Money trouble

Aruffell said:
Hi all,

Seems i have got myself into a bit of debt.

I have spent a fair bit of money over the past couple of months, and to be honest i dont know what i have bought.

I've spent £8000 of my own money, and got a £10,000 loan which i have now spent all of that.

I have a credit card - £200 limit - maxxed out.

I have a few things on buy now pay later but i have time to sort that out thankfully.

I have 4 mobile phone contracts (£70 a month in total)

Anyway, im writing this because i need help. I have been in touch with Debt free direct (as seen on the telly) and they are doing a payment plan for me.

I have £14 to my name, luckily all of my direct debits have come out of my bank for this month, but i dont get paid until the 31st Jan and on the 28th i'm expected to go and work in Bluewater (£11 return ticket a day) which isn't going to happen.

How can i source some money until i get paid, and what other advice have you guys got?

Cheers,

Andy
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I remember a thread where you told us you where earing 22k a year. Now how the hell did you get into 18k of debt, is it not hard to understand that you don't pay for something if you don't have it in cash.

I bet you where the typing of person that spent loads of money just to seem cool with your m8's. For example, you had to have all the best toys etc to try and impress some people. And what the hell do you with 3 mobiles?

I have 3 my self but they are works so i don't pay the bills, and if i did i wouldn't have one about me on contract.

I say lesson learned, suck it up and start paying back your debts.
 
I am guessing the reason he has 4 mobiles was the result of "oooooh, thats a nice phone, 1/2 price line rental for 9 months, cheaper than getting it sim free or the bay".......repeat that 4 times roughly and bingo....4 contracts.
 
teaboy5 said:
I remember a thread where you told us you where earing 22k a year. Now how the hell did you get into 18k of debt
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10k debt i believe. If you're earning 22k a year, you should be fine if you cut down on all these excess things. £400 a month on food could be cut down to £100 easily, and whatever other rubbish you spend money on. Oh and the do you have 4 phones?
 
teaboy5 said:
I remember a thread where you told us you where earing 22k a year. Now how the hell did you get into 18k of debt, is it not hard to understand that you don't pay for something if you don't have it in cash.

I bet you where the typing of person that spent loads of money just to seem cool with your m8's. For example, you had to have all the best toys etc to try and impress some people. And what the hell do you with 3 mobiles?

I have 3 my self but they are works so i don't pay the bills, and if i did i wouldn't have one about me on contract.

I say lesson learned, suck it up and start paying back your debts.
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Does seem like that's the case. You need to start cutting down a lot on the luxuries. £100 a week on food is a bit OTT, unless you're going out everyday to eat?

Spend what you do have on stuff that you actually "need" and not what you "want".

It's all going to be the same advice here... don't even bother trying to get another loan or a new credit card. :p
 
kbc said:
Does seem like that's the case. You need to start cutting down a lot on the luxuries. £100 a week on food is a bit OTT, unless you're going out everyday to eat?

Spend what you do have on stuff that you actually "need" and not what you "want".

It's all going to be the same advice here... don't even bother trying to get another loan or a new credit card. :p
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£100 a week on food is quite a lot :p

Didn't you notice how much you were spending before getting into debt? I spend far more than I should as well , but always knowing I'll be able to pay it back and not screwing myself financially!

All you can do is work harder to earn more money and pay it back and not spend so much anymore, oh and cancel some of your contracts

Why do you need 4 contracts? I'm on the phone all the time and do fine with just 1 :p
 
Raymond Lin said:
I am guessing the reason he has 4 mobiles was the result of "oooooh, thats a nice phone, 1/2 price line rental for 9 months, cheaper than getting it sim free or the bay".......repeat that 4 times roughly and bingo....4 contracts.
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My girlfriend has 2 contracts (had 3) - it's been the source of many an argument. I forced her to pay off one of them as it's a pure waste of money and it takes up a sizeable chunk of her wages as she's only working part time. :mad: "Oh N93 - only 50 quid a month!"
 
jonno.co.uk said:
declare yourself bankrupt tbh.
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Bad advice. If you are employed, £10,000 is managable it's just a question of finances. It would also screw your chances of a mortgage for 6 years without going to a subprime lender. Although you may not think that's important now, when you are 25 you may be looking to buy a house.

