuck up on me after overspending bit by bit. xmas, holidays etc all builds up.

I have finally after two years of Open University gained a place to study Law full time at university so really need my debts cleared asap!

However I have been making in roads so...

End of Jan 07 debt.

Bank acc - 1072 (limit 600)
HSBC CC - 1050 (1000 limit)
Capital one CC - 860
Personal loan - 1100

total debt £4082!

End of Feb 08 debt.

Bank acc - 700 (limit 600)
HSBC CC - 1050 (1000 limit)
Capital one CC - 820 (800 limit)
Personal loan - 1005

total debt £3570! - £512 paid off in one month!

Plans for march 08

Bank acc - 600 (limit 600)
HSBC CC - 1000 (1000 limit)
Capital one CC - 800 (800 limit)
Personal loan - 910

£3310 - £260 paid off...

I earn £954 per month..

this month (feb wages) some big bills came in..

£200 rent
£9 internet
£67 electric (quarterly bill)
£95 personal loan payment
£40 capital one payment
£50 hsbc payment (incl arrears)
£100 to get overdraft back below limit (avoid those £25 charges!)
£75 (towards oil bill)

total £636

leaves me £314, for the month... managed for food and general living on £200 this month so not just as bad..

my overdraft limit is due to come down to £300 end of may so plan is get overdraft to £300 in next two months £150 x 2... then start on capital one debt as highest apr.

any comments advice?

Buffythedebtslayer

No specific advice re money, just wante dto say how impressed I am with the whole studying thing. amazing, I am trying to study too to change my job,

and actually now having looked at the money thing thats impressive too!

hopefully someone more constructive will be a long instead of me just sitting here going wow, wow.

Good luck
xx

playford

the open university has changed my life in a huge way....

I started off as a temporary admin worker (was a temp 4-5yrs!), now work as an assitant to a judge in court every day on a perm basis (sick days and annual leave are great!).

cheap way to study If you earn less than £17k odd you get full fees paid over £2000 this saved me in total, they even gave me a grant to buy a laptop.

after all the hard work im now getting unconditional offers so will be in a room full of 18 yr olds come sept! I need this monkey off my back.

Im thinking of maybe part time work and splitting extra cash 50/50 with debts/holiday funds as a motivator to keep going?

im all for ideas folks!

playford

Feb pay went in!

heres my totals.

This months aim was to get everything within authorised limits and any outstanding payments cleared up and so far have succeded!

Captial One - 780-790 (800 limit) (prev £820)

HSBC CC £990 (£1000) (prev £1070)

HSBC Overdraft £600 (prev £1072!)

HSBC Loan £950 (1145 in mid jan)

Ive cleared the guts of £800 in two pay cheques!

I think the route to take is highest interest rate? that being capital one? like to get it below £500 next month

after fixed bills and rent i've left myself £45 pw for lunch, dinner (walk to work) and generally everything bar utilities..managed last month ok though

Been tough on £950 a month, but feels good to be getting it under control.

andan

Hi playford well done for clearing so much within two pay cheques.

Definitely pay off the highest interest rate cards first, nothing worse than paying loads of interest.

Well done for living on £950 for the month, its tough but if you really want to do this studying it will be worth it in the end. Also good for you on taking such a big decision and choosing to become a mature student, i also study with the O.U and know how good it is to have done it, people i've worked for have appreciated it more, especially as they know you've studied in your own time.

andan

Don't know if you have the time but have you thought about joining any of the challenges on here, such as the olympic challenge. Its where people have a set goal they want to make and discuss loads of ways to make the money. Also ebay everything that you could really live without. Amazon is good for any text books you no longer need, including O.U ones you can sometimes get £20/£30 for a text book.

Best of luck with it all.

playford

I studied Law with the OU for 2 yrs and applied to traditional Uni's on the basis of those credits and got three unconditional offers so far

class full of 18 yr olds is more scary than the book work lol

grace

Id love to get an English Degree but always though OU would be too expensive, I work full time, Im on 15K at the moment....

playford

http://www3.open.ac.uk/courses/about/p6_1.shtml

see funding link above, different rules apply to different regions...

You could potentially get full funding if on 15k including an extra £250 a year for pens, paper etc.

I got both my courses essentially free

Only this is you cant already have a degree... it really has given me chances I never thought I would have :beer:

playford

well a march DFW work in progress so far....

both st patricks day and easter, also was accepted finally by my university of choice so lots of people expected me to go out.

so far still on original target of keeping below all limits to avoid those bloody penalty charges lol feels good back in control of things again, felt a bit like things were spiralling out of control for a bit.

ebay this month was a washout £1.50 raised after fees and P+P.

23k points on toluna, £6.50 on free fivers and joined brain juicer.

It's been hard though but hopefully have a bit more to live on than last month this month and get a good bit paid off!

At present ..

HSBC ACC £600 (£600 limit)
Capital One CC £800 (£800 limit)
HSBC CC £1000
HSBC Loan £952 (all payments up to date)

I get paid on 27th March so will update totals then.

playford

totals update end of march payday...

March target, "payments up to date, under all authorized limits, no penalty charges" DONE!!!

April... "Reduce overdraft and Loan, and keep credit cards under limit"

How much I can reduce overdraft depends on whether my expenses claims goes through in time from work, I'll get it next month anyway if not.

Totals

HSBC Overdraft at LBM -£1072
Now is £600, end of april target £350.
£772 reduction in three months!

HSBC Credit Card at LBM -£1050
Now is £998, end of april target £982.
£68 paid off

HSBC Loan at LBM -£1100
Now is £950, end of april target £844.
£256 paid off

Capital One Credit Card at LBM -£860
Now is £800, end of april target £780.
£80 paid off
Paid off this month £380
total paid off so far £1176! (3mths)
total debt to clear £3006