Quick question....

Twins

Hi,

Hoping you can help this newbie. I've got debts amounting to around £15,000. My out goings are more than my incomings. I go over my overdraft every month. Stuggling to keep head about water.

I've got savings in the tune of £2,000 and that is where my kids child benefit gets paid. Do you think that I should take this money and pay off some of my debts? I feel bad as I won't have an emergency stash of money in case I ever need it.

Any advise welcome

Thanks

sammy115

according to the guru that is martin its not good to have savings when you have debts.

You need to know why you are overspending. Post an SOA here and detail your debts etc and the advice can be tailored to your needs.....

RedDino308

Hi Twins and welcome,

I thought I'd bump this up a bit until some more knowledgeable people come along.

In general Sammy is spot on. There are two things to be aware of though...
1) Having savings is okay if you are earning more interest on them than you would save by putting them towards your debts.

2) If you are struggling to keep you head above water then you probably need to look at the why you are having problems. Can you put up a copy of your SOA so that people can give you some advice.

Good luck

RD308

cardigirl

bumpety bump

sparky0107

Twins wrote: »

Hi,

Hoping you can help this newbie. I've got debts amounting to around £15,000. My out goings are more than my incomings. I go over my overdraft every month. Stuggling to keep head about water.

I've got savings in the tune of £2,000 and that is where my kids child benefit gets paid. Do you think that I should take this money and pay off some of my debts? I feel bad as I won't have an emergency stash of money in case I ever need it.

Any advise welcome

Thanks

Hi and welcome,
Use the links below, to post your SOA (Statement of Affairs). The snowball calc will tell you your debt free date & the spending diary will help you see where all your money is going. Post you SOA on here ASAP and you'll get some really helpful advice off some really great people. You've crossed the worst hurdle now you've had your Light Bulb Moment (LBM), you can work towards being debt free. Good Luck


http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html - SOA calculator

http://www.whatsthecost.com/snowball.aspx?country=uk Snowball Calc

http://www.spendingdiary.com/ Spending Diary

Poosmate

Hi Twins and welcome to DFW on MSE.

I agree with RedDino, Sammy and Sparky. That's some emergency fund you have there! Mine is about £200! lol! I've only just started on my DFW journey and in only 2 months have made some great changes that have helped immensely.

If you go over your overdraft limit every month then surely you are incurring extra bank charges every month?

If I was you I'd pay at least £1k of your savings off one or more of your debts (those with the highest interest rate). Even only £1k will make a dent in the debt and reflect in the reduced repayments you will pay each month which could be the difference between you keep going over your OD limit and keeping within it.

I think with your emergency fund and given your current debt situation you should be asking yourself what you are expecting to unexpectedly go wrong and how much that is going to cost.

My fear is that my washing machine breaks down (it's 12 yrs old). I hope it doesn't as I'd like to pay for my car tax and insurance from my emergency fund to break the cycle of having to put those costs on my CC.

I know the money savvy people around say you should have about 3 months salary tucked away as an emergency fund incase you suddenly lose your income but that's just not possible for everyone (until we are DF anyway). I'm lucky that I work for the council and we don't get made redundant - we just get moved around!

Hope this helps some how - just a few thoughts of my own.

Good luck

Poo