Not so new but still needing some help

boo2905

Hi.

I started looking on this site some time ago when I had my LBM, I think it was April 2007. Since then I have rearranged some debts and paid off about £4,000 in total. The problem is every time I pay off one debt I get another one to add to the pile.

I've posted my SOA below and wondered if anyone could see where I could make some changes. I've not got the best credit rating but because I've reorganised a bit it's starting to get better.

Income: £1,338.68

Outgoings per month:

Train Fare: £56 (repayment of loan from company for year ticket)
Pension: £34
Student Loan: £55
Credit Card: £50 (minimum payment is £38)
HSBC Overdraft: £84
Parents: £150
Loan: £169.21
Contact Lenses: £10 - I don't want to change this though
Phone: £25 - I reduced this from £100 per month so I'm quite happy with this
Union: £12.17
Rent: £295
House Insurance: £7
Sky: £20
Line Rental: £7
Council Tax: £55
Gym: £36
Electric £41 until the end of April then it goes to £21
Water: £15
TV Licence £7
Car Insurance £39.95 (until August)
Car Tax £6

What I owe:

HSBC Overdraft: £500 - Now £330.13 0% interest until July 2008
RBS Overdraft: £500 - 1% interest
RBS Credit Card - £1,650 19.9% interest
Barclaycard Credit Card - £540 0% interest ** see notes below
Parents - £3,000
Student Loan - £11,845 4.8% interest

**I have only just got the Barclaycard but they only allowed me £600 limit so I balance transferred as much as I could as it is 0% for 12 months. They then said they might up my balance after 6 months and I could balance transfer but it would be 5.6% for the life of the transfer amount. I've not received my first statement yet so I haven't put that into my monthly payments.

I know my situation isn't as bad as others but I feel really bogged down with it all. Does anyone have any ideas that could help me out?

Thank you.

skintchick

Hi - what are your min payments? And have you used the snowball calculator?

my initial thoughts are cancel Sky and the gym, maybe stop paying into the pension for now, and do you really need to be in a union?

Also, would your parents let you stop paying them for a while?

boo2905

Hi

Thank you for replying so quickly.

Unfortunately I can't cancel Sky because we are tied in for 12 months until October this year. I have considered cancelling the gym just for a few months.
I can't cancel the union because there are lots of things going on with pay deals at the minute so I need to remain a member for now.

My parents have said they would be happy with less because they trust me to pay them back but they are getting older now and I want them to have the money for themselves really.

My minimum payments are:

RBS Credit card: £38
Barclaycard: I'm not sure but I think it wil be £20ish
Overdrafts have no minimum payment but I don't want to be paying more interest and so am working to clear the HSBC overdraft first.
I forgot to add in my loan before which is currently £7,783.00 including interest. I think the rate was £16% because I was a higher risk but there are no penalties for early repayments. My minimum payment on this is £169.21.

bank_of_slate

Hi
Agree with skintchick above...
can you freeze your gym membership until you pay some of the debts off?
ask your parents if you can stop payments to them for a set amount of time to give you chance to clear the high interest amounts off.
...Linda xx

GeorgeUK

Can you pay the council tax over 12 months if you are currently paying over 10?

I think the gym will need to go for a while too - or can you take a membership holiday for a while?

Welshlassie

boo2905 wrote: »

Hi.

I started looking on this site some time ago when I had my LBM, I think it was April 2007. Since then I have rearranged some debts and paid off about £4,000 in total. The problem is every time I pay off one debt I get another one to add to the pile.

I've posted my SOA below and wondered if anyone could see where I could make some changes. I've not got the best credit rating but because I've reorganised a bit it's starting to get better.

Income: £1,338.68

Outgoings per month:

Train Fare: £56 (repayment of loan from company for year ticket)
Pension: £34
Student Loan: £55
Credit Card: £50 (minimum payment is £38)
HSBC Overdraft: £84
Parents: £150
Loan: £169.21
Contact Lenses: £10 - I don't want to change this though
Phone: £25 - I reduced this from £100 per month so I'm quite happy with this
Union: £12.17
Rent: £295
House Insurance: £7
Sky: £20
Line Rental: £7
Council Tax: £55
Gym: £36
Electric £41 until the end of April then it goes to £21
Water: £15
TV Licence £7 why is this so low, I pay 11.37
Car Insurance £39.95 (until August)
Car Tax £6

What I owe:

HSBC Overdraft: £500 - Now £330.13 0% interest until July 2008
RBS Overdraft: £500 - 1% interest
RBS Credit Card - £1,650 19.9% interest
Barclaycard Credit Card - £540 0% interest ** see notes below
Parents - £3,000
Student Loan - £11,845 4.8% interest

**I have only just got the Barclaycard but they only allowed me £600 limit so I balance transferred as much as I could as it is 0% for 12 months. They then said they might up my balance after 6 months and I could balance transfer but it would be 5.6% for the life of the transfer amount. I've not received my first statement yet so I haven't put that into my monthly payments.

I know my situation isn't as bad as others but I feel really bogged down with it all. Does anyone have any ideas that could help me out?

Thank you.

Well done on trying to sort things out

What about your food, petrol, car maintenance, birthday/christmas etc?

Based on these figures I work out you have approx £176.35 left over each month. What happens to this?? The suggest you do a spending diary for the next few months and see where you spend your extra, you may then be able to cut back on this in this and use it to pay the debts off quicker.

boo2905

Hi

Thank you all for your suggestions. It's helping me look at things a bit clearer.

My TV license etc is low because I share a flat with my partner. We are both on the same wage so we both pay 50% (except for sky which he pays a bit more for because of Sky Sports).