Raphael's DFW Diary ~ The beginning of the End

x_raphael_xx · 1 January 2008 at 9:09AM

A New Year, the next chapter.

I felt the best way to start the coming year was to begin a new thread (New Year, New Thread!), plus I felt the title of the old thread 'Any help welcome' wasn't apt anymore, I did try to edit it but for some reason it wouldn't work.

My aims for 2008 are

Pay off all my Debts
Get down to 14 stone (196lb), I'm currently 226.2lb (Just over 16st)

So...how are my finances looking at the moment? My current SOA ...

Monthly Outgoings...

Rent ~ £355.00
HFC Loan 1 ~ £49.98
HFC Loan 2 ~ £85.64
Credit Card ~ £50.00
Council Tax ~ £65.00
Water Rates ~ £28.05
TV Licence ~ £11.41
Gas/Electric ~ £24.00
Mobile ~ £30.00
Telewest (Internet & TV) ~ £23.50
Pet Insurance ~ £7.18
Food Shopping ~ £60.00
Car Insurance ~ £31.93
Breakdown Cover ~ £7.15
Step-dads Car Insurance ~ £29.54 (I'm paying this as he doesn't have an account that allows DD's. He pays me when he sees me.)

Total Out ~ £858.37
Income ~ £1010.21
Balance ~ +£151.84

My SOA is looking a lot healthier than the first time I posted, I'm finally ending the month in the plus! I have £150 to play with, most of which ends up as an overpayment on the credit card.

My debts currently stand at...
HFC Loan 1 (28.5%) ~ Currently £999.60 ~ £49.98 monthly pay,ent.
HFC Loan 2 (21.8%) ~ Currently £1712.80 ~ £85.64 monthly payment.
Credit card (29.9%) ~ Currently £1007.08 ~ Limit £1700
Total £3719.48 to pay!

Now I have a dilemma...thanks to my extra shifts, and double pay over Christmas, and depending on how much I spend over my birthday, I should have a spare £1000 in February!
Do I...?
1. Pay off HFC Loan 1. Which will free up the £49.98 monthly payment, and depending on the settlement figure, will also leave a small chunk for the credit card. One loan down.
2. Pay off the Credit card. This will bring the balance to zero, but will mean the 2 loans will still be owing for the next few months, until I save enough to pay them off.
3. Wait til March/April and Pay off HFC Loan 2. Freeing up £85.64 a month, and one loan down.

I think I will wait until mid Feb, and check the settlement figures on both loans, I'm hoping that HFC 2 will be reduced enough to pay it off at the beginning of March. And extra £85 a month would be brill.

Also, more good news, I've re-snowballed, and using the 'spare' £150 a month as overpayments, my projected DFD is September 2008!!!

If I only ever paid the minimum payment on my loans they would end September 2009, I have brought my DFD forward by a whole year! :T

A good omen for the coming year!

postingalwaysposting · 1 January 2008 at 9:24AM

hi raph, love the new diary, positive start for 2008. Regarding the payments i would say pay the credit card off because that is earing you more interest however loan 1 is the same (ish) so maybe you could do that one? I guess if you could get a f&f for the loan 1 and then chuck the leftovers to the credit card it will solve your problems. Then you also have one loan gone and some of your credit card too

good luck in your debt free year :j

x_raphael_xx · 1 January 2008 at 9:37AM

postingalwaysposting wrote: »

hi raph, love the new diary, positive start for 2008. Regarding the payments i would say pay the credit card off because that is earing you more interest however loan 1 is the same (ish) so maybe you could do that one? I guess if you could get a f&f for the loan 1 and then chuck the leftovers to the credit card it will solve your problems. Then you also have one loan gone and some of your credit card too

good luck in your debt free year :j

Hi back pap!
That is the dilemma, (and what a horrible dilemma to have:rotfl: shame I don't have more of these dilemmas!) I'm trying to weigh up the total amounts of the loans, compared to the interest rates. Option 1 seems the smartest choice at the moment, it's the loan with the highest interest and it will free up a nice chunk of £50 a month. Also depending on the final settlement, I should have around £200 left to put on the credit card. The settlement figures in February should help with the decision.
Gah! I'm wishing the year away already! :rolleyes: Too eager to reach the end! I must remember that saying 'The journey is just as important as the destination.'...or something like that

postingalwaysposting · 1 January 2008 at 9:42AM

Raph when you look at it repayment wise you havent put down a min repayment for the credit card, so i am guessing this comes out of the £150 spare each month. Whereas the £40 is budgetted to hfc 1. if you got rid of hfc 1 then you would have nearly £200 to throw at your credit card each month. Put that into the snowball with just loan 2 and the credit card as the balances stand now and see what you get

x_raphael_xx · 1 January 2008 at 9:55AM

postingalwaysposting wrote: »

