How to repay my debt ASAP?

[SuzieBooze]

Can I please have some constructive advice, tips and tricks for paying off my debts?

My Debt is just two accounts. A Credit Card balance of £2650 and a Very account with about £1200.

The very account is from hoover/fridge washer and Freezer. At the time of the purchase I was lead to believe my ex would pay half and we would pay off the debt before interest would be applicable.

Unfortunately this didn't happen. Instead he started an affair with a colleague and moved out.

Very scare times financially as together our income was nearly £92K and a most overnight the house hold income dropped down to just my salary of 22K. Meaning it was just my salary to pay the mortgage, Home and life insurance, my car, petrol, the household bills, childcare, Parent pay. Food etc. So basically I had to find a way to pay £2100 of standard household expensive with my net pay of £1500pcm.

I then had a minor car accident.. the car was in my ex's name. A legacy issue from our married life He was responsible for the insurance, MOT etc. Unfortunately for me, he hadn't bought the MOT up to date. He'd lead me to believe it was due due for some months. Low and behold, I had a Bill to pay. I couldn't pass the buck on to my ex as ultimately my accident , my fault. But also I needed a car for work. So couldn't rely on ex to help me.

Things were bitter and difficult for some months while I got my bearings. But it did result in the credit card debt.

We now have an amicable and more sensible relationship. And he pays me more then the CSA minimum. I now have about £300 surplus a month after all house hold expenditure.

But now I need to focus on reducing the debt.

I've transferred the credit card to a 0% balance transfer card and won't use it for spending. But this only buys me 15 months. And the very card is a stupid rate of APR.

I think my only option is to get a second income. Obviously I will be continuing my current full time employment. But Can anyone recommend work I can do from
Home in the evenings whilst the kids are in bed?

MLM schemes are not an option.

Can you remortgage the house to end up with lower monthly payment?

@SuzieBooze

Can I please have some constructive advice, tips and tricks for paying off my debts?

My Debt is just two accounts. A Credit Card balance of £2650 and a Very account with about £1200.

The very account is from hoover/fridge washer and Freezer. At the time of the purchase I was lead to believe my ex would pay half and we would pay off the debt before interest would be applicable.

Unfortunately this didn't happen. Instead he started an affair with a colleague and moved out.

Very scare times financially as together our income was nearly £92K and a most overnight the house hold income dropped down to just my salary of 22K. Meaning it was just my salary to pay the mortgage, Home and life insurance, my car, petrol, the household bills, childcare, Parent pay. Food etc. So basically I had to find a way to pay £2100 of standard household expensive with my net pay of £1500pcm.

I then had a minor car accident.. the car was in my ex's name. A legacy issue from our married life He was responsible for the insurance, MOT etc. Unfortunately for me, he hadn't bought the MOT up to date. He'd lead me to believe it was due due for some months. Low and behold, I had a Bill to pay. I couldn't pass the buck on to my ex as ultimately my accident , my fault. But also I needed a car for work. So couldn't rely on ex to help me.

Things were bitter and difficult for some months while I got my bearings. But it did result in the credit card debt.

We now have an amicable and more sensible relationship. And he pays me more then the CSA minimum. I now have about £300 surplus a month after all house hold expenditure.

But now I need to focus on reducing the debt.

I've transferred the credit card to a 0% balance transfer card and won't use it for spending. But this only buys me 15 months. And the very card is a stupid rate of APR.

I think my only option is to get a second income. Obviously I will be continuing my current full time employment. But Can anyone recommend work I can do from
Home in the evenings whilst the kids are in bed?

MLM schemes are not an option.

We're on a fixed term so can't remortgage without paying an ERC which will negatively impact the equity I will review when we sell up at the end of the fixed term. (Love my home, want to keep it but need to downsize to make the future less financially crippling)

Check out money saving expert. You need to get the debt onto lowest rates possible then snowball - pay min on all but most expensive and throw your money at that one till gone and work your way along.

Then you need to minimise other outgoings and maximise income

so keep tight budgets or cut things out in th short term, sell off anything you don't need anymore and keep going

Look for opportunities to earn a bit extra - maybe a short term eve job or sat and sunday job to fling at the debt as well

So your debt is £3850? Each month you have £300 left over? So if you put all your extra cash towards the debt you'd have it paid off in just over 12 months. Maybe a year and a half including interest. I don't see that the situation is as desperate as you think (I mean this kindly).
But, at home things. Sewing? Ironing?

in terms of limiting it to when kids are home in bed - you could do VA stuff which is about editing or typing, you don't say what skills you have e.g. graphic designer has more appeal for jobs that can be done eve or programmer etc

Have a look at the Dave Ramsey method, there are videos on YouTube and groups on FB. He's a bit evangelical but his methods are aimed at getting people out of debt and financially independent over time.

If you can sew, masks seem to be a good seller, some people seem to be selling them with matching scrunches on Etsy.

Can you spend some time going through everything in the house and selling as much as you can? It's a good time to sell toys especially.

Also go through your bills, make sure your fuel is the cheapest it can be and turn your thermostat down a little.

If you've got sky/virgin can you get rid of them?

If you're not in a phone contract, search fir the cheapest sim only deal.

Also, lots of fuel companies and water boards have trust funds where you can apply fir a payment to get you out of debt. Severn Trent had a big trust fund if you're in that area.

Do you have any items you could sell?

Could you do something like proof reading?

