Fell off the wagon but want to get back on

brainfreeze

Hi everyone,

After making a good start to becoming debt free I sort of lost the plot - we didn't stop trying to clear our debts but I don't think we were as focussed as we could (should) have been.

However, lightbulb moment number two has hit (for various reasons).

I've just updated the balances shown in my signature and was pleasantly surprised to realise that even without trying too hard we have reduced the debt by over £11k

I am in the very fortunate position of being left a largish sum of money (£30k) and want to make sure I do the right things with it and not waste the opportunity it gives to help me become debt free.

We are up to date with all payments and so do you think any of the debts we have would consider full and final settlement offers?
Everything listed in the signature, apart from Northern Rock, are credit cards:eek: and add up to £38,222 and I would so love to be able to clear them all with this amazing gift we have received.
The Northern Rock is a loan at 8.4% and was over seven years:eek::eek:(why on earth did we do that:mad:) and is due to finish April 2011.

Obviously I would like to pay as much of the debts as possible and know that I need to target the higher interest debts first but if this was you and you had this amazing opportunity how would you handle it. Any advice really gratefully received.....we so do not want to stuff up with this.

Cleosmum

Well done on decreasing the debts whilst not being totally focused. if it was me then i would set myself a challenge to try and get F&F settlements for ALL the debts out of the £30k, i reckon you could just about do it

Good luck with the clearing, you can do it

cantcope

I agree with Cleosmum. Even if you are left with one of your debts you will have so much spare money at the end of each month this will clear really quickly.

However, i would maybe put £2k of the money aside for a treat maybe something in the house or a holiday etc... I'd feel pretty sad if i had all that money and nothing for myself. Not DFW i know but we all deserve a treat now and again.

Good luck

brainfreeze

cantcope wrote: »

I agree with Cleosmum. Even if you are left with one of your debts you will have so much spare money at the end of each month this will clear really quickly.

However, i would maybe put £2k of the money aside for a treat maybe something in the house or a holiday etc... I'd feel pretty sad if i had all that money and nothing for myself. Not DFW i know but we all deserve a treat now and again.

Good luck

We haven't had a holiday for a fair while and I think I would feel so guilty using that much. I think that I would rather pay everything off and have the pleasure of being able to book a holiday with money we have saved - which based on our monthly reduced outgoings once these credit cards etc are paid off shouldn't take too long to do.

But...I do know what you mean about deserving a treat now and again;)

Herewegoagain

brainfreeze wrote: »

We haven't had a holiday for a fair while and I think I would feel so guilty using that much. I think that I would rather pay everything off and have the pleasure of being able to book a holiday with money we have saved - which based on our monthly reduced outgoings once these credit cards etc are paid off shouldn't take too long to do.

But...I do know what you mean about deserving a treat now and again;)

Hey Brainfreeze, at least ur looking at it right, thank god for 2nd LBM eh.

I tend to be frugal and put every penny up to pay off debt before giving myself anything, but as my DS pointed out earlier in the yr, That doesn't work because I'm always in debt cos I leand my money out and don't get it back, leaving me in debt again, so have ended up never having anything nice for myself
So my DS advice is give you a little treat now and again or you'll lose momentum, so lets both have a little one, (no treat silly) and you can still make yourself DF Very soon especially if you use the snowballing efect too.

good luck and you'll soon be having fun lol

brainfreeze

Hi

Thanks for the replies.

I think I am going to try and get full and final settlements, but don't hold out much hope. As we have been meeting all the payments and on time I can't see why they would even consider F&Fs - but it can't hurt to ask. I've worked out I would be offering them each approximately 78% of the debts, so fingers crossed that's high enough to make them at least think about it.

kizzykizzywizzy

Just wanted to ask a question, before the OP offers ff payments.
Would doing this mess up the OP's credit rating?? as the OP does say that they are up to date with all payments.
Just interested to know, as I would've done the same had I thought it wouldn't affect my remortgage :wall: I would be a lot better off now as paid £12k from an ISA off of mine my credit rating is good though, managed to rob peter to pay paul to keep everything paid.
Brainfreeze ( great username by the way ) I think you are doing the right thing using the money to pay off debts, ok you may not have anything to show for 30k, but your life will be so much easier, the kind person who left you that money has given you a better quality of life - which is a fantastic gift that you will always be grateful to them for:A

brainfreeze

kizzykizzywizzy wrote: »

