I’m taking control of my life, now.

Suffolk_lass · 11 February 2018 at 3:33PM

Well done Paws and welcome back! That really is excellent progress for the first year and don't beat yourself up about treats - life is for living, just not with other people's money!

You need to explore your new remortgage deal in plenty of time - TOPM has just remortgaged and it took ages under the new system to get it through. You should also consider talking to your current lender about whether they might be willing to move you to a better deal a bit earlier (the financial bods are predicting a Bank of England base rate rise in May) - maybe they would be willing to put you on a fix a couple of months earlier than your current deal ends as you are staying with them - as a good customer and all that... you can only ask. It could save you quite a bit and saves involving any broker fees. They might even waive the set up fee.

I have it in my head that all of that unsecured debt is 0% interest - if not, you need to move that too (not into your mortgage though) and not ahead of the remortgage, as new 0% deals will show on your credit checks. I would be making minimum payments on all but the shortest dated loan or card and then smashing that with all the overpayments you can ahead of the remortgage. Then cancelling the card/loan so it also shows you have that wiggle room in your budgets.

Good to see you back!

boxofpaws · 11 February 2018 at 4:33PM

EssexHebridean wrote: »

You're doing fine - this time of year is a good one for reviewing the small stuff I've always found - with the cold weather making indoor (and thus cheaper) pursuits more tempting than outdoor ones in particular it pays to cash in on that.

We've spent a very lazy day indoors today. My excuse is that its frugal but really its just nice to be in my house after the last few weeks

Drawingaline wrote: »

Yey :T missed you!

Time for reflection is always good, EH is right, if you hadn't started this journey you would be in a much worse financial pickle.

Keep posting, I miss you lists :rotfl:

Thank you, you are good to remind me of the lists; they really help in the day to day, everytime I used to do something I would think "oop, that needs to go on the list"

sashybo wrote: »

Hi paws :hello:

Nice to see you posting again. :T Your good things list is much longer than the bad things one, which is another good thing. :j:D

I have definitely heavily editted the bad stuff there!

boxofpaws · 11 February 2018 at 5:28PM

Deleted_User wrote: »

Morning Paws,

You've done really great this past year.

Yay to hubby not being made redundant.

Pmo2
Xx

I really need to catch up with your diary. I love the name of your new diary

Cumbria_lass wrote: »

Paws , always great to see you posting . You have done so well this past 12 months.

What are your thoughts on your remortgage ?

My thoughts are many and confused. I just want the best interest rate possible. The pull to consolidate is strong...I know you guys are going to shout at me now, but I cant help how I feel. It would be so nice to not have consumer debt. I know its not really the sensible thing to do...

Suffolk_lass wrote: »

Well done Paws and welcome back! That really is excellent progress for the first year and don't beat yourself up about treats - life is for living, just not with other people's money!

You need to explore your new remortgage deal in plenty of time - TOPM has just remortgaged and it took ages under the new system to get it through. You should also consider talking to your current lender about whether they might be willing to move you to a better deal a bit earlier (the financial bods are predicting a Bank of England base rate rise in May) - maybe they would be willing to put you on a fix a couple of months earlier than your current deal ends as you are staying with them - as a good customer and all that... you can only ask. It could save you quite a bit and saves involving any broker fees. They might even waive the set up fee.

I have it in my head that all of that unsecured debt is 0% interest - if not, you need to move that too (not into your mortgage though) and not ahead of the remortgage, as new 0% deals will show on your credit checks. I would be making minimum payments on all but the shortest dated loan or card and then smashing that with all the overpayments you can ahead of the remortgage. Then cancelling the card/loan so it also shows you have that wiggle room in your budgets.

Good to see you back!

You are right but you have made me go back and review the cards. I will post seperately on this but I just wanted to say thank you, I hadnt even considered that I would need to move credit cards around ahead of the remortgaging.

I say thanks but you have made me do homework on a Sunday! :rotfl:

System · 11 February 2018 at 6:01PM

Look forward to seeing what you do , consolidating is a contentious issue . However at the end of the day it is your decision.

boxofpaws · 11 February 2018 at 6:11PM

I need to shuffle!

