On a mission to free myself of debt...

Exerbusi

Another NSD for me today. I reckon I have about 3 days more petrol in the car before I need to buy more, taking me up to pay day before I need to spend again.

Food supplies are fine still, so hopefully I can get away with it for a while. I have to re-tax the car on pay day too.

Exerbusi

Morning all.

Another NSD today - I think that works out as about 9 or so in total, which is probably about £18-£20 in real terms! When I put it like that it is much more motivating.

Speaking of motivation, I feel I may need to buy some! I have 4 pieces of work that I need to do. They are not difficult,and to be honest are only moderately time-consuming (about 4 hours all-together) but I keep putting them off, which is frustrating me. I will see if I can get them done today.

I am preparing a big batch of spaghetti bolognese soon which should last me for about 3-4 meals. I have loads of pasta in storage, so have ready-made meals for a few days.

Pay day in 2 days and I have resturctured payments so they will come out of the bank within 2 days of me being paid, meaning I will have a clearer picture of what is left after my bills are paid much sooner than I did previously.

My attentions have turned towards Christmas now, but only because I want to see what bargains I can pick up in the run-in. I want to buy for my family and spend less than £120 all-together. That will be very difficult, but I will keep a quiet eye out for credit-crunch beating bargains!

Butterfly

Yes I was in a similar situation to you 5 years ago....I had a poor credit rating, not because I had overdone getting credit but because I had never actually got credit out and I had never put myself on an electoral roll, all because I didn't know about these things. I was actually good with money, I thought it was enough to pay all my rent and my bills on time.....but that doesn't mean jack in the real world, I was very naive and uneducated. Because I'd never had a credit card or anything before, it was like I didn't exist.... At the ripe age of 30 I was thinking of buying the small property I was living in as the landlords offered to sell it to me, but I wasn't able to get a mortgage, that's when I realised my credit rating was poor. Since then I foolishly got credit with my bank Lloyds TSB at a ridiculously high rate - between 17-19% I can't remember now - thinking it would help my credit rating. But it didn't. I got a £5k loan and a £3k overdraft which I spent on nothing. I also put myself on the electoral roll. I got myself in to about £11k of debt with the interest on top. My bank were the only ones at the time who would lend to me. I kept trying other lenders but always got declined. About 2 or 3 years in to having the debt with my bank I applied for a Virgin loan to consolidate my debts. They accepted me and the interest was lower at about 14%. I then found I was getting credit card applications in the post and I was being accepted, obviously my credit rating had been repaired. I went abit silly and got about 3 different credit cards.....the interest was being lowered all the time though. Then finally last year I got a 0% credit card with Egg and I did a balance transfer of my Virgin loan and about 2 credit cards. And now I am about 10 days away from being debt free! This has all taken me 5 years, but the effort and education is so worth it. Good luck with sorting yourself out, if I can do it then you can.. The best advice I read to get out of debt is this: to get out of debt, stop debting! This seems so obvious, but is true. Butterfly x

Exerbusi

Hey Butterfly - I imagine your situation is one that is quite common. The thing is we are not educated on banks and banking systems in school - this leads to confusion and sill ymoney management later in life.

Everything I know about money and banks has been self taught, and I know very little really. I am learning all of the time.

I am really getting into it now as I can see the fruits of my labour. I have set myself a target of being debt free within 18 months - this is a tough target but one I feel I can achieve - the aim is to reduce my overdraft first - hopefully have that to £0 in the next 6 months or so. That will give me just over a year to pay off my loan (which by then will be down to approx £1500. My credit card is going to be put onto a lower interest rate, and all extra money will go towards paying that off.

I think for me the problem was I was quite blind towards my money - I have enough to meet my bills, like you, and it seems fine. It was only when I actually took a step back and thought about it (I think it is called a light bulb moment on here) that I realised that I was actually in quite a lot of debt (just short of £8,000).

I have broken it down into smaller targets now, and aim to have it removed ASAP!

1. Overdraft - Get my bank balance back in the black.
2. Credit card - take advantage of a lower interest rate. After all of my bills have been paid this month I am going to see how big my safety net is, and if it is OK I will cut up the credit card.
3. Loan - This is paid monthly so isn't a huge concern right now. By the time i am ready to address this fully I will be looking at a much more manageable amount and may even be able to pay this off in one go with a bit of saving!

