My debt story

garybuk

Here's my little debt story and how easy it is to run up those cards!!

when i was 19 i got a REALLY good job earning £24k a year (im 26 now) of course the companies threw credit at me like it was sweets, and being young and naive i took it, i had £5k credit limit with Egg (which quickly ran up), £4k on AA Visa Card (Which i ran up), £3k on a Barclaycard (which i ran up) i had 4 contract mobiles, rent, sky, water, elec, gas etc. etc.. living the 'false life'

Anwyay it all started hitting the fan probably 2 years ago when the credit dry's up and the companies that were once your best friend suddenly aren't and want their money back... it gets hard.

First thing i did was pay off my overdraft and reduce it to £200 a month.
I transferred the Egg Card + £1.5k of the Barclaycard + £1.5k of the AA to a Egg Loan and have just £600 remaining of it (Finishes in feb 09) i have skinted myself to pay off everything but it was a lesson learn't

I have just the £600 remanining + £1500 on credit cards (only Barclaycard) which i will pay off when the loan is up.

I think the government and banks have encouraged us to get credit and spend it like there's no tomorrow but at the end of the day I could have said No thanks so i've only got myself to blame.

So current target is to be debt free and start saving up in May 09

mummum2

Wow! impressive debt busting, well done you! looks like all on course for Feb '09, what a wonderful finish line.

GeorgeUK

Glad to see you're making progress Gary.

Don't forget that you can play the card companies against each other and if you are currently paying interest on your creditcard, may be able to get another card with a 0% promotional rate. That way anything you pay towards the card will be bringing the total down instead of lining their pockets.