Am I getting there?

Northernbird_2

I'm still in fire-fighting mode when it comes to my debts, and I think I've made a couple of steps forward.

Mint have agreed to freeze charges on my account until I get back under my limit again. I've agreed £62 per month for the next 5 months. I've cut up and returned the card (which is probably a good thing!).

Capital One have agreed to freeze charges until I'm back under my limit (as a goodwill gesture as they put it), and I'm going to continue paying the minimum payments so I can concentrate on the other fires.

Co-op are still going to slap on £25 charge each month until I'm back under my limit which is a bit poo but understandable.

My HSBC cc and Barclaycard are now just under the limits so I can start making headway into getting them down.

Egg have agreed for me to pay my arrears over 6 months in addition to making my regular loan payments which I'm pleased with.

The big thing at the moment now is my overdraft connected to my bank loan. I'm over my overdraft limit by £1000 and my loan standing order has to be linked to the account. I've mentioned this in another thread as I'm still unsure what to do. The only suggestion one bank person had was to put my cc, loan and o/d into a managed loan but the interest rate would be variable and higher (probably around the 15% mark) and my loan is a 4.8%. Don't really want to pay thousands more in interest for the sake of £1000 on my o/d. My only thought was to pay the loan payment direct into the loan account so I don't go in arrears and then concentrate on putting as much money as possible into my current account to bring down the o/d.

Extra money coming up: Feb and Mar I don't have to make council tax payments so that £212. I may be getting a pay rise in the New Year (fingers crossed), so that could be another £50 per month. Looking for a second job for the weekends, thinking about teaching piano again. Selling loads more stuff on ebay. I've heard you can take payment breaks on Egg loans, is this true?

I'm still working on getting my housekeeping expenses down following my posting my SOA a while ago (thank you to all for advice on that one).

Little tiny steps.......

System

Hi northernBird,

I was in the same situation (althought not quite as bad, but still getting dd bounces at £20 a time) a few months ago and by making seemingly small changes, it all adds up and it makes it easier. I now know I can see the end of the month out and not have to worry about bounced dds etc. Then it all kind of snowballs from there.

I even have a modest amount in savings, whereas I never had any before so when my cat needed the vet, I knew I could afford to get him fixed rather than worrying how id pay for it.

Put another way, in the space of a few months i've managed to knock my egg card down from £2300 to just under £1000 and save myself about £25 a month in interest also. Its a great feeling to be able to know you dont need them anymore and how they squirm to keep you All good fun

Best of luck

Stu

Northernbird_2

I'm wondering if anyone can help me. As previously mentioned, I had a plan to pay my loan payments directly into my loan account until I could get my current a/c overdraft back within its limit as last month the loan payment was returned. I don't want to default on this loan for the sake of my o/d. However, I just tried and the bank told me that I can't do that. The payment has to go from my current a/c. I need to ring and see if they will process the payment this month, but they may not let me.

Eek! I did go to see them last weekend, but the person I spoke to said my only option was to go for a managed loan for my o/d, cc and personal loan (with a much higher variable rate of interest). I would end up paying thousands more in interest.

I know there's probably not much I can do, but I thought I would ask??

roadrash

Northerbird,

I too have a loan with Egg, at around £5000.

I can confirm that you are able to take repayment breaks of upto 3 months at a time, but you must of ben making regular payments for around 6 months I believe.

Just give them a call. They can only say no!!