I am using visualisation techniques to imagine my life when I am debt free and not living pay cheque-pay cheque! It is a nice image!

Exerbusi

Well what a day!

I have been working especially hard at work recently, bringing in new clients, teaching new courses, working lots of overtime etc. I knew this would come with a financial bonus of osme sort, and I expected a nice pay packet this month. I was handed my wage slip today, and eagerly opened it...

.... I received £700 over my retainer salary! Woo hoo! I was so happy I let out a huge laugh! It was more than I expected and I had to double-check that I hadn't misread it!

This now means that I may - and it really is a may - be able to pay off my overdraft a whole 6 months earlier than I expected! That would be an incredible boost to me and would really change my financial outlook.

My overdraft accounts for £1200 of my debt - or 16% of it. If I were to get rid of this and be able to keep my bank account in the black, even after all of my outgoings it would really be incredible. I would be able to build interest on the money I have, and I would be able to pay off the CC quicker without having to worry about whether or not I had any money left over!

I so so happy - all of my hard work recently has been worth it. To be honest, it has left me shattered, but having that payslip made it all worth it!

Now I have to plan my finances and make sure I haven't gone overborad with excitement. If I allow for every possible outgoing and still have money left at the end of it, I will clear the overdraft completely and cut up the credit card. The next mission will be to pay that off ASAP, and I will do that by throwing every spare penny at it!

If I can do that within 10 months or so I will be very happy indeed, and it will leave me with a loan that has been quietly chipped away at in the process. Debt free in 18 months?

Certianly looking that way....!

GettingThingsDone

Hi Exerbusi, and welcome to DFW!

One thing that I did that really helped me was to just get my credit file - I went through Quidco - I think you get £7 cashback for 1 month's free trial.

It's definitely worth it to know for sure - I thought I had a terrible credit rating before I checked, but it was actually pretty average and I now have all my debt on 0% cards. Knowledge is empowering!

Good luck and keep posting!

gtd

Exerbusi

Hi GTD!

I have heard a lot about quidco - what exactly is it? (I could look myself, but I am very busy writing dietary reports for clients and an overview is all I need!)

I am fairly sure I have a dodgy credit rating, but am determined to repair that asap! I have my debts on automatic repayments, so I never miss a payment now.

If I can clear my overdraft I will remove it totally, meaning I wont ever need to go in there again, so that is a debt paid off too!

Getting there slowly....

GettingThingsDone

A really simple way to get your head around cashback sites (such as Quidco) is to think of companies paying you (cashback) to buy their products from them i.e. they just give you some money instead of spending money on advertising to convince you to buy from them.

It's really simple - let's use your credit report as an example:

1) Sign up to quidco (and/or other cashback sites)
2) Log in and search for 'credit report'
3) Experian are offering £7 if you sign up for a one month free trial for example.
4) Click on the link to Experian and sign up for the one month free trial
5) £7 will 'track' in quidco - in about a month or so the cash will be transferred to your bank account/paypal
6) Remember to cancel the free trial before the month is up if you don't want to pay for it.

It is literally free money. Before I buy anything online, I always check the cashback sites first. It's quite 'easy' to earn £100's over the year.

Again, I recommend getting your credit report - you may be in a stronger position than you think you are.

gtd

Exerbusi

Afternoon all!

Late update today as I was out early on a course for work.

Well I had to buy petrol today, so my NSD was out. I spent £20, and I am hoping it lasts a fortnight. I usually manage to make £10 last a week or so, so I hope this will be the same.

Storecupboard food tonight again, which is easy due to the bargains I had the other night in Tesco.

Checking bank later on, making sure my money is all sorted out! Could be an exciting time!

Exerbusi

Furious with HSBC.

I called them tonight about the offer they gave me on the credit card - 4.9% for 6 months. I spoke to a guy on the phone this evening who said he had never heard of the offer, and there was nothing on my file. He has managed to put my interest down to 15.9%, but that is still much more than I would like!

I now have to wait up to a week for someone from the cards department to call me back about the deal.

Waste of time.