Raph when you look at it repayment wise you havent put down a min repayment for the credit card, so i am guessing this comes out of the £150 spare each month. Whereas the £40 is budgetted to hfc 1. if you got rid of hfc 1 then you would have nearly £200 to throw at your credit card each month. Put that into the snowball with just loan 2 and the credit card as the balances stand now and see what you get

The last few months I've been throwing as much spare cash at my credit card as possible, usually around £200 a month. I put a £50 payment on my budget (minimum is usually around £20-ish).
When I did snowball I told it the money I could pay all debts was £300 (the total loan payments, plus an extra £115), I didn't want to put all my spare cash in it, as some months I may need to use the extra for birthday presents etc.
If I pay off HFC 1, I can pay £250 a month onto credit card (best case scenario) plus the less I pay out in grocerys each month, means I can stick the rest on it too.:D

Lemon_Tree · 1 January 2008 at 11:46AM

hi and Happy New Year

I agree with PAP pay off the loan 1 and bung the extra on your credit card. You'll then have that payment to play with and know that your guarenteed minimum payment on the CC wil be that much higher in case you get a month with less overtime etc.
Hope that helps, wish i was so close but at least i'm closer than i was.

jamesd · 1 January 2008 at 3:06PM

HFC1 then credit card looks like the best combination here if you're not willing to apply for more credit.

But September is 9 months away and trying to get a credit card with 0% for spending or 0% balance transfer and say 2% fee looks like a good idea now. You know you'll be able to pay it off before the offer period ends and it'll eliminate most of your interest payments. If going this route, paying off the larger HFC2 loan would be the better initial loan repayment choice, particularly for the 0% for spending option. It'd reduce your required minimum payment monthly outgoings the most and make you a better candidate for a balance transfer card in a couple of months if you were declined for one now.

What you might do instead is have a word with your bank, show them the numbers showing that you'll be free of debt in September, and ask them if they would like to be the ones making the money by offering you a 4,000 personal loan for a year at a much better rate than the current loans and credit card. Then you repay the personal loan three months early.

Great job on the debt clearing! And on the weight losing as well!

x_raphael_xx · 1 January 2008 at 8:00PM

Lemon_Tree wrote: »

I agree with PAP pay off the loan 1 and bung the extra on your credit card.

jamesd wrote: »

HFC1 then credit card looks like the best combination here if you're not willing to apply for more credit.

Ok, looks like option 1 it is!

jamesd wrote: »

But September is 9 months away and trying to get a credit card with 0% for spending or 0% balance transfer and say 2% fee looks like a good idea now.

Unfortunatly I'm still being turned down. A couple of weeks ago Abbey had an offer, to switch my Abbey MBNA credit card to a straight Abbey one and get £100. I was turned down again :rolleyes: despite having a large chunk paid back on the credit card and a loan down.

jamesd · 3 January 2008 at 6:03AM

You might give Zopa Listings a try. The minimums that Zopa will accept there are not really clear but they seem far lower on income than their main markets.

I've never lent there myself. From the look of the past listings you'd end up with something in the 10-12% range. But I can't say if Zopa themselves would accept you or not, even if the lenders do - just too little history because it's so new.

x_raphael_xx · 3 January 2008 at 11:08AM

Thanks Jamesd, I will have a look, got to get to February 1st!

Well, I drove up to my dads yesterday, petrol came to just over £20, my bro paid half of this so thats good. Also bought myself a couple of books in Worthing town centre. (One on Kublai Khan, grandson of Ghengis, nad one on cannibal killers.)
I had a bottle of 'Russian Standard' vodka from my dad for Christmas, and it's lethal! I had one glass and was hissed!

Tonight we are off to the cinema, not sure what we're watching, but bro & dad are keen on the new Will Smith one 'I Am Legend'. Dad usually pays for us, so I suspect either a NSD, or I might buy the sweets, so a Low SD.

Me & my bro have devised a challenge between us...I have to lose 2 stone by June (bring me to 14 stone) and he has to have passed his driving test (not taken the 1st lesson yet!)
This is definately do-able for me, I need to lose around 1 lb a week, unless I get too complacent!

postingalwaysposting · 3 January 2008 at 11:19AM

good luck on the challenge raph ~ you can do it. I did lol about the vodka yesterday sounds like it will last a long time then

. Hope you have a great night and if i dont 'see' you before happy birthday for tommorow

dont get too drunk

have a nice break and catch up soon ~ ps fingers crossed you get your terrmundi xx

Raphael's DFW Diary ~ The beginning of the End

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