Reached the 50% mark! Now a curve ball.

embarrassed_about_my_debt

I have just reached the 50% mark of my dfw journey :j

Although i've now been thrown a bit of a curve ball shall we say. My original plan was to pay everything off and then look at buying at the end of next year when i had then saved up a deposit.

My gf has just been told she cant drive for 12 months which means if she stays at home she will need to add 3 hours a day to her commute (not viable, i wont let her)

So it looks like we are going to look at renting a place, as there is then a bus straight to her work and would only take 15 mins each way.

If this happens and we do end up renting i have two options

a) carry on as i am reducing my payments to my cc's to about £250 a month and carry on paying my loan at £245 a month aswell but this leaves me with nothing really for emergencies (although i would have savings for car maint, ins and rt)

or

b) get out a new loan and reduce my payments down to approx £185 a month. This would then give me a surplus that will enable me to pay for any unforseen events.

Now i know consolidations are frowned apon on the forum and for good reason,i've done it once and built it back up but not sure what else we can do

Any other suggestions?

claireabelle_2

hiya :hello:
what are your card APRs? I think that would influence my decision, if they are low would keep paying 250 off, otherwise if high, a lower interest loan might be wise. Also done the gone wrong consolidation myself (twice :doh:) but seems like you have your head screwed on and won't do the old get-a-loan-spend-on-cards!
Claire

embarrassed_about_my_debt

Hi Claireabelle :hello:

Only one Credit Card which is 0% till april so i suppose in theory i could carry on til april at least my worryis the lack of available money. We would need furniture and also i know of about £800-£1k that im going to have to pay out in the next couple of months between dentist, insurance road tax etc. Had alot of problems with my car recently and it has left my car maintenance fund with very little in it.

claireabelle_2

tough one!
How about you self-insure? because your credit card is 0%, could you pay a nominal amount off that, say #50 (US keyboard sorry!) and put the other #200 into savings? that way you have a contingency (sounds like you will need to spend most of it though!), and you can pay what's left off the card when 0% is about to finish in April. If that amount won't cover your credit card, is your credit rating good enough to switch again in April?

embarrassed_about_my_debt

Credit rating is excellent from when i have checked, dont miss payments etc (a couple from years ago on there but nothing else) although i've still got a barclaycard with nothing on it that i can always phone and ask about a 0% offer when the abbey one runs out although the limit on the barclay card isnt very high.

claireabelle_2

best of luck with sorting :beer: and well done on your 50% barrier!

embarrassed_about_my_debt

Thanks Claireabelle

Anyone else got any suggestions?

Lula-Hula

Hi eamd,

first of all many congrats on the half way mark :beer: , not sure whether I've understood you right but if all you're goin to be saving by consolidating is £65 a month, is it really worth it.

If you've got 0 % til April then that's 6/7 whole months to really squeeze every penny into debt busting.

Re ; the furniture issue, I know you want to get new stuff but believe me there are some good finds to be had on freecycle & when people know you're getting a place you'd be amazed how much stuff they want to give you :rolleyes:

lula x

embarrassed_about_my_debt

Hi Lula,

Many thanks for your reply. No i would be saving £310 a month approx (£250+245-£185) £250 being what i would over pay CC and £245 being my current loan which would go if i consolidated it (the £185) Hope that makes sense!

The problem being within 4 of those 6 months i know im going to have to fork out approx £1k in expenses, these expenses are regardless of if we move in together or not.

I would def be checking free cycle and ebay for cheap bits that i could find, also the local free ads.

pania

hiya love how you doing? just going to have a quick lookzee then will be back. uno momento...

Lula-Hula

Hi again,

Knew I couldnt have got that right , you're way too smart not to have sussed that out yourself :rolleyes: .

Anyway, Pania's now on the case so I'll bow out & just wish you luck

lula x