NEW - pay off £20,000 (ish) by Christmas 2009

Karmacat

Batfink wrote: »

Thanks Earthstong - knowing how much I've given up to pay off my own debts, without asking anyone else for help, I decided to say no in the end. I feel mean but the fact is this is the first time I've had a bit of money spare in years, and selfishly I want to keep it.

I don't often come on here, but I think about the challenge quite a bit, and keep it in my sig, tho because of personal reasons I haven't updated it for ages (just off to do that now).

Before I go on to my stuff tho, Batfink, I think thats very assertive of you to have said no - well done. I don't think its being selfish. I don't know whats going on for the friend either, of course, but you've looked at what's going on, and judged that they've still got leeway, if they did but know it. Hope you feel okay now about it all - don't let it linger!

Anyway .... I reassessed where I was with all of this, and its a bit complex (isn't it always, sigh ....). The figures on my Northern Rock loan are easy, perfectly straightforward. But I have a French mortgage, and the capital amount I repay on that changes wildly every 3 months because of LIBOR linkage. And I had to figure out a way of translating that back into sterling. Plus I have the proceeds of an ISA I cashed in sitting with my mortgage provider. I'm not counting that, but I *will* count the monthly overpayments that happen as a result of that (haven't got the mortgage online yet, so I'll be back about that one).

So, the current figure that I've paid back, counting a £1000 overpayment on the English mortgage, loan repayments and French mortgage repayments, is £4797.37 (was £3660). That should go up by about £400 next week when the next French mortgage payment comes up.

Right, off to update my sig, finally. I'm doing a lot of housekeeping on mse at the mo, ready to go forward again after having to lie low for a while.

Hope everyone else on here is well, and I'm sorry I just bust in sometimes with a humongous great post

Karmacat

The ways of financial institutions are downright complicated. My sig says I have £37,900 outstanding on my mortgage. My online banking, which I've just set up, says I've only got £35,468.27 outstanding. A lot of this is the ISA proceeds I've stashed in there, as I may need them if anything dastardly happens, which means £35,468.27 + 2367.44 = £37,835.71. Thats still a difference of £64.29 - in my favour! So I'm not going to complain, but I would like to know how it came about. I have two ideas:

- the ISA amount above, and the last ordinary overpayment of £500 I did, are both allocated to reducing the capital balance rather than reducing the monthly payment.

- the balance outstanding changes on a daily basis.

So I'm going to have to log on every day to see that change, and for the next few days of next month too, to see the effect the calendar has. Nationwide are absolutely appalling to talk to about the principles of debt repayment, even if they have comparatively flexible products, so I really can't cope with talking to them again.

While all of this isn't immediately productive, I'm really glad to be getting a handle on all of this again - or for the first time in some cases. Information is power!

Uniscots97

Managed another payment of £240.01 even though I had to pay out for car repairs :eek: (yes they were scary but thankfully had money there to cover it but had been hoping to throw that at the debt too!)

hypno06

I've neglected this thread a bit recently - sorry guys!

I have been busy though, paying about £1500 off in the last month or so.

Today I had a normal loan repayment come out which reduced the capital by £31.......

Some way off my target of £30k, but should be able to make the £20k without stressing myself too much.

Batfink - I am glad you said "no" to your friend. I have had a friend offer me help (eg when my laptop died and I needed one to do self employed work, but couldn't afford one/get credit etc and she offered to lend me the money to buy one) but have always said "no". I would not want to ruin the friendship should things go wrong - either I can't afford to repay, or she may have a change in her own circumstances and may suddenly find she needs the money quicker than we agreed.

So, best left alone, I think. I don't envy you having to say "no" though.

Princess_Janey

hypno06 wrote: »

This is the place to stop faffing and start focusing!

This time last year, pollydaydream set up a challenge to pay £20,000 off her debt. OK, it sounds like a lot of money, but a lot of us have big debt numbers and so when you think about it, we may be reducing £1000 + per month just by making our minimum payments and not taking out any extra debt.

That means that if we focus on the debt, and stick to our budgets, we may well be able to pay back £12,000 ish just by making our normal payments!

So with a bit of focus on those budgets, a bit of effort to raise some extra money to throw at the debt, and a huge amount of "not faffing" WE CAN DO THIS!

So, whether you have £19,999 of debt to your name, or £100,000 outstanding, why not join in the challenge! If you can pay off £20,000 (ish) by Christmas 2009, think of the progress you will have made!

Of course, if £20,000 is not your "number" then you can work to your own figures.......personally I will be aiming a little higher at £30,000 but pick your own number and let me know!

The challenge starts on 1st December so post here with your targets and then as from Monday you can start totalling up your payments (just right for those 1st month direct debits )

