# 26 with over 40k debt



## alwaysbroke (21 Jan 2009)

Age: 26
   Spouse’s/Partner's age: 

   Annual gross income from employment or profession: 41k
   Annual gross income of spouse:

   Type of employment:  Civil  Service 

In general are you:
(a) spending more than you earn, YES
(b) saving? VERY LITTLE

   Rough estimate of value of home
   Amount outstanding on your mortgage: 
*What interest rate    are you paying? RENTING 550 PCM*

   Other borrowings – car loans/personal loans etc 
Halifax personal loan 37 k
    credit union loan 6 k
   Do you pay off your full credit card balance each month? no
   If not, what is the balance on your credit card? 1k

   Savings and investments: 2 k

   Do you have a pension scheme? yes

   Do you own any investment or other property? no

   Ages of children: none

   Life insurance: no


*What specific question do you have or what issues are of concern to you? * 
Hi all, Please help im so stressed I am only 26 and im in way over my head in debt.  I have a consolidated college, car and loans for dental bills recently into the 36k loan fom halifax repayng 770 pcm along with rent 550, phone 100, bills 100, i try and pay minimum per month on cc and finally a 300 pcm repayment on my credit union loan.  I have no money to live on and no savings any ideas or comments are welcome


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## biddy (21 Jan 2009)

use your 2k savings to pay off your credit card for a start


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## D8Lady (21 Jan 2009)

Get a second job at the weekend if you can. It will serve 2 purposes: more income  and will reduce ability / time to spend. 

Have you claimed you dental expenses back on tax? 
What kind of phone is causing a €100 per month bill? Change mobile to ready to go or get a better deal. Use it for texting only. Should be no more than €20.


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## j26 (21 Jan 2009)

Your phone bill is ridiculous - 100pm?  Cut down the conversations and bring that bill down.

How long is left on the loans and what rates of interest are you paying?  There might be some leeway to bring down the overall payments within that.
Is the credit union the Civil Service one?  I have heard they may be accommodating in stretching the term of loans to help people in difficulty.

Are you claiming the tax relief for renntal accommodation, and can you claim back any of the dental bills under Med 2?  You might be entitled to a tax refund which might be used to reduce one (or both) of the outstanding balances.

Since you're in the civil service, you should also contact your Employee Assistance Officer to see if there's any help available to you.


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## brazen_dude (21 Jan 2009)

for 41K pay, you get around 2700 take home salary and ur outgoings seems to be 1820... r u missing any other expenses or is ur take home way low than your gross salary?


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## moneygrower (21 Jan 2009)

You're on a great income for your age so you should easily sort yourself out when you put your mind to it. 
Have you figured out how you accumulated so much debt? Are you bored perchance and spending to compensate?


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## Pope John 11 (21 Jan 2009)

alwaysbroke said:


> I have a consolidated college, car and loans for dental bills recently into the 36k loan fom halifax repayng 770 pcm along with rent 550, phone 100.....


 
Quantify each loan seperately for other posters to comment:

Car Loan = 
Dental Loan = 
College Loan = 
Credit Card Loan = 
Total = €36,000

Quantify your out goings/month:
Food = 
Socialising = 
Phone = €100
Bills  = €100
Other,clothes,papers, etc = 
Lunch = 
Petrol = 
Insurance
Tax = 
Cigarettes  =


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## PaddyW (22 Jan 2009)

Rent is pretty dear. I'm sure you'd find someplace, a room in another house, for a good bit cheaper than that. I recently reduced my rent from 500 a month to 325 a month, so you should be able to do it too.


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## alwaysbroke (22 Jan 2009)

Thanks for all the comments, I know the phone bill is massive iv rang the company and im in a contact and cant get out of it but iv cut down and changed the plan so next month I should start to see a decrease. Brazen dude, I forgot to mention my car insurance which i also pay monthly at 133 euro and my VHI which is 70 euro, i also pay into an AVC at 100 pcm , is it a good idea just to stop this altogether for now?
J26 im going to check out the revenue online today in relation to the med 2 form which iv never heard of and i do get rent relief, im not with my work credit union so i think il ring them and see about changing over to them if at all possible.  Again many thanks for responses hopefully il get out of this black hole in the next 3 to 5 years!


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## PaddyW (22 Jan 2009)

I would put that 100 euro AVC towards bills for the time being instead.


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## Kemo_Sabe (22 Jan 2009)

sell your car and get a bicycle instead


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## jimbobman (22 Jan 2009)

what will u do when mr cowan cuts ur income by 10 % next week


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## gillarosa (22 Jan 2009)

Hi,

You are young and if in full health and if you are not anticipating needing to use private healthcare in the next few year I'd cancel the Health Insurance, similarly the AVC if cancellable without penalty I'd do it.

I'd second the sentiment of previous posters, is it possible for you to get a rental house share for €300 - €350 somewhere still close enough to work and your friends?

Please be careful that your phone provider don't tie you in for another extended period in the new contract. For example if you have 4 - 5 months left at €100 pm or 12 months or more new contract at €80 / €70 it really may not help too much, I buy €20 credit on Vodafone monthly and it generally does me as you get free voda-voda calls, but it would depend on what networks you are calling for you to work out which is best for you.

