The Secret DFW Diary of Eamd Aged 13¾

embarrassed_about_my_debt · 18 December 2007 at 2:29PM

Just joined after lurking around and reading the site.

By the sounds of it some people going through similar things to me.

I had from what i can work out my light bulb moment a couple of months ago. I had a large credit card balance and they changed the interest rate (they told me it was fixed for the life of the card) my interest payments went from approx £50 a month to approx £190 a month and that was the kick up the !!!! i needed to sort myself out.

I opended up a couple of new credit cards (one over 1 year 0% Balance transfer and and a life of balance low rate)

I've managed to near enough stop using my credit card and am trying to get everything down.

My starting balances at my light bulb moment were

Loan £6,371.56
Abbey CC £2,331.80
Mint CC £5,063.50
BarclayCard CC £1,786.29
Total £15,553.15

My debts were built up by stupid spending and having a gf at uni a couple of hundred miles away which resulted in a) lots of travelling (petrol expense) and also as she was at uni and didnt have much money i would pay for things constantly. I did the whole consolidatation loan and then built the CC's back up again.

She is now back and we also want to start looking at getting a house together, something i have told her is impossible till i deal with this lot.

Since my light bulb moment my debts are now

Loan £5,636.38
Abbey CC £2,149.99
Mint CC £ 4,839.50
Barclaycard CC £1,715.76
Total £14,341.63

There hasnt really been a huge moevment on the cards as i've had an expensive couple of months which meant that my spare cash was going elsewhere but once the new year kicks in i want to get my debts falling as quickly as possible starting with the Abbey as these are the ones that increased the interest rates and that i want rid of first.

So thats my story so far, the task ahead is a big one but i am in the fortunate position of still living at home with minimum rent to my parents and little in the way of other payments, only car costs (excluding insurance as i saved up and did this in one lump sum) i get a work mobile so dont have to pay for that although that is only something that happened recently, before that i had two phones as needed calls and text due to gf being at uni.

Think thats it but im sure there will be things i have forgot:o

I want to try and get all thiis paid off as soon as possible, i dont think I earn enough to do it in a year but will try my best

Kylie · 18 December 2007 at 2:39PM

What are the interest rates on each?

Welcome by the way!

embarrassed_about_my_debt · 18 December 2007 at 2:43PM

Mint CC is 0% till November next year

Abbey sent me through a letter the other day saying that they were uping the rate again so need to check that.

Barclay Card is 5.7% (or 5.9% cant remember off the top of my head) life of balance

Loan is 6.9% from memory but the above total includes all interest until the loan is fully paid.

pania · 18 December 2007 at 3:02PM

Hi there!! and welcome to the boards, stick on here for loads of useful help and advice, Hpw about giving us a list of income and outgoings then the fab peeps on here can help you cut back in some areas and reach that house goal without to much trouble. We all got in debt through a variety of reasons, the thing to do now is not look back and kick yourself but look forward to that house with your gf. If you can survive a long distance relationship, fighting this debt will be a doddle.
Good luck and see you soon
P
xx

embarrassed_about_my_debt · 18 December 2007 at 3:10PM

Thanks for the words of encouragement. we only got together 3 months before she left for uni and managed the 3 years which nobody ever thought we would, was hard but worth it.

After tax wages £1180 a month

Out goings

Loan £245.06
CC min payments (based on this months) £178.04
Gym membership £30
Snooper £4.99
Rent £100
Experian £6.99
Petrol Approx £150

Hobbies are bowling and pool which are approx £175 a month

embarrassed_about_my_debt · 18 December 2007 at 4:00PM

Sorry new i would forget something, a first for me which im proud of is that i havent put a single present for xmas on my credit card and all my xmas shopping is done. Would usually have used my credit card mainly and thought "i'll pay that off next month" maybe my way of thinking is finally changing :T

brandycat · 18 December 2007 at 4:13PM

Hi i have just joined after lurking also, I think I am just having my light bulb moment and have not yet had the courage to honestly add up our debts although I know they are in the region of £40k including a £30k secured loan. Our problem is that we are very bad managing our money we have a 3 month old baby ( not in the life plan at all!) aswell as a 5yr old.
The crunch finally came last saturday when i had to go to one of those cash a cheque places to get some money as we did not even have money to pay my husbands train ticket to work or buy any food at all, as we had run out of baby milk shopping was essential.

embarrassed_about_my_debt · 18 December 2007 at 6:09PM

well at least you have taken the first step by coming here, next step is to sit down and work it all out so you know what your dealing with, then you can take it one step at a time!

embarrassed_about_my_debt · 19 December 2007 at 12:10PM

Having thought about this last night ( it has been on my mind alot recently)

I have decided that i need to be realistic in the targets im setting myself and as my loan is fixed this will be the last thing i look at.

My target is going to be to have paid off a minimum of £6k of my credit card debt in the next year. In that time my loan will have been reduced by £2,940.72 meaning my overall debt will have been reduced to just under £5,500.

Of which £2,700 will be my loan and CC debt of £2,700

Im still going to be aiming to try and do more but think the above is more realistic than my target of trying to do everything.

How has everyone else budgeted/set their targets for trying to get their debt down next year?

embarrassed_about_my_debt · 19 December 2007 at 6:09PM

As i said earlier having been thinking about my debt alot and although i know im not in as bad a position as alot of people on here i need to concentrate and get it down as soon as possible,

I've decided to set myself my first mini challenge to clear my Abbey CC by the the end of April.

Im also going to join the sealed pot thread. Although i'll need to empty and count whats in there already so i start a fresh!

wannabespendthrift · 20 December 2007 at 11:25AM

Hi

Looks like you have about £460 left over with no pool/bowling and £280 left over with pool/bowling paid for.

The Abbey CC will need about £550.00 a month for Jan, Feb, Mar and Apr if you want to clear it including interest - play around with the snowball calculation on whatsthecost.com to give you exact figures.

Even if you stayed in for four months (it can be done!) you'd still be about £100.00 short per month to clear this CC. How about a second job working a few nights a week in a bar? Or an ebay blitz?

If you're planning to live quietly for the next few months how about getting true value out of that gym subscription and substitute the time you normally spend playing pool for a extra workout/swim? - far easier to leave the pool etc. alone for a few months when you're still out and about than when you're staring at four walls.

Also, what about speaking to your parents and asking them for an amnesty on the rent to get a grip on your debts? Ask them if you can live rent free January to June of 2008 and put that extra £100.00 towards your debts and then pay them £200.00 per month from July - December so you'll catch back up them with IYSWIM. The £200.00 per month from July won't be so painful as you won't have so much going out in debt repayments and you'll know how to budget by then hopefully!!

HTH.

The Secret DFW Diary of Eamd Aged 13¾

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