I would suggest checking if anything you have bought recently can be returned to the shop for a refund. Also, it sounds like you have a lot of extragivancies you could cut down on. You only need 1 mobile phone so get rid of the others. £400 a month of food is far too high, me and my girlfriend spend under half that a month to feed both of us.

The basic answer to this is that you are going to have to make some cuts into you spending. You need to make a spreadsheet in Excel detailing what your mandetory expenses are a month (rent, bills food) and see if a saving can be made by changing suppliers. Subtract these bills from your monthly income and with what is left allow yourself a small amount to enjoy yourself otherwise you will just get depressed. Anything left needs to go on paying off your debts though. Most companies are flexable and offer overpayments. This will give you some leeway if you are ever short of making your loan repayment one month, as flexable loans will also allow you to dig back in to overpayments.

If your finances are that tight, you could consider refinancing you loan over a greater period of time (although this is a last resort). £10k over 5 years can be done at under £200 a month, which should be managable if you are employed.

I think that if you can manage your debts yourself, you should do that. As long as you make all the repayments, you will actually end up with a pretty good credit record. Bear in mind that by entering into repayment plans that break the original terms of the credit agreements, you are potentially damaging your future credit worthyness.

I think you've learned an important lesson, but it's one a lot of people make, so learn from it. Don't take some of the comments here too seriously :)

£10k is a lot, but as long as you've realised the situation you've got yourself into, and you change your lifestyle, it is definately managable.
 
As said above you're paying far too much on food, so cut that down and you'll be able to start overpaying on your loan (as long as there are no early repayment clauses). FYI I live with three other blokes and we manage to get all our food for about 70-90 quid a week and that often includes a crate of beer (students :p, but we eat damn well for that!)
 
To be honest, we can't give any advice without knowing his exact incmoings and outgoings. How long is the loan over/how much a month is it costing?
I personally have a £15000 loan that I'm paying off over 2 and a bit years, which incorporates my car loan and whatever I had on the credit card at the time. Once that's paid for I'm done. It's costing me a fair bit per month, but it gets it paid for quickly with very little interest.

So basically, more info is needed.
 
People seem to be focusing upon the amount of credit - thats not the problem if you cannot afford to pay it back. Obviously the OP can't. Credit is a great thing but as its so readily available people get into trouble with it.
 
Lots of good advice on this forum but I dont remember him asking for people to come on here and berate him for being in debt - he realises he has a problem and that is the most important thing some carry on and on regardless.

To all those who have berated him I hope you never have to come on here or any other forum and ask for advice. Yes he will learn a valuable lesson but in todays buy now pay tomorrow culture money has never been so easy to get. I aplaud the poster for his wilingness to try to get things sorted and his honesty in admiting that his debts are out of control. Good luck
 
first thing I would do is cancel the mobile contracts! why 4 tho, you crazy foo! one contract for each network?

also, maybe sell the car? surely if you payed back a big chunk, you would save a lot of money in interest?

plan B: leave the country ;)
 
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I have absolutely no sympathy at all. We advised you to buy a cheap car, you have simply been living way above your means, i almost feel angry that people like you live like that and will probably get let off some of the money.

Is it that hard, dont spend money you dont have. I never ever have, i always been a cheapskate with everything, all my things are second hand, i dont buy everything i want, and now i have a rather substantial house deposit sitting in a savings account.

Fool. This kind of thing really winds me up, its not hard to make money, dont spend money you dont have. Its simple. What part of this concept has escaped you?
 
Earning £22k pa whilst living at home must leave a LOT of disposable income.

How the hell do you then manage to rack up £10k of unsecured debt with nothing to show for it?

Also, your MSN name is now "Declaring self bankrupt". This is the most stupidest thing you could do.

Seeing as you cannot drive you should sell the car.

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17670780 - Dont Bother.
 
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sorry but where do you get 22k a year from? You work for o2? anual is just over 10 k ish, thats a hell of a lot of commission :/
 
10k debt on 22k living at home should be easy enough.

I earn a little more, but after rent and bills come out, i end up with a very similar amount to what you will take home. I'm on target to save £10k this year (around £11k at the mo, but will be spending lots on a holiday in the summer).
 
lol unlucky.

Seriously, how many threads have you started in the past few months about changing your life? Moving to Ireland or something, Starting a Business, Money Trouble.

Sounds like you have a hard time sticking to life desicions.
 
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