Diary of a Poor Person aged 46 1/2

mrscmr

nope... in denial!

mrscmr

the problem i have is that with our income we should have been laughing... however.. not so.. we got too big headed and careless.. didnt see the bigger picture...

OH with 2 v v expensive cars, plus my car, plus 2 school fees + big mortgages x 2 plus credit, loans, blah blah = disaster.

we are even paying for a car we dont have anymore at 500 pounds a month cos we didn pay off the loan cos we needed the cash [duh] so we are spanking out nearly 4k on car loans plus crdit cards and loans so coming in about 5500 on that plus the other stuff. very similar to your position at peak.

good to know someone else who lived through it... hopefully we will!

mrscmr

correction not 4k... omg thats rediculous... clearly i mean 2k ha ha [like thats any better.. not!]

fc123

mrscmr wrote: »

nope... in denial!

It's the worst one to do but the most important...plus the rates you are being charged.
I remember totting it up and it could have paid all our living expenses and mortage on one home (we run 2 at the mo, one rented, one mortgaged) and OH was really reluctant to get on the 'phone to sort out his cards.
I did the letters and spoke to various call centres for mine and he got the hang of it.
I also said 'err why are we working 24/7 to service the interest on these CC?'' and wrote the interest sum in big red letters on an A3 piece of card and stuck it to the fridge door.

He was old school and felt we should just keep playing the game but we would never have coped otherwise and could have sunk.....if just from the overwork and stress.

The original sums and plenty of interest had already been well and truly paid back anyways.

fc123

mrscmr wrote: »

the problem i have is that with our income we should have been laughing... however.. not so.. we got too big headed and careless.. didnt see the bigger picture...

OH with 2 v v expensive cars, plus my car, plus 2 school fees + big mortgages x 2 plus credit, loans, blah blah = disaster.

we are even paying for a car we dont have anymore at 500 pounds a month cos we didn pay off the loan cos we needed the cash [duh] so we are spanking out nearly 4k on car loans plus crdit cards and loans so coming in about 5500 on that plus the other stuff. very similar to your position at peak.

good to know someone else who lived through it... hopefully we will!

I have spoken to others who are are in similar situation now...in fact one mum came around to collect her daughter last year @ 8am and the girls weren't up (grunting teens) so I made her some tea and she just poured it all out...and I am a stranger. I think it was 70k on cards and they had remortgaged 3 times and she had just had her LBM that night.

Do you read Liz Jones (she's an acquired taste in writing)..... I did a thread as she earns 450k pa and is 150k in debt and all her accounts are frozen/empty plus she has a million pound mortage we think.

Worth a read if you have time http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=2048979

Even my daughters school went bust this year...I mean, you couldn't make it up really.:o

fc123

Have you applied for a bursary? It's worth asking. 25% is usual...even if just for a year. We did that too.

Buffythedebtslayer

*is reading, in awe*

I read Liz Jones, half the time I live in fear of being her and the other half I understand completely (personal life wise not income!)

xxxx

In_my_dreams

Wow fc123 - you might have a PM off me soon. Huge respect to you for doing so well. I hope I get there soon too. I read Liz Jones' article in the Daily Mail at the time and whilst I don't earn that sort of money (indeed In my dreams!!) I do understand how she got into that position.

Mrscmr - glad you are doing well and looking forward to 2010

savingholmes

fc123 lots of good advice there.... well done on your journey

fc123

Buffythedebtslayer wrote: »

*is reading, in awe*

I read Liz Jones, half the time I live in fear of being her and the other half I understand completely (personal life wise not income!)

xxxx

I know, it's a bit but I can't help it.

The thread on the other board meandered a bit as one poster is looking to buy a farm down her way and another is a neighbour of hers.

I was genuinly shocked when she 'fessed up to the 150k debt in the mail....I mean really shocked as she writes about her high spending life so much. Even I (;)) have never, ever spent like that.

400k on clothes anyone?

I think it;s very hard to admit to large debt when one has earnt well.....I know I was shocked when I had my LBM.

The one thing I am relieved at is we didn't get to do secured Vorderman type stuff as the LBM had kicked in first. I have read a lot of tales about those types of loans and they can be a killer.

I also researched bankruptcy a lot last winter as we knew we had to get shot of a fully liable shop lease. I read loads of tales and, in the end, we bluffed out our institutional LL and paid him 24k (saved up) to surrender the lease.

That was a big one as we didn't have loads of debt to put into BR (just the lease@ £500k odd) and would have had to pay a lot of beneficial interest to the OR but I am glad we didn't have the option to borrow our way out of the situation (ie keep subsidising the shop with the other part of my business...to the tune of 80k pa) so, it's all relative I guess.