I fell off the wagon

justruth

Well with payments and interest I am still winning by a bit, but as things stand I need to find an additional £1300 for the summer for rent without all the usual things like food and travel that my wages pay for. Made a start on getting this together rather than pay off the debt earlier as while I may be paying more interest, I don't want to get stuck!

Exams are looming and I fear I won't do well. Not just saying this, I am takng so long with everything and just can't seem to get it in my head!

DFW can wait until I finish the exams.

determinedtodothis

hey you i've hit a brick wall, and the debt busting seems to be going veeeerrrrrrrrry slowly :-(

justruth

If it makes you feel any better same here, but I have found some interesting stuff on my egg loan. It never produces a settlement figure when I try to look at it online, so I went through the credit agreement and found the example settlement figures, and they're much lower than the amount I thought I would owe at the times they gave, including after 3/4 of the term, a settlement figure of £7.45, instead of paying £141.50 a month for the remainder of the term. So that cheered me up!

justruth

Having looked at the credit agreement with egg they're trying to say that the settlement figures are just a rough guide, and that I should check the agreement conditions, so I did, and they basically say that the figures (again an estimate) are based on making all payments on time and more importantly not overpaying. Now I will give them the benefit of the doubt on this if they turn around and tell me that actually it is based on a small overpayment of x amount each month or year or what ever. I have sent them a message regarding this and asked them to clarify the basis of the calculation that they originally used. I wonder if this constitutes a term if I was to challenge it, it would be fantastic to pay off my loan faster.

I also looked into the car finance loan agreement and again found the example settlement figures lower than I had calculated. Turns out 1/4 of the term passed not so long ago but the settlement figure I recieved over the phone was higher than the settlement figure calculated from their figures (they have the calculation set out in the credit agreement rather than specific figures of £x per £1000 borrowed).

All this completely changes everything, if I can get the settlement figures used for the car loan and the egg loan, and save £8,856.75 on top of my regular payments then I can clear the lot by the end of April next year. I'm not convinced that I can manage quite that much, but if I get some together and ready then I can certainly clear one of the bleeders and be debt free by the end of 2011! now thats appealing!

chevalier

hi Just ruth and DTDT hope that you are continueing your debt busting. It has been an interesting race to read. Well done on keeping each other going.
Justruth, any news about getting a flat to rent off your dad? Gratz on the settlement figures (though I am not sure I completely understood what you meant, if it means the debt has gone down then woohoo)

DTDT really hope that you get a full time job soon.
chev

justruth

Hi Chevalier, thanks for asking, I have kind of put all things except exams on hold for the next 3 weeks until I finish my exams (although I genuinely am concerned that I may have to resit some!) I even stop work after tonight. That said I have arranged to work Glastonbury again this year which is a real money booster, so as soon as I'm done I can get a whole load more debt cleared.

On the settlement figures, according to my credit agreement they have example figures for different stages of the loan term. The figures in the credit agreement are less than I had anticipated and I was hoping I could find a way to make the lenders honour them. If I could and I can find the money then the next dates are in March and April next year, so I was giving myself a year to make them honour the example figures, and save up the money.

Unfortunately the flat has been put on hold. My dad is waiting for a quadruple bypass that he wasn't aware he needed when the offer was first put forward. It's a bit harsh trying to learn about coronary medicine and thinking - thats my dad. You read a statistic and learn more about the long term and want to put it down and not think about it but I have to know it for the exams. That said he is still up for going through with the whole thing, I just don't want to be adding pressure until he's clear. I think I'd sooner stay in halls and thats saying something!

All in all moving forward, and still winning the race!!!!

justruth

Hey fans, I'm a little tipsy right now, having met up with a friend who I have been meaning to catch up with since I moved to London.

On the debt front possibly worse than I wanted to be at this moment in time as I accidently killed my laptop hard drive a week before my exams and spent £150 getting it fixed, and have indulged myself in the treats I had decided I would allow myself (hair cut, new coat and a night out) post exmas despite work messing me around, and me not working as much this weekend as I was told I would.

That said I am still getting closer to where I want to be, I have about £705 left on the CC BT that I know I can clear over the summer, plus I have just over £1000 in overdrafts (0%) which I believe I can clear too. I just have to sort out where I am goingto live. My dad has his op on Tuesday so I don't see him being in a position to buy me a place any time soon, and I have to move out of halls in less than a month. That leaves me several options open for the summer.

The settlement figuresI am told, are based on making a payment every 30 days, which makes some sense, so I upped my egg repayment slightly to clear it a bit faster. I know the car loan is higher APR, but the egg loan is flexible so I can repay more faster. I figured I would save more by paying off the egg lan first rather than trying to save up enough to clear the car loan at once. The uni adviser still wants to meet up with me again, but I would like to know the redults of my exams and know how my dad is post op before entering a debt reliefe order.

Assuming I clear my CC, I can BT to that again up to about £2,500, at a low rate till christmas, add on a couple of student overdrafts and I think I could have it clear again in no time. Right now I am falling asleep so night night xxx

justruth

Ha well that was a little cringe worthy, but an update! You can tell I don't drink very often!

I have decided to talk to work regarding the time I want off this summer, I want to go see DD at fathers day, then Glasto is the week after and other than that I want 1 saturday off to collect DNA samples at Brighton pride as part of a research project I am loosly connected wth. I will also be collecting at London pride, however I can get to work after that. If they will let me have the time off with no messing around I can see DD over the holidays during the week. Last summer I was back up north and had her and her sister, once a week every week throughout the summer which I absolutley loved but could not afford and really cannot afford to do again.

I just have to work out the best way of working things, I can possibly live rent free at my parents or at a much lower rate than London prices over the summer so reduce my costs but make less money (also no offence to my parents but we get on much better the further away from each other we are and I'm cracking on for 30, the idea of being back there depresses me greatly).

The other option is to get a place here over the summer thats likely to cost upwards of £110 a week, add on food and travel, but still come out with money on top. It's a toughy, and I still have to find somewhere to live next academic year. I don't know what to do for the best.

The last thing to consider is the very real possibility of resits. I'm not one of those people who says they think they did badly so as to protect themselves from embarrasment later on, I really do know I did badly on the first paper. I would be dissapointed if I failed the last 2 papers, I know I didn't do well but I don't think I failed. Either way know I have to go over the stuff from the first paper over the summer as someday I may actually need to know that! If I do have to resit I am not sure where the best place to live would be, and may possibly even get accomodation in halls extended to cover the period! (normally this is only allowed for academic purposes).

I feel a little as though my life is in limbo until other things that I have little control over now are resolved. I hate that feeling!

On the plus side, I worked 2 seperate venues this weekend, one of which pays straight away, so I have a little cash to tide me over the next 2 weeks.

Meanwhile I have all the paperwork I had previously brought up to date but lost with my harddrive to do, a mountain of washing and my post exams room to organise!

determinedtodothis

Hey you long time no speak - still chipping away at the debt but not as well as i'd hoped, good to see youre all organised!

Mudbath

Hiya
Nice to see you're both still racing! Just think how much more in debt you'd be if you'd not started this race. Good luck to you both xx