Tales from the city

misstara wrote: »

to MBNA card not giving you a balance transfer deal however I've no doubt that you'll find another way of getting a 0% deal.

Thanks misstara, MBNA is now paid off in full so I'm going to keep the account open and check online to see if they add any deals. Enjoy the movies! We never go either cos its so expensive but this deal looks really good.

I got my PPI offer in...£410!!!! :j:j:j I'm so pleased! The refund amount was £230 then they added the 8% interest and the amount shot right up! Yey! It's all going straight to the debt.

I'm inspired now to keep hassling A and L, nothing to lose really, a couple of phone calls more and a slight bit of stress from them is totally worth it.

in_need_of_direction wrote: »

Well done. Things appear to have completely turned a corner for you.

You know, I think things have turned a corner. I'm not sure how or why but I'm going with it.

fuzzyduck22 wrote: »

Love your diary! Yeay to the PPI

Hi there fuzzyduck, thanks for dropping by, words of encouragement are always appreciated around here.

So I've been up since the early hours working on my financial master plan. I won't bore you with the details of it all but since the cash required for the house move is sorted I thought it's time for a new short term goal.

I am going to pay off my target credit card by the end of the year. The balance is £2.5k. With £625 deposit cash and £410 ppi that's a good chunk of it gone. The rest will require around £500 per month payment. I'm not sure what the interest rate will be so I should probably go and figure that out and be exact about it.

It's good to have a plan.

I just got offered £6.5k interest free for 3 years which means there is more than enough credit to get everything moved to 0% and for a good long time. :beer:

I'm now thinking that I should be paying my cash into high interest savings accounts until the 0% CC deals end and I then pay them off with the savings.

I'm not very good at all this and am not sure what to do. I've had a good old look at all Martin's info on here and I have a few choices.

1. I could switch bank accounts for £150 bonus and a linked regular saver at 6%. This would mature, giving me £150 in interest, in time to pay off the first of my cards due to finish the 0% deal next November. Downside, I need to move bank accounts which is perhaps too nerve wracking to think about.

2. I could open another account which does not require a switch and earn 5% on the balance up to £2k (so essentially use it like a good interest savings account). No direct debits from this account required. I can also have a linked regular saver at 5%. I could also earn 5% cash back on the first £100 debit card payments I make, meaning £5 per month.

3. I could admit that I can't manage money very well and not do either of these things, but make over payments to my credit cards every month and watch the balances go down.

I'm thinking choice number 2 might be good as I would really like to learn to try and manage my money, and make some interest from the banks who have screwed me over all these years. And it's a less nerve wracking thought than moving bank accounts.

Anyone tried any of these things and have any thoughts about it? The regular savers look ok but the deal is for 12 months and you lose the high interest rate if you make a withdrawal. It doesn't feel too risky because there's a maximum amount you can pay in each month so I won't be putting all of my card repayment/extra cash in there. There will still be some to overpay with or use for emergencies.

I think this is all about having confidence with money management and I don't have much but would like to build some.

Any thought about this would be very much appreciated.

Thanks misstara. I have no idea what I'm doing either but I can share on here, if anyone's interested, about how I get on with it all.

I had a spendy day yesterday, a friend's leaving lunch, but it was budgeted for and well worth it. So sad to see her go though.

Payday on Wednesday, 2 days away, and it can't come quick enough. Things have got a bit muddled this month and will likely still be muddled next month, with the move and everything, but I'm trying to keep on top of it. Unlike in the past when my head would have been buried right in the sand. How things change.

Happy debt busting day everyone.