Advice Please

Littleluc21

Hi everyone. I am after some much needed advice regarding my situation.I have been living with my boyfriend in his flat for approx 9 months now, its a one bedroom flat that he bought last year. I pay him £200 a month and approx £150 a month on food (when its a good month!). Now I have £6000 of debt at the moment and I am really struggling to make a dent in it at the end of the month - I pay the minimum and all my bills and have approx £50 a month to myself which isn't that great seeing as I have a full-time job and a part time job now (soooooo tired!!). Anyway we have been fighting a lot lately and I told my parents who said I could move home if I wanted to for £150 a month now my dilemma is I know that this would help me pay off my debt a lot quicker - could pay off £700 a month if I did so and I have asked my boyfriend if I could not pay rent for this month to get me on my feet but he said no - any ideas any one?? help is needed as I don't know what to do!!

L xx

RAS

Hi

Your starting point is to list your income and expenditure

See here http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=107280

Then we can see whether you can make savings to sort out this debt.

Littleluc21

Okie dokey here goes then:

Credit Cards and Store Card - £400 a month
Rent - £200
Food Shop (2 adults and 3 cats) - £150
Myself - £85 (£35 gym membership, £30 petrol, £20 car insurance)
Mobile Phone bill - £20.00
Over Draft - £50 (paying back at the moment as its £1400 but pay no interest on it)

I earn £970 a month so after all these essentials I have £65 left over which I want to through to the debt. This month its hardee as my kitten needs his injections and thats £40 for that so leaves me £25.00. I am pretty good at cooking from scratch so can reduce food a lot when I try but my boyfriend is a waster of food and makes it difficult! My gym membership is a must for me as its the only socialising I can afford to do at the moment - sad I know and my £20.00 is needed as our house phone is broken and he won't fix it!

My debts are:

£900 Egg
£2000 Virgin
£700 GE
£700 RBS
£550 Barclaycard
£500 Capital One
£1750 HBOS

= £7100 in debt - holy moly!!

Littleluc21

Also meant to say at the end of March I am getting my first pay from second job and that will give me an extra £250 a month which will help me more than I can say!!


L xx

RAS

Hi

MOT? Car tax? Repairs and maintenance?

Is the food shop your contribution or is that for both of you? if so, why are you paying the lot?

Can you break the cards down as follws

Card - total debt, minimum payment, APR.

Some of them will be frightening.

TA

Littleluc21

My MOT just done and paid for - hallelujah! Car Tax fully paid for the year - hallelujah!! I am a member of the AA but seeing as my car is years old I have no back up for repair or maintenance as if breaks down would prob be more expensive than the car to fix it! I pay no bills in the flat and just £200 towards mortgage and £150 for the food (he doesnt contribute to that). Cards as follows (deep breath!):

Egg - £900 (£900 limit - 17.9 APR)
Virgin - £1950 (2000 limit 18.5 APR)
GE Money - £700 (£800 limit 22.5 APR eeeeeeeeekkkkkkk!)
RBS - £750 (£700 limit 18.9 APR)
Barclaycard - £590 (£550 limit 16.9 APR)
HBOS - £1725 (£1750 limit 18.9 APR)

Whoa looks worse written down doesnt it!!

Littleluc21

Ah forgot the payment bit so here's what I pay:

GE - £50
Virgin - £70
HBOS - £50
Barclaycard - £40
RBS - £100 (was in arrears so paying extra)
Egg - £50
Capital One - £50 (limit £500 and its 18.5 APR)

Boo Hiss!!

busy_today_mate

Try phoning them and get them to reduce the intrest rate. Say you are going to transfer the balance elsewhere.

Littleluc21

I'd be lucky to get any other person to touch me with my o/s balances! Worst thing is when I moved into the flat only had about £1000 on my cards............. :-(

L xx

RAS

Hi

I would do two more things;

Get the barclay card down within its limit ASAP.
Pay every spare penny off the GE money card, as this will be the most effective way of reducing your debt

have a look at the snowball on www.whatsthecost.com and see how paying off the debt with the highest APR is most effective.

Also you need to add up the car tax, MOT and AA, divide by 12 and set aside that amount each month to pay for next years. Put it in an ISA as this is the most effective way of saving.

Do you have anything that can go on a e-bay, on amazon or to a car boot sale?

Can you get to work by public transport and ditch the car?

if you move back home, would you be able to get rid of the car?

Karmacat

The finances are being sorted by others, tho there is this bit: "Worst thing is when I moved into the flat only had about £1000 on my cards............. :-( ". That needs paying attention, because it sounds like you've either been living beyond your means, or you've made big purchases, maybe spurred on by your BF, that have got you much further in debt.

Well, the other thing that needs attention is, what will this do to your relationship with him? What do you want to happen? Do the two things go together (ie, the effects of the move and what you want).

Best of luck with whatever you decide to do.