Barclaycard
Current balance £ 2,209.30
Deal runs out 1st April
Avaiable on 0% 3640.7
length until 01/05/19
Fee 2.9%

Lloyds
Current balance £ 4,802.05
Deal runs out 04/03/2018
Avaiable on 0% 3697.95
Length 12 months
Fee 3%

MBNA
Current balance £ 3,925.00
Until 09/01/2019
Available on 0% or money transfer £4875
Fee 3.5%
Length 08/04/2019

We have a loan - current balance £4413

We have 2 Tesco cards but these deals run until Sept 2019 and November 2020!

boxofpaws · 11 February 2018 at 6:30PM

We have credit card limits over those 3 cards of £23000. We have card and loan balances of £15.5k. I get a £2000 bonus in March. This should be easy (shouldn't it?)

Here is what I think we need to do.

Transfer the 3640.7 available on barclaycard to the LLoyds.
Clear the remainder of the £1200 Lloyds, £500 this month, £700k next month.
Pay the rest of my bonus (1300) to the £2209 balance on the
Barclaycard leaving £700 to pay.
Money transfer from MBNA to the loan to clear the loan
Chuck all payments at the Barclaycard £900 on which we would be paying interest (2 months to clear)

We would go from this
Barclaycard £2,209.30
Lloyds £4,802.05
MBNA £3,925.00
Tesco £6,722.63
Tesco £5,625.08
Loan £4,413.36

To this
Barclaycard £4,802.05
Lloyds
MBNA £8,500.00
Tesco £6,722.63
Tesco £5,625.08
Loan £0

motivated · 11 February 2018 at 10:21PM

Hi paws

Decisions decisions. I won’t even try to advise you on which way to go as I’m hardly a financial expert :rotfl:

Hopefully you will get everything sorted soon.

I do think that once you get one thing cleared and closed it will give you a boost. This is what I’m waiting for

Good luck
M

JoJoC · 12 February 2018 at 12:22PM

I'm another one stopping by to say hello - it's great to see you back and I too miss your lists!

Nice to see you have a plan in place. I'm not going to offer you any advice, and I think there's far better qualified people on here to help you, but it's great to see some positive action!

Also, you've done so well paying off so much in a year!

Honeybug · 12 February 2018 at 4:49PM

Hi Paws,

Just subscribed after being a long time lurker on MSE.

Enjoying reading your diary, keeping a focus on the positive things in life also helps keep perspective, so that life does not become all about money and clearing debt. You have many things to be positive about.

Keep going and Thank you.

boxofpaws · 12 February 2018 at 7:48PM

motivated wrote: »

Hi paws

Decisions decisions. I won’t even try to advise you on which way to go as I’m hardly a financial expert :rotfl:

Hopefully you will get everything sorted soon.

I do think that once you get one thing cleared and closed it will give you a boost. This is what I’m waiting for

Good luck
M

Gosh, sorry for all the credit card rambling yesterday. I am a bore! Thank you for sticking with me!

JoJoC wrote: »

I'm another one stopping by to say hello - it's great to see you back and I too miss your lists!

Nice to see you have a plan in place. I'm not going to offer you any advice, and I think there's far better qualified people on here to help you, but it's great to see some positive action!

Also, you've done so well paying off so much in a year!

Thank you JoJoC. Yours is on my list of diaries to catch up on. I am working my way through them, I have missed soooo much. I keep thinking that I will just read the last few pages but I just cant, I have to go back and read it all and there is such a lot, but I dont want to miss any of it. See you soon

Honeybug wrote: »

Hi Paws,

Just subscribed after being a long time lurker on MSE.

Enjoying reading your diary, keeping a focus on the positive things in life also helps keep perspective, so that life does not become all about money and clearing debt. You have many things to be positive about.

Keep going and Thank you.

Ah thanks Honeybug. I am quite positive though, I have a lot to be happy about. And the debt, well, I would rather it wasnt there, but I will not allow it to take over my life.

We control the debt, not the other way round! :money:

I’m taking control of my life, now.

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