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My struggle with debt
Hi all, I'm sorry for the long post. Any advice will be greatly appreciated. I am really struggling. I live in Scotland. Currently on Universal Credit. Single mum of a 6yo. My debt is as follows: Amex credit card - £3300 (currently making minimum payments of £120 a month) Benefit overpayment from 2015 - £1500 (currently…
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How to record Balance on Spreadsheet
Hi All - I recently took out an £18,000 loan with Tesco Bank over 7 years. I have logged on today to see that the balance I owe is circa £27k. I understand that this is because they have added all the interest on at the start - obviously if I were to (fingers crossed) win the lotto tomorrow and pay the loan back in full…
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Facing up and time for action
I've been following some of the stories and progress of other folks on here for a while, so thought it was time to sign up and set out my plans for getting my overspending and my debt under control. In June this year I was carrying £72.1k of unsecured debt across two consolidation loans (!), five credit cards, a store card…
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Oops I Did It Again
After being debt free once you'd think I would have learned...but no, I've done it again. The light bulb moment arrived in 2020 but it's taken me a little whle to get organised as I want to sort out my house as well a my finances. The lightbulb moment was early 2020 when I realised that if anything went seriously wrong…
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Here’s to the future...
Starting credit card debt (combined) was £37488. Current debt: £35285 (-£2203 6%) It was a shock when we tallied it all up. It is a mixture of our recent wedding and being completely frivolous in our 20s. It’s now time to face the music as we want to start a family and so the debt life has got to stop & be cleared. I’m…
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PPI fees / reduction offer
Background: I had a PPI claim upheld from my former bank, approx £5000 using Allay, they charged me 25% (£1450), but I have no income now, killed off by COVID, retired and £25.000 of unsecured debts, minimum pension (£400/m) as well as a serious heart condition which costs me a considerable amount of money to stay alive! I…
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Progressive Progress
So ... I want to use this diary to track a few goals; the main one being to not spend £8000 of income over the coming months. Some of the £8000 will be used to repay some past overspending on a credit card and the rest will be stashed back away in savings under the heading of For When It's Needed to replenish the safety…
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Wobbling my way out of debt
Having joined the DFW board 4 years ago, I decided it's time for a diary. When my husband and I got together we both had a small amount of debt, shortly after we moved in together we consolidated our debts (mistake number 1), throughout the years we furnished our rental accommodation using loans and HP finance (mistake…
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£40k debt, no end in sight. Total mess at the moment.
Hello I’ve been reading these forums for a while and have been on to StepChange and CAB, learning about the various options and consequences for each, and then i finally took
the step of signing up and posting my story. In short, i feel like i’m in a
totally hopeless financial position and i need help. I can’t do any legal…
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Tired of Fighting fires
I have decided to start a diary to keep me in check. Have had a nasty run of events recently that has really thrown our finances into chaos and it has yet again reminded me that I need an emergency fund asap. My mum died in August with no money to cover her funeral so we have a 3k funeral bill to cover. Have paid 1k and…
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Building towards a complete life overhaul....might take a while but determined to do it
Well, after a couple of years away I’m coming back into the fold. Much has happened including being happily single, a puppy that is now an adolescent bonkers little boy, lockdown and all that it entails and ageing but, thankfully, healthy parents. The big issue is that I now can’t stand my job. I’m a senior leader in a…
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Third Time’s The Charm
I have had flickers of a LBM, do well for a bit but fall by the wayside. A lot like my diet, but that’s a story for another day. This is my 3rd attempt at a diary, but not my 3rd attempt to get my finances under control. I have resisted starting another diary because I am afraid. Afraid, I will not stick to it, afraid I…
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PB’s Very Exciting Diary...!
Hello all :hello: The title might be a bit optimistic, I don’t live the most exciting life :rotfl: I wasn’t going to start a diary but I’ve been slipping into bad habits recently & I need to get rid of this debt that I’ve accumulated, so I’m using this as motivation. I’m not in a TERRIBLE position but £16K worth of debt is…
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Accountability, responsibility and debt free.....hopefully
Thank you all for having me. I am in the process of going through all my accounts to
fully understand the debt, but I have a very good idea of how much it is. I
haven’t been burying my head in the sand as such, each month I make a plan to
make payments and most of the time I do but I seem to just then accrue more
debt. I…
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Treading water before learning to swim..
*takes deep breath* Hi everyone, this diary has been a long time coming. I had my lightbulb moment last week, after months of burying my head in the sand. After the Chancellor's Budget announcement I realised I needed to take stock and come up with a plan for our finances, so here I am! I'm in my early 30s, have 3…
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Tightening the belts for unpaid leave
I've been lurking on these boards for years and they are so so helpful. Thinking it's time to start my own debt free diary and keep myself accountable as I am about to start a period of unpaid leave for 6 months from end Feb. I'm not actually in debt so am not going to post a SOA but I was in debt for many many years…
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£50k to zero - made it across the finish line
TL:DR; version - £50,241 of debt paid off. Starting debt higher than gross household income. Thanks to a spending overhaul and strict budget, debt has been paid down with no settlements, no windfalls, no DMP. ****** In December 2016 I had my lightbulb moment when a travel insurance payment got declined. Debt at that point…
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Rennovations and the price to pay..
Hi, I am back and after some planned for spending on the renovations we have also had some unexpected costs. lets just say that buying the worst house in the village comes at a cost. A few major structural issues discovered along the way has blow our budget out of the water and I am now sat here with £27k debt. I have done…
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Help!
Im really hoping you guys can help! I'm new to this site. So bought a small 2 berth this year (23 years old) not perfect by any means but spent on a new refurb and replacing parts ie leisure batt, new tyres, water system, pump, blinds etc. Had 2 fun trips out in her when we were gifted another caravan which we jumped at…
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Let me know what you think
Hi All Wow…it’s been over 2 years since my initial debt free diary and so much has changed since. I randomly stumbled back across this forum online and decided to get another diary going to help me achieve my debt free goals and achieve financial independence. Some background on me, I’m 29 years old living in the UK. I…
