Getting rid of debt

[Notsurewhattodo29]

I have a bit of debt that I want to get rid of desperately. It is under 3k but I work part time and have two young dc so it feels like I will never get it paid off. I have a couple of hundred each on two credit cards and around £500 on my Vanquis card that is interest free until October.
I owe £400 to a bailiff but I am paying that off slowly. Obviously everything is so expensive at the minute. Does anyone have any tips or advice on how I can get this paid off? I realise I don’t have tens and thousands of pounds worth of debt but I want to get rid of it and cut my card up.

Anyone ?

Not much we can suggest without knowing the ins and outs if your finances. Your only options are to earn more or spend less somehow to give you more money to pay the debt earlier.

I would recommend the martin lewis website, there are some really helpful guides on there, and a forum if you wish to disclose your details.
I guess the general idea is to try and pay off your highest % first but you need to give details on what you owe, % rates for anyone to help you 😁

What do you mean, tips and advice? The way to pay down debt is to start making payments. The point, surely, is whether you can afford it or not?

I'd also prioritise the debt which attracts the highest interest rate first.

Are you a lone parent? What is your housing situation? Are you claiming any benefits because of your low wage?

I work and get uc

Either you earn more, or spend less. Or a mix of both.
Can you do overtime?
Do you have anything to sell?
Could you do paid surveys or market research?
Do you have shop loyalty points you could use for a week or two and put the money you'd normally spend into your debt repayments?
Can you do a no-spend week/month on extras such as treats, outings, travel etc?

So many ways you can stretch money, but we don't know how much you're currently stretching.

If you’re a lone parent, I would contact Gingerbread - they have an excellent helpline with lots of advice about any additional benefits you might be entitled to, and signposts to agencies that can help you budget to help with managing debt.

If you’re struggling day to day to provide essentials for yourself and your family, consider contacting National Debtline - free and confidential advice on dealing with debt.

Thank you for this!

I haven’t heard of gingerbread before so that is very useful

No option to do overtime
could sell a few bits
I could do paid surveys but have no idea how to get into it.
could do some no spend days or month and see how it goes. I really don’t spend on travel so I do save there.
It’s just all so depressing and stressful. But it has taught me never to get in this position again.

Maximise your income.
•are you getting all your benefit entitlements?
•are you on the right tax code?
• is there anything you can sell?
Reduce your outgoings.
• take time to see if you are getting the best deals for utilities, phones, insurance
•are you getting single adult discount on council tax?
• go on a water meter if you're on water rates. Get water saving devices if you're already on a meter.
•only buy when you NEED, not when you WANT.

Make a job of making your money work for you.

Get help from CAB.

Not directly related to debt - but might help...

If you have young children, register with all your utility services for their Priority Register List - gas, electric, water, telecoms. It's free and might prove useful. You'll receive priority in an emergency such as a power cut, or water cut in your area, and also get advance notice where possible. Many providers also run an identification and password scheme if callers need to visit or contact you, so you can feel confident they are genuine.
www.ofgem.gov.uk/information-consumers/energy-advice-households/getting-extra-help-priority-services-register

Also for telephone and broadband, BT run a cheaper social tariff - BT Home Essentials for families on a low income.

www.bt.com/broadband/home-essentials

If you're currently not eligible for free prescriptions and free dental/optician treatment, check eligibility for NHS Low income scheme

www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/nhs-low-income-scheme

If the two credit cards are charging interest, can you transfer the balances to a new interest free deal?

How much are you paying now? If you're just paying the minimum and it's reducing as the balance goes down, can you switch to a fixed monthly payment that's just above the current minimum as this makes it much quicker to pay the balance down.

What is the money you owe the bailiff for and is this attracting any interest or charges?

If you pay your council tax and/or water over 10 months, can you use the money saved by not paying in February and March towards your debts?

Definitely look at moneysavingexpert.com and read the budgeting advice. Lots of tips for reducing your basic costs to free up money towards your debts. Also get the weekly email for ongoing tips about making your money go further.

Look at the Help to Save account. You won't be able to save much, if anything while you're in debt, but it's ending in September so open one before then and just put a few pounds in your keep it open.

Then try and save some money each month when you're debt free. You'll get a 50% bonus on the highest balance after 2 years and I think another bonus after 4 years. You'll also then be able to build up savings towards annual and irregular expenses like Christmas, school uniforms and white goods replacement so you'll be able to deal with these without getting into debt again.

Some bank accounts pay you to switch to them . I think it's £175.

Do you know anyone with discount cards? I have a card I can get 10 percent off food at Asda. I take my sister shopping with me and get her 10 percent off.

Firstly, do not increase the debt. Do you have any sort of savings at all that you can use in an emergency? If not, have a think about how you can mitigate that if there is an emergency, as that's the most likely time you'll rely on a credit card. I fully recognise that might be challenging in your current circumstances.

The good news about your debt is that it is relatively small - I know you're feeling overwhelmed by it though, and that the size of the debt doesn't matter if you're struggling to pay it. That said, it is small and that's good news when it comes to tackling it.

Have you sat down and had a really good look at your income and outgoings and made a budget? If not that's a good start. A poster upthread said it's a case of earning more or spending less, that's the case basically. I'm guessing earning more isn't necessarily going to resolve it more quickly as you'd lose some of your benefits, so spending less is probably your option.

This is where it being small is good! It might be a case of making some tough choices for a short amount of time, on the understanding that yes you all will need to go without something but it will only be for a very short time. For instance if you are able to find £100/m for two consecutive months by not doing or buying something, not going on a trip with the kids etc, that's one of your smaller cards paid off - and it's only for two short months.

So my best recommendation is to get thee to mse debt free wannabe.

forums.moneysavingexpert.com/categories/debt-free-wannabe

They will want an SOA (statement of affairs i.e. list of assets and debts, list of income sources and outgoings). Outgoings have to be genuine, take them from bank statements, not what you think they might be.

They'll scrutinise all of them, give you advice and then you can go back and post again and again while you sort it out.

Things to think about:

1. Is every bill minimised (i.e. no sky TV, keep internet cheap) - if not, do a switching day and get everything sorted.

1. Regular expenditure like subscriptions - are these minimised? Keeping the odd thing like Netflix if you're going to be at home a lot isn't a bad idea, but e.g. if you have multiple you could have one for one month then a different one for another month and so on.

1. Do you have any habits that make you more likely to spend money? Like top up shops etc?

1. Have you budgeted for annual expenditure? Like Christmas, birthdays, car service etc. This is non optional and is necessary to get you out the cycle.

There will be lots of other things but that forum is the best place for that advice.

forums.moneysavingexpert.com/categories/debt-free-wannabe

Sorry no idea what happened to that link above!

It worked in the preview!

www.google.com/search?q=dent+free+wannabe+mse&oq=dent+free+wannabe+mse&aqs=chrome..69i57j0i22i30i625j0i390.5650j0j7&client=ms-android-google&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8

This is the Google search, flip knows what Mumsnet is doing to my links.

I would very much recommend Christians Against Poverty who will provide free professional advice on different routes out of debt. Worth having a look at the website
capuk.org/get-help?gclid=Cj0KCQiA3eGfBhCeARIsACpJNU_t39Xwv2Yyjx4qBlzET0nSeNL-g-_PUfAl3dGPPs7U_qiUQTAAUKEaAkGzEALw_wcB

Mumsnet often scrambles links to moneysavingexpert. I think they don't want people to see that its possible to run a massively popular forum without cluttering it up with adverts.

OP you can get your broadband for less, Google social tariffs.