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lonelyrat
Posts: 567 Forumite
Hey guys, I think I've hit my breaking point. I've sunk further and further into credit card and overdraft debt and it's gotten out of control. I've made myself a plan (like I have done numerous times before) but I'm hoping by posting on here I have some accountability and actually stick to it.
My debts are as follows:
Santander 123 Credit Card £2770.90 Interest free up until 11.09.18
Barclaycard £390 Costs £6.35 a month (26.18%)
Capital One £404.25 AND £179 Costs £9 and £4 a month (29.84% and 34.4%)
Overdraft 1 £1950 which costs £7.62 a month as its a graduate account... however this changes in December and it would start to cost £29 :eek:
Overdraft 2 £450 which costs £7.32 a month.
I stupidly took out a loan to try and consolidate some of my debts last year... which seemed like a great idea but didnt work, so now I've got that to pay back too. It was £1500 but is currently sitting at £770 with a monthly repayment of £102.
I've also got a Very account which has a balance of £288.98 which is BNPL until 04/05/18.
My total debt is: £7203.13
I'm close to all my credit limits on my cards and almost maxed out the overdrafts
My income is £1100 a month but I've started doing overtime so this should increase by another £85 this month and I recieve a bonus payment which should be just over £500 in September. My wonderful Dad has also been nice enough to agree to give me £100 a month to help with rent etc.
Things were pretty good this time last year but me and my other half foolishly moved into a flat we couldn't really afford. He's a student and used to work part time but he gave up his job in January so the only money coming in is mine. He did get student loan payments but that ended in May so since then it's just been my wages supporting us. Our rent at the moment is £650 a month but that will come to an end this month (one more payment!) then we're going to move in with his parents while I try and bust this debt so wont have the usual utilites as well. We did try and reach an agreement with our landlord to leave early as we couldn't afford the flat and they said if we paid £300 'admin' fee they would find new tennants... obviously we paid that and they didn't find new tennants :T
I'm going to complete a SOA and add it here as well. Any advice anyone has would be absolutely wonderful. I feel like I'm drowning constantly... I'm trying to take steps to sort things out and have started paying more than the minimum on the credit cards but it feels overwhelming.
I've made a spreadsheet with all my incomings/ outgoings and my plan of action is:
Next month reduce the overdrafts both by £50 then pay off Overdraft 2 in September using some of the bonus money (I want to do this one first as I got a letter from the bank telling me to contact them if I'm in financial difficulty, which makes me think they may pull the overdraft soon, if they did I'd be pretty screwed!)
I'd then try and have both Capital One cards paid off in October and the Barclaycard in November. After these smaller cards have been paid I'lll focus everything on Overdaft 1 to have that cleared by February. I should be able to do it, but there's no wiggle room and I'm going to be pretty skint for the forseable future
I was considering asking the Bank for a payment holiday from my loan for a few months, that would free up £102 a month to pay off other debt but I don't know if this is a bad idea or not. Also I'm kind of embarrassed to do this.
I also have another Bank account with an overdraft of £1000 which I've never been in. If I were to use it it would cost £1 a day so I don't think it's worth using it to pay off the credit cards as I feel I'd end up paying more in OD fees than in credit card interest.
Anyway, sorry for the ramble... it does feel good getting it all down. I have no one to talk to about all this as the other half doesn't care about our finances so much.
Again, any advice would be greatly appreciate. If you think I should go about this another way please do say... I tried to do this myself before and its all just gone horrbily wrong so I'm open to anything! :beer:
J X
My debts are as follows:
Santander 123 Credit Card £2770.90 Interest free up until 11.09.18
Barclaycard £390 Costs £6.35 a month (26.18%)
Capital One £404.25 AND £179 Costs £9 and £4 a month (29.84% and 34.4%)
Overdraft 1 £1950 which costs £7.62 a month as its a graduate account... however this changes in December and it would start to cost £29 :eek:
Overdraft 2 £450 which costs £7.32 a month.
I stupidly took out a loan to try and consolidate some of my debts last year... which seemed like a great idea but didnt work, so now I've got that to pay back too. It was £1500 but is currently sitting at £770 with a monthly repayment of £102.
I've also got a Very account which has a balance of £288.98 which is BNPL until 04/05/18.
