Constantly overdrawn - help?

C

carina

Registered User
Messages
132
Hi guys, was wondering if someone might have some advice for me?
I've just recently moved into my own apartment and while I expected to struggle at the start I am completely broke and max out my overdraft every single month.
Income €1750 p/m
Mortgage €450
SSIA €120
Personal loan €200 p/m
Car Ins is €100
Petrol €100 p/m
Food €200
Ad hoc house things (alarm, tiles etc.) €200 p/m
Bills €60 p/m
Phone credit €100 p/m
I owe about €600 on my credit card, I literally dont have a spare cent so therefore any money spent on entertainment, clothes etc; means either overdraft or credit card.
Any ideas of what I can do?
I am getting very stressed about it.
Carina
 
hi carina

first off congrats on getting on the properrty ladder with luck your property will rise in value and in a few years the worries are gone

do you know what rate you pay on the cc? when does your ssia mature?

this 120 will add straight to your spending power then and ease things
 
How are you spending €100 per month on phone credit?! Seems very high...surely there is €50 euro you can save there straight off by cutting back.
 
1. Can you transfer the outstanding credit card balance to a card that offers zero interest on balance transfers? This will allow you to pay the balance over a few months.
2. Phone credit of €100 per month strikes me as high-can you make less calls?
3. Entertainment and clothes etc. are surely discretionary and should arguably be sacraficed until you have the situation more under control (less stress). I presume €200 on tiles and alarms etc. will cease after a number of months.
4. Is petrol of €100 per month a necessity-can you make more use of public transport or just walk?

You could contact MABS for more advice. There are also many existing threads on this issue.
 
Thank you, it was quite a struggle in the end, hence the Personal Loan! My SSIA doesnt mature until the bitter end - next April. The credit card is with BOI - I didnt even think to check the Interest rate, its 16.8%!
 
Have you a spare room you could rent out for a while, you can rent out rooms tax free (up to about 7k per year) under the Rent a Room scheme...
 
Thanks CCOVICH, I do try to spend less on credit, will try and cut back more. I thought that €25 per week was ok! I only use car for work, cannot get public transport, it doesnt go near my job. I am spending little or nothing on entertainment etc but can't stay in all the time!! Hopefully the €200 will cease soon but theres just so much to pay for!
 
No spare room unfortunately, its a 2 bed apartment & I bought with a friend so thats both rooms occupied!
 
assuming you and your friend are both first time buyers are you claiming the interest relief on your mortgage? Works out at about 66 euro per month, i.e. 33 euro for each of you every month for 7 years....

Also, you may be able to claim tax relief on bin charges although thats only 40eurp per year so its not going to help much.
 
Yes we are claiming Interest Relief on mortgage. Is it worthwhile to change Credit Card providers? EBS seem to have a lower rate (around 10%) Is it simple enough to do?
 
Avoid paying any interest on your credit card-move to one that has an interest free period on balance transfers.

You should not incur any further debts on your credit card as this is only going to make things worse.

Note that you do not have to keep contributing to your SSIA. It may make finacial sense in the medium term, but if debt is causing you stress at the moment, the €120 could ease some of that stress now. You will not lose the benefit of the 25% bonus earned to date if you stop contributing, but leave the existing fund in place until maturity.
 
I believe it is easy to change credit card providers, switch to one with 0% interest (for x months) as previous poster suggests.

Also, are you on free banking? e.g. AIB have free banking if you use the mystro card, it saves me about 20 per quater, again not much but every bit counts!

What TV provider do you have, do you have the basic package or are you spending extra on extra channels?
 
I really want to continue with the SSIA. Will really try to cut down on call credit, magazines, random things first and see if that works.
Will look into getting a card with 0% on it though, thanks for that.
 
Also, are you on free banking? e.g. AIB have free banking if you use the mystro card, it saves me about 20 per quater, again not much but every bit counts!

What TV provider do you have, do you have the basic package or are you spending extra on extra channels?

No am with BOI so no free banking at all!! Quite the opposite infact.
I'm just afraid what with the mortgage, bills etc that changing banks might cause me even more stress? Is it simple or will it take weeks? I dont have much fate after these last few months!
We have NTL but only the basic package which is free at the moment.
Am definitely going to look int this new Credit Card.
 
Another big spend is lunches, with sandwiches being €3-€5 euro that adds up to about €50-€80 per month so maybe you could look at brining a lunch with you to work.....
 
I actually go home for lunch so dont spend that kind of money thank god! Although come to think of it going back & forth every day is probably pushing petrol spend up!
Will check out that thread now, thanks!
 
Carina

I think your phone credit is extremely high. Either make less calls or switch to a better rate! I pay E10 *a month* phone credit. Admittedly I hardly use the thing.

What is Car ins?

E200 strikes me as being quite high for food for just one person (maybe not if you go home for lunch). You might be able to reduce that by having a look at your bill and seeing what is actually not good value or you can do without. Where do you shop? Do you buy much packaged stuff or ready meals etc

*Definitely* transfer the balance on your credit card to zero interest Have you tried to calculate what the amount in interest is each month? You should be aiming to not be paying any interest at all on anything.

I bet if you made a few changes, even though separately it might not look like much savings it would really really add up. I wouldn't cash in the SSIA if you can help it.

I do think that you need to lay low and keep clothes shopping/random/going on to a bare minimum until you get control over things.
 
Your expenses as you have listed come to 1530 which leaves you E220 to spare at the end of each month. If you have this money, pay off car loan (providing you have transfer credit card to o% interest on balance account). If you don't have it at the end of each month it means you are spending more money than you have listed. You need to identify where it is going.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top