I am £94,761 in debt

TengoNoDinero

Hi, well done for having the lightbulb moment. We're new on here too, but the advice and support is fantastic.

I'm a mum to three as well, and it is difficult, but you'll get there. Mine are now 19 (has a part-time job and pays for all her own food), 17 and 14 now, and from being time poor when they were your children's ages, now we're food poor as the boys are having growth spurts and trying to eat us out of house and home. Oh, and they're still passing down the odd clothes to one another even now.

I agree you should take your mortgage out of the debt pot for the moment so you can see where you can do the most snowballing.

F

iwanttosavemoney2008

I have just posted my first 27 items on to ebay on a 5 day lisiting so we will soon have some money coming in hopefully:think:
My OH has gotten 2 extra shifts at work so we won't see him at all next week but all in to the coffers.

lou031205 wrote: »

Just a small comment, with 3 children & gross income £18500 p.a. (£1200 net per month) roughly, you are entitled to much more in tax credits.

I have just run through entitled to, and reckon you are entitled to approx £133 per week, or £576 per month. Best to phone them & make sure you are on the right level.
I knew it didn't sound right, because our income is same as yours, and with 2 children we should be getting £90 per week.

I phoned up and we will now be recieving £109 per week so thank you thank you thank you more money to pay the debts.

Lorne

That's the spirit, tackle it head on! We are behind you every step of the way

pandapaws

Brilliant news! Look forward to the new revised SOA!

clearvisor

Im age 66 on works pension of £276-09 a month and oap pension weekly £105-47.My tax code is K24, Im informed If your over 65 you shouldn't be on K24, so can anyone advise and am I due a tax rebate?,since being age 60 it has always been on that,I worked and had oap pension plus wages for 2 years, retired age 62, and I have never owed them any money at all, thanks for help in advance,

AdrianHi

In addition to chevalier's good ideas here are a few more:

£40 Electric
£35 gas
£13 boiler servicing (cannot do without if the boiler goes my kids'll freeze)
Are you paying by monthly direct debit (cheapest option) and also with an online account with an energy provider (also cheaper)? Are you with the best value provider?
Try somewhere like http://www.uswitch.com/Energy/Index.aspx?source=mainheader&sessionid=ZlZQsA7bgifOYqlBTiulVqtwHIPLbwRl&ref=
to find out. NPower Online 10 work best for me according to this even after the possible effects of "sculpting" (there is a thread on this).
Do you have an old inefficient gas boiler?
British gas have an offer on If you order your new boiler by the 31st May 2008, you'll save £250. And if you're a BritishGas HomeCare™ Customer we'll give you another £150 off the price, bringing your saving up to £400" ... you also get free homecare 200 cover normally costing £204 for a year with the new boiler.
( http://www.britishgas.co.uk/products-and-services/install/latest-offers.html )
Check out your existing boiler efficiency vs. latest 91% efficient boilers here http://www.boilers.org.uk/

You can also get grants for home insulation, details on this MSE site.

Any chance of changing mortgage to a better deal?

Definately ditch Sky ASAP, freeview has plenty to offer.
Also ditch AOL ASAP you can get internet access down to £10-£15 a month now.

I guess there is no car in the family, if there is, what is it (engine size / type etc.), how old is it and how many miles per year / month? Might be able to find a saving there.

Your weekly supermarket bill is impressively low already, I'm finding Sainsbury's Basics range to me mostly very good quality and a good price (relatively)

I don't know how much you use the phone, but for an upfront investment of around £100 in equipment your broadband connection can be used for outgoing calls at a flate rate anytime of 1.19p per minute UK land line, 9.9p per minute UK mobile with other low rates for international calls, like 1.8p per minute for Australia for example.

Definitely need to target those probably expensive credit cards debts and see if they can be rearranged.

iwanttosavemoney2008

I am stuck with aol for almost 2 years as we signed up on a 2 year contract to get the free laptop (which is our only computer) so I will move as soon as I can.
My credit is now none existant and I don't qualify for a cheaper deal anyway i am tied in for just under 2 years there as well. This means I can't get any cheaper credit card deals either I'm just going to have to pay them off.
I am so happy about the bank charges test case as i have a claim in court that is on a stay til it gets sorted so hopefully now we can go get some money. Although that is already spent on debts so thats ok.

blueforyou

Interesting that the amount I owe is about £240,000 including mortgages, and that there are people who owe similar. I felt so alone until now. I have started my plans to reduce the debts (including advice from CCCS) and sleep a little better. Just a post to keep in touch and to say thanks for the advice I've received on here.

iwanttosavemoney2008

Ok can anyone help me i have lost paperwork for some of the loans so dont know what aprs i'm paying or even how to find out rough amounts outstanding or phone numbers for the companies can any one tell me where to go for this information?
thanks

as soon as i have this infor mation i can put on a true soa cos the first is just a rough guess

itsnowtime

Hi there,

If you're struggling to find the paperwork but have the names of the companies that you are with, do a search on the internet, you're likely to get their contact details from there.

Give them a bell and just advise that you've lost their paperwork and you were checking to see where you are with regards to the amount outstanding and what apr they're charging.