What would happen bills wise if I lost my job?

Sell the car and go as cheap as possible on a replacement, use the proceeds to give you some breathing space and take any job that presents itself, money has no shame, you shouldnt either.
BTW 3 credit cards? that is asking for trouble on an average to below average take home wage.
 
Step 1 is amalgamate your credit cards, find a 0% balance transfer deal (preferably 2 years). You'll pay a small fee/percentage for transferring but will allow you to have one single repayment without accruing interest on the debt. Cancel the old cards and cut up the new one you get so you don't put anything else on it which would accrue interest.

What's your debt on each of the three credit cards you have? I did this last year, transferred the outstanding balance on my credit card to a 0% balance transfer deal. I've nearly paid off all the debt, just £400 to go of the nearly £2k I transferred.
 
buckeejit said:
Well, I lost my job in July and got a temp job (12 weeks contract) working for a council. My time is nearly up and I finish at the end of the month. I have no savings whatsoever apart from a few hundred and I was wondering what would happen to the likes of my credit cards if I couldn't find another job in time.

This is the first time in my working life (9 years) that I've not had a permanent job and I've always paid my bills.

My monthly bills look like this:

Credit Card - £40 a month (min payment is less)
Car Insurance - £83 a month
Credit Card - £25.00 a month (min payment is less)
Mobile - £50 a month
Credit Card - £40 a month (min payment is less)
Petrol - £100 a month
Internet - £50 a month

Total: £388

I've been on edge for the past few months as I'm worried about paying my bills, I have not bought anything that I don't need as I knew my contract was temp.

I have a job interview this Tuesday for a 6-12 month contract but am very anxious as to how I would pay my bills if I didn't get another job in time. It's stressing me out loads. If I manage to get a decent paying job then I'm going to clear my debt as I hate this feeling. I've been in the worst form for the past few months as it's all getting on top of me :(

Thanks for any tips/advice.
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You need to sort your outgoings mate.
Get a new 0% balance Xfer card and move as much as you can to it.

Mobile and BB as mentioned above £50 a pop? Are you for real?

your mobile Im assumign is either a brand new iPhone 5 contract or one of those retarded ones where you get like a free PS3 but pay more per month and tbh normally more than the extra "free" gift is worth. If either of these are the case... SELL whatever it is you have, speak to your mobile company and explain and they may be able to let you out of your contract for a fee (which hopefully the selling of the items would cover). Theres that out of the way.

Car insurance.... £83 a month is STEEP, what car are you driving? Did you let insurance auto renew? whens your insurance up? ERC on the current insurance?

If the worst does occur your goign to have to look at downsizing pretty much everything above :/

Hope you get sorted mate, pop yer head over to MSE too :)
 
you dont NEED a car when you are unemployed. its stupid to own a car when the insurance cost £83 a month. that's totally retard
 
Actually that is a good point why is your insurance so high?? Quite a few friends who live in NI and in their mid 20's (21-25 range) all pay £40-60 a month on car insurance. Couple live in Belfast too (which hikes it up a bit) and a few live in the middle of farmer country in Tyrone which isn't the best for car insurance.

That one might be worth shopping around a lot on unless you haven't been driving many years...
 
wesley said:
you dont NEED a car when you are unemployed. its stupid to own a car when the insurance cost £83 a month. that's totally retard
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This is true if you're planning on being unemployed for a long period of time, if not you need a car for interviews and to not have to limit your job searches to those on public transport routes.

Unfortunately having no savings and maxed out credit cards gives you no buffer to buy you time to find another job before you'll have no option to sell your car and cancel your insurance.

MW
 
You should have more than a couple of hundred pound if your bills come to 50% of your monthly wage and you have not been spending it on anything else.

You should have over a grand saved if you have only been paying bills. Which would have given you another 3 months to find a job until you truly ran of of money.

You need to ring these companies which you have contracts with a basically beg them to cancel without a fee. If you explain you have lost your job they might be nice and end the contracts.

You need to be more wise with your money in future, always try to have at least 1 years of bills saved up.

EDIT* you also don't list rent or food costs except £40 for lunches.
 
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Read the thread fella. He lives at the family home.
My first post still stands. Get a job. I know dominos etc in Ards and Bangor are always looking for drivers. If nothing else itll get you some cheap free grub and keep you out of the house which will help keep you happier too. You dont want to get depressed on top of everything else.
 
brendy said:
Read the thread fella. He lives at the family home.
My first post still stands. Get a job. I know dominos etc in Ards and Bangor are always looking for drivers. If nothing else itll get you some cheap free grub and keep you out of the house which will help keep you happier too. You dont want to get depressed on top of everything else.
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I'm getting pretty depressed mate but yeah, I'll be heading there if my interview doesn't go to plan. Debt is EVIL! Never again am I going to let myself get into this hole.
 
Windle said:
Step 1 is amalgamate your credit cards, find a 0% balance transfer deal (preferably 2 years). You'll pay a small fee/percentage for transferring but will allow you to have one single repayment without accruing interest on the debt. Cancel the old cards and cut up the new one you get so you don't put anything else on it which would accrue interest.

What's your debt on each of the three credit cards you have? I did this last year, transferred the outstanding balance on my credit card to a 0% balance transfer deal. I've nearly paid off all the debt, just £400 to go of the nearly £2k I transferred.
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Have tried this mate but have been declined for cards :(

£1900 over the 3 cards which isn't as bad as it could be.
 
giffgaff £15 400 min unlimited txt/ internet, sky £17 unlimited calls and free ADSL 20 meg
i have no idea why your spending £100 a month, i even got back £100 cash back from sky and £20 cash back from giffgaff.
you can get out of any contract if the cost rises, so if they increased any costs on your mobile phone then you can be released from the contract.
use the extra money from the savings you will make on the BB and phone to pay the CC.
 
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Try to consolidate the credit card debt - transfer to low rate card or take advantage of an interest free period (or pay min while you're unemployed).

Change mobile phone contract if you can - £50 a month is steep, you could be on £10 a month. Don't get one of those contracts in future, they're a rip off - tis generally better to buy the smart phone yourself.

Ditto to your internet bill - switch it to a cheaper tariff/basic broadband.

You won't be doing much driving when you're unemployed - so the petrol costs will have gone anyway... As you're not going to be doing much driving when unemployed then perhaps switch the insurance to third party, fire nd theft to lower those costs too. Not sure what the public transport system is like in your area but, if you can, also consider selling the car if you don't find work soon.
 
Internet see if you can downgrade to a lower speed. If you are out of contract then simply move to a very cheap provider.

Mobile you are probably tied into a contract and so little can be done. Although if it's past the halfway mark, it may be possible to move down tariffs.

Sell phone if you have to. Cancel insurance (may still have to pay a bit per month even after cancelling though) and get car SORN if you can do without a car.
 
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buckeejit said:
Have tried this mate but have been declined for cards :(

£1900 over the 3 cards which isn't as bad as it could be.
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I'd seriously consider selling the car to clear the credit card debt... your monthly outgoings are then the mobile and internet costs (which you can also potentially make cheaper).
 
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