I was a debt adviser a while ago and it's advisable to first work out how to pay rent/mortgage, council tax, fuel and water bills, tv license. Then other non negotiable s like travel to work, insurance and children's needs, any thing left over is your disposable income from which you can pay for housekeeping and non priority debts like credit cards this will then help to see if you can afford to pay the credit cards. If you have no money to make more than minimum payments you should get advice from a debt charity such as Stepchange www.stepchange.org/ they can work with you and help decide the best way forward, hope this helps x

you say you have £300 a month after all household expenditure.
does that include groceries.
if so, why not pay £300 a month to the very debt, and clear it in 4 months. then start paying same to the credit card.
you will have to cut down on any fripperies.
good luck.
have you asked step-change and or CAP, free debt advice.

How much of your surplus can go towards the debts? If you started in January, could you clear the Very account by April for example, or are there still some essentials needed from that surplus? (Food, petrol, even occasional treats for the DC).

I would get (a carefully costed) Christmas out the way without getting into more debt, then prioritise getting the Very card paid off asap. You could then aim to pay off most of the credit card within the interest free period, then make a decision nearer the time about whether to take out another interest free card or pay a couple of months interest, which may be cheaper than the balance transfer fees.

Contact a charity that will give you proper free debt advice. Such as citizens advice or stepchange. They will help you sort your debts into priority/ non priority and help you fill in a budget sheet to see if you have any income to pay with. If you don't, they can help you contact your creditors and make realistic repayment offers over a longer timeframe or maybe get part of your debt written off.

When you say you have £300, do you mean available to the debt repayments, or does it need to cover more than that?

£300 a month your Very debt is gone in 4 months. Then you have 11 months left at 0% to pay the credit card balance. Totally doable!

Even if you don’t have £300 long term to put to the debt every month, if you can knuckle down and clear the Very balance as quickly as possible then you can ease off a bit with the 0% payments. Perhaps save up instead if paying it all off the 0%. Then if you can’t get another 0% at the end of the term pay as much off with your savings as you can and that leaves you a smaller balance to tackle.

Don’t stress!

Yeah not getting the stress. One year of £300 a month and it'll be pretty much gone. That's great isn't it?

Thanks everyone. I know my debt isn't high in comparison to some but I think I'm still reeling from
The huge change to my finances/lifestyle within the last year. The £300 surplus is after bills, mortgage etc. I've steady combed through and cut back everything that I can. Thankfully I have a small savings pit of £220 that I've already put aside
for Xmas (will cover gifts for kids and extra Xmas groceries).

so I can start paying towards the debt as of my next pay date.

I think I'm definitely needing a second income either which way to help get debt free ASAP and start a savings pot. As one unexpected bill could really leave an impact.

I work for a mortgage brokerage doing administration. I have no formal training or any other real skill set. I've never sewed so can't see anything I'd produce being sell-worthy.

Is there any space on the interest free card to transfer some or all of the Very debt to reduce the interest paid? If so, do that - you can transfer more than one balance to an interest free card, but watch out for time limits to do this after opening the account. You could also try applying for another card - you have nothing to lose.

If this is not an option, vow to be as frugal as possible to get that down ASAP, it will only be a few months. Then concentrate on the interest free card and at the same time building an emergency fund to get in the savings habit.

When the debts are gone, you should be able to build up a decent amount quickly so you'll be able to be a spend a bit more freely and pay for car repairs, appliance replacement etc without getting into debt.

Finally, if you haven't done so already, make the MSE website your friend. Start with the money makeover, for tips on reducing your regular expenses (change your gas and electric, reduce your mobile phone costs etc) and ways to pick up extra money here and there - cashback, bonus for opening a new bank account etc, every little helps.

www.moneysavingexpert.com/family/money-help/

Also sign up to the weekly email for ongoing tips on how to make the most of your money.

Agree with the MSE recommendation and well done for having come so far already in such stressful times. The only thing I'd add is the earn £10 a day threads on here. Lots of ways of earning money many of which can be done while the kids are in bed. Good luck OP

Look around at organisations like churches, they often have part time administrators who work from home booking the hall and doing bookkeeping plus a bit of publications. I work for 3, two are 3-4 hours a week flexible (the other is longer) and pay is living wage.

Ring Very up and try to arrange another payment plan, the interest they charge will be high so explain your situation and try to agree a sum that will suit you.

Have you looked into what benefits you would be entitled to? My income is similar to yours. When DH and I separated briefly, I investigated what I was entitled to and according to the calculators I would be able to get the childcare proportion of UC. I rent though, so I don't know if that would have an impact.

Also, can you increase the limit on your 0% credit card to transfer the very balance over to it. At least that stops the interest.

Do you have a degree or skill? Could you do any tutoring?

Also have you talked to ex about it, especially the debt for the fridge etc. Would he have more disposable income to clear the Very account so it doesn't accumulate more interest and then you pay him back from the maintenance? Obviously depends on your current situation with him.

yes, that's a good point.
if his child is living there, and he has lots of money sloshing about, and you expected the white goods to be a joint payment, maybe he could just pay for these items.
they are necessities of life, and by his unilateral action of splitting up, you have been left in a precarious position, with no warning.
i bet you do the bulk of the child-care too.
his child needs the use of these items. perhaps you could catch ex in the right mood, and see if he might like to see himself as being generous ?

A lot of really good sound advice. I'll definitely try each Avenue. Thanks everyone for taking the time to reply. And for the empathy. It's been a hard run x

Is the mortgage in joint names? Is he paying a share of the mortgage?