My total debt is: £7203.13
I'm close to all my credit limits on my cards and almost maxed out the overdrafts
My income is £1100 a month but I've started doing overtime so this should increase by another £85 this month and I recieve a bonus payment which should be just over £500 in September. My wonderful Dad has also been nice enough to agree to give me £100 a month to help with rent etc.
Things were pretty good this time last year but me and my other half foolishly moved into a flat we couldn't really afford. He's a student and used to work part time but he gave up his job in January so the only money coming in is mine. He did get student loan payments but that ended in May so since then it's just been my wages supporting us. Our rent at the moment is £650 a month but that will come to an end this month (one more payment!) then we're going to move in with his parents while I try and bust this debt so wont have the usual utilites as well. We did try and reach an agreement with our landlord to leave early as we couldn't afford the flat and they said if we paid £300 'admin' fee they would find new tennants... obviously we paid that and they didn't find new tennants :T
I'm going to complete a SOA and add it here as well. Any advice anyone has would be absolutely wonderful. I feel like I'm drowning constantly... I'm trying to take steps to sort things out and have started paying more than the minimum on the credit cards but it feels overwhelming.
I've made a spreadsheet with all my incomings/ outgoings and my plan of action is:
Next month reduce the overdrafts both by £50 then pay off Overdraft 2 in September using some of the bonus money (I want to do this one first as I got a letter from the bank telling me to contact them if I'm in financial difficulty, which makes me think they may pull the overdraft soon, if they did I'd be pretty screwed!)
I'd then try and have both Capital One cards paid off in October and the Barclaycard in November. After these smaller cards have been paid I'lll focus everything on Overdaft 1 to have that cleared by February. I should be able to do it, but there's no wiggle room and I'm going to be pretty skint for the forseable future
I was considering asking the Bank for a payment holiday from my loan for a few months, that would free up £102 a month to pay off other debt but I don't know if this is a bad idea or not. Also I'm kind of embarrassed to do this.
I also have another Bank account with an overdraft of £1000 which I've never been in. If I were to use it it would cost £1 a day so I don't think it's worth using it to pay off the credit cards as I feel I'd end up paying more in OD fees than in credit card interest.
Anyway, sorry for the ramble... it does feel good getting it all down. I have no one to talk to about all this as the other half doesn't care about our finances so much.
Again, any advice would be greatly appreciate. If you think I should go about this another way please do say... I tried to do this myself before and its all just gone horrbily wrong so I'm open to anything! :beer:
J X
Total Debt : ?? / ??
0
Comments
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Hi,
Have you considered a debt relief order at all ?
Info here :
https://www.stepchange.org/Howwecanhelpyou/DRODebtrelieforder.aspxI’m a Forum Ambassador and I support the Forum Team on the Debt free wannabe, Credit file and ratings, and Bankruptcy and living with it boards. If you need any help on these boards, do let me know. Please note that Ambassadors are not moderators. Any posts you spot in breach of the Forum Rules should be reported via the report button, or by emailing forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com. All views are my own and not the official line of MoneySavingExpert.For free non-judgemental debt advice, contact either Stepchange, National Debtline, or CitizensAdviceBureaux.Link to SOA Calculator- https://www.stoozing.com/soa.php The "provit letter" is here-https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2607247/letter-when-you-know-nothing-about-about-the-debt-aka-prove-it-letter0 -
Hey,
Thanks for the reply
I've just had a wee look, but I live in Scotland so it wouldn't be available... it says that in Scotland the equivalent would be "Minimal asset process (MAP) bankruptcy". If possible I'd want to avoid bankruptcy, purely just because I feel I can do this, if I'm strict with myself (and my other half)! While I have no assets just now I do want to try and own a flat in the future and 6 years is quite a while.
I just completed the SOA and currently I have a shortfall of £370.40 a month, so I guess that explains how I got in this state. I'm not sure if I should post it here or not as this month is my last month with such high rent and council tax/ utilities etc. Maybe I should do one for how things will be? I don't know :STotal Debt : ?? / ??0 -
I'm impressed you were able to get that much credit on the income, but your credit rating is probably more developed than mine (I'm in the early days of stoozing)0
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Hey,
Thanks for the reply I've just had a wee look, but I live in Scotland so it wouldn't be available... it says that in Scotland the equivalent would be "Minimal asset process (MAP) bankruptcy". If possible I'd want to avoid bankruptcy, purely just because I feel I can do this, if I'm strict with myself (and my other half)! While I have no assets just now I do want to try and own a flat in the future and 6 years is quite a while.
