Eyes Wide Shut (debt disorder diary)

safteydance

hello all,
Ive recently finished my at third year university and unfortunatly have to re sit one module this summer. after finding out this, I for some reason, sat down and opened my suitcase of previously un opened bank,credit card, and phone bills ( I dont know why I decided that day, I just thought it probably couldn't get any worse) the cost was astronomical. i also recieved a letter from BT in the post. BT internet has raised my landline cost in january from 11 to 17.50 per month and this meant that although i was not living in the property becasue i was assuming the money was being taken from my account, the direct debits were rebounding, and charging my account. this also meant that the debt was being accumulated on my BT account and after I had cancelled it in the may of this year (they said prevously on the phone that it would be cheaper to keep paying the 11 pounds per month d/d then paying the breaking of contract fee which was 121 pounds (this was in december) the final bill came through: it was 114.21 and in the SAME bundle of letters that morning, along with the bill from BT was a final invoice from a debt collector! I thought this was terrible as I said that I would pay off whatever charges they had on the account when i phoned to cancel and they still immedietly got in contact with debt collectors. i rang immedietly and they set a one week deadline of payment otherwise it would go up to 142 pounds! i was so scared that i borrowed money off my boyfriend to pay it which i hated doing.

I agreed a date to pay with the debt agency but was still subjected to threatening phone calls and threats that the date of payment was in fact that day (it seemed to be which ever day they rang me up!) i was so scared and trying to study for my resit at the time, I agreed a date and also contacted them immedietly with all the information they wanted and the agency still gave me threatening phones calls and sent me further letters. Ive paid it off but have recieve no confirmation which i desparately want. I feel violated by BT who gave me phony information about what was cheaper to begin with and I feel that they were too fast in moving to debt collectors when i had said i was more then happy to pay the balance! do I have a case for complaint? I have no idea. but its really upset me and made me want to clear with handling my debt.

I am stupid to have not opened things and also i was unaware of how out of control i was with my spending. i was scared to check my balance and even when i knew i had money in there i never knew how much.

ive always had at least one job at university but i realise now that my spending has impacted my studying as i was always preoccupied with money and debt, it seemed more important then working. and now its over i think i was an idiot to waste all that time working like a maniac and then frittering it all away! i have one credit card debt with 480 pounds on it, two over drafts one at 1,600 and one at 1,200 (which my mum took over conrol of last year due to massive bank charges- over 1000 in total! :eek:)

i have no excuse other then I could never eat particularly cheaply as i have candida and this means that cheap basic food is not an option to me. i can't eat food with yeast, or a hight quantity of sugar in and can only drink certain alcohol, other wise i get ill. it is expensive but not the reason why i became so bad with money. In the second year i moved in with people who became addicted to drugs, and stole from us incluing food and belongings. two of the people ended up taking out an overdraft on our house bills account and draining it whilst not paying any rent or bills money from october unitl the may they were evicted. their intimidation factor led to us never asking for the money back,(it was 100 pounds only but the bill were substantially more) but it has left us all out of pocket (especially as they liked to have the windows open in winder and the heating turned up past 40 simutainiously)

it led me to go out alot and just spend as a means to keep out of the house really. going out drinking and shopping and visiting friends at other unis. this all accumilated unitll i changed houses and then it hit me how disordered my spending had become. I dont think i have an addiction but is there such a thing as disordered spending?

i do tend to buy things when i get sad? :mad: or angry.

anyway enough of the maudlin stuff i dont want to sound like im feeling sorry for myself, which is not the case by any means, i wanted to change the way i view money. ive tried to keep money journals before, but as i no longer get that student loan and am in fulltime employment (and i fully realise how lucky i am!) i want to spend my OWN money and not the banks! my mum always maintains its nicer when you know its yours anyway.

BT connect: 114.21 (owed to my boyfriend)
O2 phone bill 175.50 most important to stop my contract phone as its not worth the money, i need to find one with more free minutes

credit card bill: 480.00 student credit card for emergencies. this is also v. important to pay off as when im out i am bad and get cash advances out (I KNOW) i must get rid of this card!

natwest over draft: 1,580
lloyds o/D : 1,200

this is alot of debt for a 21 year old and i havent been through anything like some of the people in this blog (like redundancy and mortages and children). i hope you dont think of me as a selfish spender: i just went to uni with a lot of people who were alot more well off then me, and stupidly I thought i was alright in trying to keep up with them! talk about stupid.

i plan on work off the priority debt by october 21st. (everything barr the overdrafts) and then over draft one by the end of december.

the next step after that is to have paid back 1.5 of over draft debt by the 1st april

and the FINAL step! :A

to have ONE, bank account with no store, credit or contracts, D/D or bank charges attached to it with no overdraft. by july 2010. :rotfl:

i know it doesnt make much sense monitarily (when i read the offers on saving accounts etc on the website) but im also aware that i need to be able to run before i can walk

wish me luck!