After your re-payments and expenses you are really not totally to the wall, its simplistic but yet brilliant to get yourself a little notebook and write down everything you spend on a daily basis, you will see after a period of even a few weeks where your potential overspend or unnecessary spending is such as magazines at €5 a pop, taxi's, dvd rental, take out lunches or dinners where you can bring your own. Take out €40 from the ATM if your previous practice was €100 each visit, you can't spend it if its not in your pocket. Get your friends and family on board by telling them you are working on getting out of debt and won't be socialising / speding as much for the next while. Do one and only one weekly shop for groceries, write a list and make sure it includes everything you need for the week, even being as pedantic as making sure the milk is in date so you have no need for a quick shop run for milk which may end up costing you €20 after you pay for the impromptu spend we all sometimes fall into in shops. 

Take a break from shopping even for a specified date such as March 30th, stay away from all the lovely boutiques and department stores, you are young and its hard but you may find it liberating.

Join a library, you can borrow books, dvd's, cd's, sometimes games cartridges. So you can still get a cultural kick but not have to fork out for it.

Best of luck!


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## Lia (22 Jan 2009)

I disagree with Gillarosa on canceling the helathcare cover. A colleague of mine (aged 28) was considering canceling their healthcare cover this time last year as part of a New Year financial makeover. Before they got around to canceling it they were diagnosed with cancer. I was chatting with them recently and they commented that had just had the all clear and thanks to the private health cover, they had been diagnosed, treated and given the all clear within the year. I know this is an isolated case but it makes you think.


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## colm5 (22 Jan 2009)

Hi,

If you are in a phone contract you can still change your tarrif, but will be on another contract at the lower tarrif. Examine your phone usage and see if its on the correct tarrif in the first place.If you are buying 600 mins per month and using 200 then its time to change tariffs


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## dtlyn (22 Jan 2009)

Lia said:


> I disagree with Gillarosa on canceling the helathcare cover. A colleague of mine (aged 28) was considering canceling their healthcare cover this time last year as part of a New Year financial makeover. Before they got around to canceling it they were diagnosed with cancer. I was chatting with them recently and they commented that had just had the all clear and thanks to the private health cover, they had been diagnosed, treated and given the all clear within the year. I know this is an isolated case but it makes you think.


 
I second that. I'm also 26 and have private medical health insurance. Came in handy when a series of 5-aside matches resulted in a long term hip injury. Total bills were over 5k.


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## dereko1969 (22 Jan 2009)

your car insurance is huge, are you driving a very large car? if you can sell your car (difficult in the present climate) and either buy a smaller 8 year old car with an nct then that could free up a good bit of money. 
as has been stated in a number of these posts a spending diary is essential to help you track all the things you're spending money on - the latte in the morning at €2.50 will add up to €50 a month etc.


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## PaddyW (22 Jan 2009)

Alwaysbroke, are you positive you can't get out of that phone contract? I was with Meteor and successfully got out of my contract 3 months before the end of it. They said they were gonna charge me 40 euro to break out of it, but they never did. I'm back on pay as you go now and only spending 20 a month. The free web texts are great too. Save me a fortune.


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## BoscoTalking (22 Jan 2009)

can you rent cheaper? if you have a car you can get a room in a house further out and save a bit that way. Downsize the car, ditch the phone, look at the bills more - turn off lights etc when you leave the house, just operate in cash forr a while and see how you go - i mean take out twenty only instead of 50 when you go to the machine. 
Cut the credit card and pay it off fully from your savings - if you can't touch them see can you get your CU to increase your borrowing to pay this off it will be cheaper in the long run i think. Then cut up the credit card - you cannot afford it. 
Stop shopping and take up jogging / walking / gardening / cleaning the house on a saturday - it really is an addiction to go online or into town and buy what you don't need to find a distraction for a while.


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## infinity (23 Jan 2009)

Lia said:


> I disagree with Gillarosa on canceling the helathcare cover. A colleague of mine (aged 28) was considering canceling their healthcare cover this time last year as part of a New Year financial makeover. Before they got around to canceling it they were diagnosed with cancer. I was chatting with them recently and they commented that had just had the all clear and thanks to the private health cover, they had been diagnosed, treated and given the all clear within the year. I know this is an isolated case but it makes you think.



I know this isn't the right forum to bring this up. But I also know someone who was diagnosed with cancer and was diagnosed, treated and given the all clear within a 10 month period. They had no private health insurance. As you say yourself - I know this is an isolated case but it makes you think.



dtlyn said:


> I second that. I'm also 26 and have private medical health insurance. Came in handy when a series of 5-aside matches resulted in a long term hip injury. Total bills were over 5k.



And I'm not making this up - a friend of mine badly broke his ankle playing 5-a-side with me a few weeks ago and is being treated very well for free*!

* i.e. out of his taxes


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## Meathman123 (23 Jan 2009)

I see some of the main personal loan is related to college fees.

If you have not already done so, look at relief for tuition fees on the Revenue website. They have a list of qualifying courses there, on which you can claim 20% relief up to a certain ceiling (I think it is €5k per academic year)


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