I just completed the SOA and currently I have a shortfall of £370.40 a month, so I guess that explains how I got in this state. I'm not sure if I should post it here or not as this month is my last month with such high rent and council tax/ utilities etc. Maybe I should do one for how things will be? I don't know :S
Ah bonny Scotland, right, well its not actually full blown bankruptcy, despite the name, its no where near as severe as that, its a lighter form of insolvency.
Its good you want to clear the debts, but if at any time its all too much, you can re-concider your options.
It would be helpful to post your SOA on here yes.I’m a Forum Ambassador and I support the Forum Team on the Debt free wannabe, Credit file and ratings, and Bankruptcy and living with it boards. If you need any help on these boards, do let me know. Please note that Ambassadors are not moderators. Any posts you spot in breach of the Forum Rules should be reported via the report button, or by emailing forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com. All views are my own and not the official line of MoneySavingExpert.For free non-judgemental debt advice, contact either Stepchange, National Debtline, or CitizensAdviceBureaux.Link to SOA Calculator- https://www.stoozing.com/soa.php The "provit letter" is here-https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2607247/letter-when-you-know-nothing-about-about-the-debt-aka-prove-it-letter0 -
I have no one to talk to about all this as the other half doesn't care about our finances so much.
J X
I'm sure he doesn't all the time he has you paying his rent and taking on all the debt in your name. Tell him to get a frikkin job, any job, and start pulling his weight!
(Please take the above in the 'tough love' spirit it was intended from some wearing the T-shirt) Make £25 a day in April £0/£750 (March £584, February £602, January £883.66)
December £361.54, November £322.28, October £288.52, September £374.30, August £223.95, July £71.45, June £251.22, May£119.33, April £236.24, March £106.74, Feb £40.99, Jan £98.54) Total for 2017 - £2,495.100 -
Good on you for having a plan and hopefully you can stick to it.
Next work on a plan to get your OH off his backside and bringing something to the table rather than doing nothing and not caring about the consequences for you.0 -
Sounds like it should be more of a joint effort. If your OH has no paid employment, he should have plenty of time to do all the household chores.we're going to move in with his parents while "I" try and bust this debt0 -
Your OH sounds totally irresponsible and quite frankly you'd be better off without him.Savings as of April 2023 Savings account - £26460.50(14474.88)Current account - £2140.24(4576.79)Total - £28600.74(19051.67) £1010 (£65pm CS/BS) £250 CS/BS/JS0
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MatthewAinsworth wrote: »I'm impressed you were able to get that much credit on the income, but your credit rating is probably more developed than mine (I'm in the early days of stoozing)
My take home isn't much more than the OPs and due to several years of almost annual upgrades of credit limits I've got around £30,000 available to me on credit cards.
The saving grace for me is I see them as tools and have them purely to take advantage, i.e one for cashback, one for spending abroad, one for a large purchase at 0% I used so I could leave the money in the bank instead earning interest. It is a cold day in hell if I ever pay interest on a credit card as with the exception of the 0% they're all set with DDs to repay in full and the DD is set on the 0% to ensure that it is clear by the end of the free interest period.0 -
Hey guys... Thanks for all the replies and sorry for the radio silence, works been a bit mental. I did a SOA again but feel i'm being too optimistic with regards to what I spend on a food shop and bits and bobs. It's payday next Thursday so I'm going to write down everything I spend so I can complete a proper one that actually reflects my spending. I've got a Monzo top up card so I'm thinking I'm going to put what I think I should be spending per month on that and ideally not go over it.
I do feel like I've maybe made my other half out to be a lot worse than he is! He has applied for loads of summer jobs but keeps not hearing back from interviews. If he had any money then he would contribute and he feels pretty crappy that he can't at the minute. He starts university again in September so will have his own money coming in as of then. That'll take the pressure off my income a lot and free some more up for clearing the debt. He does care about our finances as well, but takes a sort of "well theres nothing I can do" attitude and buries his head in the sand.Total Debt : ?? / ??0
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