Just wanted to ask a question, before the OP offers ff payments.
Would doing this mess up the OP's credit rating?? as the OP does say that they are up to date with all payments.
Just interested to know, as I would've done the same had I thought it wouldn't affect my remortgage :wall: I would be a lot better off now as paid £12k from an ISA off of mine my credit rating is good though, managed to rob peter to pay paul to keep everything paid.
Brainfreeze ( great username by the way ) I think you are doing the right thing using the money to pay off debts, ok you may not have anything to show for 30k, but your life will be so much easier, the kind person who left you that money has given you a better quality of life - which is a fantastic gift that you will always be grateful to them for:A

I have thought about our credit rating and the effect this may have and do you know what - I just don't care We are happy where we live and we don't plan to move and we definitely do not want to get credit ever again. The only thing we may ever possibily want is, as you mention, a re-mortgage. We are with First Active (horrible, horrible company in my experience) but at least they will always offer existing customers the option to sign in to the latest deal without completing new paperwork as and when exisitng deal we are on expires (providing no changes in the amount of the loan) - so from that point we will always have the option to switch to a currently competitve offer without too much hassle and with no reference being made to our credit reference files.

Thank you for the compliment on my username - I chose it because that is exactly what our debts were doing to me....freezing my brain so I couldn't think at all clearly;)

brainfreeze

Hi all

Thought I would update you all (and my signature). The money came through eventually:j:j:j - the waiting for it was terrible - it was almost worse knowing it was to come and that it was just out of reach than if we had never been told we were getting it (how sad is that!):o

Lots paid off now but we still have £10k of payments to process...so in the next few days that total will be £25,956 and I will do my damndest (is that a word) to get it below £25k. It is such a great feeling of relief to see that huge number dropping.

We did try for F&Fs on some accounts but as we had been meeting all minimum payments that was a definite no go. Also tried obtaining CCAs for all accounts and would you believe...they all came pretty pronto:rolleyes: (was definitely worth trying though:rotfl:)

The bad news is that my job is not very secure at the moment (but then I suppose with the financial situation in the world at the moment that is the case for many others as well). Still at least we can face the possibility of my job ending without too much worry as we can scrape through on DHs income alone.

savingholmes

It's nice to hear some good news and at least this improves your overall situation. I had a similar dilemma earlier in the year when I came into some money - we did buy a Wii with it and an outfit but the rest went on debt repayment. It was only at that point tho that we realised quite how badly we were doing.... up to that point.... Having found this site, we now have a more sustainable way of repaying the rest of the debt - keep the faith, keep posting, stay motivated....

brainfreeze

savingholmes wrote: »

It's nice to hear some good news and at least this improves your overall situation. I had a similar dilemma earlier in the year when I came into some money - we did buy a Wii with it and an outfit but the rest went on debt repayment. It was only at that point tho that we realised quite how badly we were doing.... up to that point.... Having found this site, we now have a more sustainable way of repaying the rest of the debt - keep the faith, keep posting, stay motivated....

If I hadn't been led by the nose to this site by a very good friend then I would still be over £60k in debt and would probably have had either an extension or conservatory put on the back of my house. How stupid is that But it is true. Until I started reading other peoples diaries and debts stories I didn't truly realise how bad we were with money. We lived to what we had coming in, spent more on cards and loans before we had earnt it and were getting in deeper and deeper and because we have a fairly high household income (over £70k pa) the banks and card companies just kept saying yes yes yes!

Whilst I am over the moon with where we are today with our finances, I am more thrilled that my children (all grown up) realise the serious consequences of debt - they have seen the worry and struggle we have been through (which is nothing compared to some of the worries I read on here). Whilst they have mortgages - they are of a size they can easily manage, and they have credit cards, but they religiously clear them in full each and every month. If my financial blunders have saved them from a future with debt worries then it will have been worth it.