Newly married Geraint Davies has a lot to be happy about. He lives with his wife Kellyanne and toddler daughter Isabel, and they have baby boy Rhys on the way.
The family live in their own home in north Wales and Geraint works as an aircraft technician at Airbus, which he says is the "best job I ever had". Kellyanne works 24 hours a week as a shift manager at McDonalds.
The only cloud in the sky is money. He owes £2,447 on two credit cards and has a loan of around £4,000. "We're struggling," he admits. "If we could save some cash I'd pay off my debt faster."
Well, our crack team of researchers went to work, saving Geraint a total of £1,309.06 a year.
He says: "I am surprised because it's a very, very big saving. I'll be spending the extra cash on the wife and kids. I'd definitely recommend a money makeover to anyone looking to save some money."
We found these savings using the tools available on moneysupermarket.com. Here's how.
When Geraint contacted moneysupermarket.com, he was really keen for us to help him cut what he's paying in interest on his debt.
He is paying 21.95% on his Halifax credit card, which has a balance of £1,797.68. An Argos store card is charging even more, at 27.90% on a balance of £650.
In addition to that, he owes around £4,000 to Home Shopper Finance and is probably paying 18.90%, although he isn't quite sure.
Geraint knows he will not qualify for the best rates on offer as he has been refused credit in the past. That means he'd struggle to switch his debt to a low-cost credit card or one with a great introductory deal.
However, he could have more success approaching his existing bank, Halifax, and talk about a consolidation loan. Because Geraint already has a relationship with the bank, he stands a good chance of being offered a loan of £6,500 over five years, paying 17.4%. That would save him £656.51 a year in interest payments.
With a toddler in the house, home insurance is a must and Geraint sensibly has a policy in place.
However, he's paying £556 a year for home and contents cover, when he could move to Home Quote Direct and pay just £184 a year. That policy includes accidental damage and allows the household to save an incredible £372.30 a year.
Thousands of people in the UK are paying more than they need to for their gas and electricity because they haven't shopped around for a better deal.
Geraint is in this position. He's signed up to E.ON's prepayment tariff and is paying around £900 a year. If he moved to EDF Energy's Online Energy V5 deal, he'd pay just £679.75 a year - saving £220.25.
To switch from prepayment to a billing arrangement, the Davies would need a new meter and there may be a fee for this. However, moneysupermarket.com utilities expert Scott Byrom recommends that they ask the new provider to cover the cost.
At the moment, Geraint pays £15 a month for mobile broadband and £28.50 for his Sky. He doesn't actually need portable broadband and if he also used Sky to supply his internet, he'd save £5 a month - £60 over a year.
Do you think we could save you money? If so, and you would like to feature as one of our makeovers, contact us at makeover@moneysupermarket.com
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