1. hypno06 - £30k
2. loopymadlover - £15k (to become debt free-woohoo!!!)
3. determinedtodothis - £20k
4. jennyred - £18k
5. babyhead - 20k
6. **missL2** - £8k
7. Sarahs999 - £10k
8. Gemmzie - £20k
9. penguin83 - £15k
10. Fairbel - £20k
11. Piquant - £20k
12. Looktothefuture - £8k
13. Geranium72 - £20k
14. Pandapaws - £30k
15. MrsPorridge - £10k
16. eagles74 - £20k
17. pania - £21k
18. jazzypinkpuppet - £8k
19. lizzie4785 £8k
20. Different_corner - £10k
21. needtopaymydebts - £5.5k
22. lunar - £16k
23. damita - £5.5k
24. tired mum - £10k
25. elsie52 - £20k
26. FrankieM - £11250
27. sarahb123 - £20k
28. cake fairy - £20k
29. penniesgrowintopounds - £5k
30. floxxie - £20k
31. Kashton - £12k
32. mum on a mission - £10k
33. Pollydaydream - £15k
34. Bleachbird - £25k
35. Paulgonnabedebtfree - £20k
36. taxi73 - £30k
37. Puzzledbubbles - £10k
38. cherry red - £20k
39. brightpurple - £15k
40. Earthstrong - £20k
41. Mizmir - £20k
42. WorkinghardDFW - £24k
43. Pink Twirl - £20k
44. novagirl -£10k
45. poorandindenial - £20k
46. julie2710 - £35k
47. Reventon - £15k
48. raggydoll - £20k
49. lamarsi - £10k
50. Avogirly - £30k
51. mrs tooti-frooti - £20k
52. boredofbeingathome - £20k
53. ElizabethJH - £8k
54. Unixgirl - £20k
55. Paybacktime2008 - £10k
56. mbaz - £13k
57. lucy7509 - £10k
58. jpwhittle - £8k
59. mumofcookers - £10k
60. Karmacat - £20k
61. robbo834 - 20k
62. honeybee - £10k
63. caroline73 - £15k
64. Mel19632 - £20k
65. libby0406 - £10k
66. In Search of Me - £10k
67. Jenkofreeze - £10k
68. Paul843 - £20k
69. gailey - £10k
70. Double Trouble - £40k
71. crazyhazy - £10k
72. gilly1964 - £18k
73. TheGiggslady - £30k
74. Buffythedebtslayer - £18868
75. Mrs miser - £10k
76. slinkeymalinkey - £12k
77. oreo7504 - £12k
78. magni - £15k
79. jellybabies - £20k
80. urg123 - £20k
81. blissfullydebtfreewannabe - £7k
82. Yvette 394 - £20k
83. trixeymalixey - £20k
84. judi24 - £20k
85. Dumblemon - £15k
86. MrsMoney - £10k
87. Dizzybee - £10k
88. Maisie M - £5k
89. Luckylukey - £20k
90. juicygirl - £20k
91. mummy2mygirls - £10k
92. blu2u - £11k
93. sickofskint - £20k
94. laura2481 - £3k
95. greent - £15k
96. natsplatnat - £6.5k
97. miss_corerpted - £11k
98. ward_emmajane - £15k
99. Pearse - £20k
100. Batfink - £9229.09
101. Walshyboy84 - £20k
102. sel_chick - £10k
103. PrincessPearch - £20k
104. lauradora - £11606.98
105. x2008x - £25k
106. Tryingveryhard - £20k
107. lilacpixie - £20k
108. susie81 - £15k
109. mistrey - £15k
110 skint-student-nurse - ???
111. susiealwaysbroke - £20k
112. redsquirrel80 - £10k
113. dreamerhelen - £5k
114. madmich666 - £5k
115. too_much_debt - £20k
116. Nic25£10,000.00
117. terakris£18,000.00
118. jexysbird£20,000.00
119. debtfreedreamer£15,000.00
120 My World£20,000.00
121. dinah93£20,000.00
122. theskintfamily£20,000.00
123. bambywamby£15,000.00
124. compingirl£20,000.00
125. MissOptomistic£15,000.00
126. clearmydebts£15,000.00
127. timbo86£12,000.00
128. Hobsch - £10k
129. Maddie57 - £20k
130. debt free me - £15850
131. milliemonster - £20k
132. richestorags - £20k
133. sheepchick - £20k
134. matildaindebt - ??
135. kamikz - £22k
136. jon0108 - £35k
137. ali_baba2 - £17k
138. redjezza - £8k
139. teterow - £8k
140. lucylema - £15k
141. Millionaire in Training - 8k
142. Jonnyboy80 - 10k
143. FireAngel - 20k
144. xredwebx - 6.5k
145. Jacksxxx - £15998.76
146. Diana Prince - 4k
147. Babybetty - 20k
148. GotoGal - 19k
149. MoneysavingVirgin - £20k
150. Guesty6 - £12k

151. Princess Janey £24,000

Double_Trouble

I think we have a new member I am sure Hypno will add you on Princess Janey 24K by Dec is going to take some doing care to say how you are going to do it?

Payment gone out for me so another £225.54 towards my target:j. I was hoping to pay more this month but am having to spend on our holiday rental villa and I think that is likely to suck up all the extra money.

Definitely going to start matched betting when I get back from my hols meanwhile playing free bingo whilst I am away not doing too badly

DTxx

misselvis

although I recently signed up for the challenge I don't think I was allocated a number so can I be 152. misselvis 10k.

many thanks

Karmacat

Hi newcomers! I'm coming back on here a bit more frequently, don't want to just keep coming on every two months or so.

DT - where are you getting all this free bingo from? I didn't think it was so big nowadays. I've gone back to bingoport recently, but it doesn't create actual money....

Double_Trouble

I am playing Kingjackpot its good not too many players but the free is a random one per hour so have to keep an eye on it won another £7.50 yesterday joined through quidco need to depost once a week to play free but when I win I withdraw it again dont need to keep balance in. HTH.

DTxx

greent

Quick update from me - we were on hols at month end, so haven't updated yet. Total now over 30k - more than double my original figure - woo hoo!:j

greent x