Advice for clearing relatively small debt!

poorandindenial

Spending Diary link: Click Here

TheBlueSaint

Thanks x 2 poorandindenial

Here's my replies:

Rent: Includes everything, to be honest I should be paying my mum a little more but hey until she asks.

Mobile: PAYG at moment, may go contract in future as I work in the industry and get an excellent tariff for the same amount.

Drinking/Socialising: Deffo an area for trimming. Problem is my mates have either got their debt in hand or earn quite a bit more and are always asking to go out. Need to learn to say no without being a complete bore...

Clothing: I'll need to try...I'm not massive on labels but haven't bought new jeans since last summer and it's showing...seen some nice stuff in H&M which will do for now.

Travel: Currently £50 per month off my own back with a zone card, but once the work give me my loan it'll work out at £46 per month but paid back @ £56 per month as loan is over 10 months.

Birthdays - It's my little brothers, he's 12 and I've promised him a gaming chair for his ps2. It's a lotof money but I missed his birthday and xmas due to being out of work and it's £35 cheaper than anywhere that have it online.

Finally the left over amounts: Yes, they are the figures that I'm unsure of where they will go...I've certainly not got that amount left over at the end of a real month I can assure you.

poorandindenial

TheBlueSaint wrote: »

Thanks x 2 poorandindenial

Here's my replies:

Rent: Includes everything, to be honest I should be paying my mum a little more but hey until she asks.

Mobile: PAYG at moment, may go contract in future as I work in the industry and get an excellent tariff for the same amount.

Drinking/Socialising: Deffo an area for trimming. Problem is my mates have either got their debt in hand or earn quite a bit more and are always asking to go out. Need to learn to say no without being a complete bore...Don't worry - they get over it pretty fast I even have friends where I would occasionally (and stupidly) spend £150 in an evening; even they are completely OK going low rent or me doing my 'no rounds' routine

Clothing: I'll need to try...I'm not massive on labels but haven't bought new jeans since last summer and it's showing...seen some nice stuff in H&M which will do for now. Most of my jeans are from Feb 2007:eek: The joys of being poor :rotfl:. Seriously, shop around and see what you can get, don't go into fits of hysterics but supermarket clothes are actually pretty decent now (and I used to be a higher end highstreet girl and I am not walking round like a frump these days, I just pay a LOT less - also don't underestimate Primark - or Primarni/Pradamark as I prefer to call it - I think they are better for girls than boys but they should be OK for basics)

Travel: Currently £50 per month off my own back with a zone card, but once the work give me my loan it'll work out at £46 per month but paid back @ £56 per month as loan is over 10 months.

Birthdays - It's my little brothers, he's 12 and I've promised him a gaming chair for his ps2. It's a lotof money but I missed his birthday and xmas due to being out of work and it's £35 cheaper than anywhere that have it online. Completely understand, my niece is my spending weekness

Finally the left over amounts: Yes, they are the figures that I'm unsure of where they will go...I've certainly not got that amount left over at the end of a real month I can assure you.

Right, if you haven't done it already, go register on spending diary (or you can make your own) I guarantee you will be surprised at some of the that you spend money on.

Good luck with it all

TheBlueSaint

poorandindenial wrote: »

Right, if you haven't done it already, go register on spending diary (or you can make your own) I guarantee you will be surprised at some of the that you spend money on.

Good luck with it all

Some of the stuff in Primark is ok, but still not convinced on quality, at least with guys. My mate owns his own t-shirt business so any tops I need I pretty much design myself and he makes them for a tenner so it's only really jeans and the other accessories :rotfl:I need.

Forgot about food in my SOA...part of my £100 'digs' includes my packed lunch, but have a habit of spending money on my break on snacks, any advice to help cut this out appreciated.

Done! Thanks a bunch again! :beer:

TheBlueSaint

Just a few general questions:

1. If I call my bank and ask them about my interest charges, will they do so or will they simply demand money? I will pay them but want advice from you good fellows and CAB first.

2. Both my credit cards are with 3rd party debt recovery agents, who do I phone to find out about APR? Them or the issuer?

The hardest part of all this for me is getting the ball rolling as I'm completely unsure about my exact debt with one of the companies.

duchy

My bet is your spending diary is going to be an eye-opener onstuff like snacks and booze.
Best tip I can give is give yourself a weekly spending budget for these and then draw out the weekly amount in cash-and when it's gone...it's gone.

TheBlueSaint

duchy wrote: »

My bet is your spending diary is going to be an eye-opener onstuff like snacks and booze.
Best tip I can give is give yourself a weekly spending budget for these and then draw out the weekly amount in cash-and when it's gone...it's gone.

I don't doubt it...the £400 is going somewhere, that's for sure. Be interesting in the first month at least to get a proper SOA done that's more accurate than the general one I've done above. Still going to try and get some of the debt paid off this month even if not what will become my standard monthly payments.

TheBlueSaint

TheBlueSaint wrote: »

Just a few general questions:

1. If I call my bank and ask them about my interest charges, will they do so or will they simply demand money? I will pay them but want advice from you good fellows and CAB first.

2. Both my credit cards are with 3rd party debt recovery agents, who do I phone to find out about APR? Them or the issuer?

The hardest part of all this for me is getting the ball rolling as I'm completely unsure about my exact debt with one of the companies.

Anyone able to assist on this? Don't want to have them hassling me over the phone before I speak to CAB early next week?

TheBlueSaint

Hi guys, just off the phone to various creditors and DCA! Having a problem getting APR's from them as they are saying they are no longer collecting interest on the accounts as they are "frozen" and being prepared to be passed to DCA.

Alliance & Leicester are showing an outstanding balance but the girl at their side said the account was now closed but gave me their collections dept to investigate further.

BarclayCard(In the hands of HFO Services) - £1033.62
CapitalOne - £1164.26
Alliance & Leicester - £243.16
Abbey - £1402.97
Setanta Sports - £9.99
Pipex - £49.98
Family & Friends - £455

Total = £4358.98

So who to pay first? Or small amounts to all?

TheBlueSaint

Just to add to the above.

The person at Abbey collections says they do not negotiate payment plans(contrary to what I'd been told before) and advised they want the amount in full.

Capital One geezer was decent but tried to get me to agree to £200 on the spot, stuck with it and told him I'll call on Monday to negotiate a more managable amount.