My debt-free dream!

hallsy85

Morning everyone! Slow weekend, with minimal spending, so that was nice!

Still awaiting F&F from Churchwood - i'm hoping they'll settle for £600, which would bring my total debts to zero - although i owe my parents the money now - but at least i can pay this back to them over time hopefully within 6 months!

hallsy85

Have spent a good solid hour (slow day at the office!) plotting my finances up until Xmas Day. According to my figures, i'll have £442 by then, and have paid my parents back £600 of the money i owe them, so not too bad! This doesn't account for Xmas presents, which is probably about £100 for everyone as we've agreed to do little presents - but gives me a rather generous food allowance of £30 a week. It covers pretty much everything i can think of, so any additional money earned through mystery shopping/eBay will go towards Xmas presents/paying my parents back

hallsy85

Wowsers, it's been almost 3 years since I last posted! I've been viewing the forums on and off, but feel like I've been guilty of burying my head in the sand regarding issues still.

Since 2009 I've had a few ups and downs, but am on a positive streak at the moment. I've been keeping a pretty detailed financial planner in Excel, and budgetting from month to month, but have only recently gotten out of the routine of the payday loan - not a situation I wanted to be in, and not one I intend to be in moving forward either!

I'm signed up with CheckMyFile, and currently, I the only immediate outstanding amount owing is £2,259 to my parents. I'm in the process of saving a deposit for a house with my girlfriend, so am really digging into my credit history to weed out any potential issues.

Sadly, I appear to have 7 defaults on my account. I've got them all listed, and the amounts, and dates they're due to drop off. I've listed them below:

BT - £364
Drops off Oct 2018

Very - £305
Drops off Aug 2017

Barclays - £267
Drops off Sept 2017

Natwest - £1028
Drops off Jan 2015

Lowell - £1010
Drops off Feb 2015

Lowell - £332
Drops off Jun 2014

Three - £90
Drops off Sept 2014

Total £3,396

It's a lot to take in, but my plan of action is as follows:

1. Don't worry about the £1k+ ones, and leave them to drop of in 2015. I'll be saving my house deposit and looking to buy mid 2015, so these shouldn't affect my mortgage in mid 2015...

2. Query the BT default - I'd moved house and cancelled the contract over the phone with them - they're pursuing this so I've requested they track their correspondence and remove this accordingly.

3. Write polite letters to the other sub-£500 default companies and politely explain my circumstances, asking them to remove the default - the worst they can do is say no!

I'll provide an updated statement of arrangements later today - it feels good (but sad circumstances) to be back!

hallsy85

Brief update with my existing bills/outgoings etc:

Rent - £250 (living with GF so this is cheap!)
Bills - £125
Travel - £199 (Z1-5 travel card)
Mobile - £82 (2x Three accounts + 1 T-Mobile)
Car Insurance - £20
Car Tax - £10
Petrol - £40
Food - £100
Going Out - £300
Savings - £500

Salary - £2,520
Left over - £894

I've only been living with my GF a few weeks, so have cut monthly rent & bills down from £900 to this, so a good saving there. Currently I don't have any insurance - need to resolve this soon! I also intend to try and save more when I can.

May paycheck will go on clearing the £2259 I owe my parents, which will be nice, and then I intend on using the additional left over to close out the TMobile account. The other 2 Three accounts will be closed the next month and I'll switch to PAYG so I save myself £60 a month!

I can also save myself £50 by switching to a straight train monthly pass - no tube included. That's £150 for the month, and the walk from the station to the office in Central LDN (which I do every morning already) should be nice as the weather (hopefully) improves...

All in all, it'll just be a case of trying to shift some of the defaults - I'm not overly optimistic, but I figure I might as well try.

hallsy85

Another quick update - forgot to mention I have a Capital One credit card (credit limit £200) and a Vanquis one (£250), that are both completely clear.

I've just contacted Capital One to close that credit card, and will keep the Vanquis one for everyday spending - paying it off in full every month!

hallsy85

Capital One have confirmed they will close the account (and refund the £50 security deposit - so that will go to savings), and I've also got in touch with a few of the companies responsible for the sub £500 defaults, so should hopefully hear something back in the next week or so.

Feel like it's been a productive day thus far!

hallsy85

Quick Friday update - Capital One card paid off and instruction to close and refund security deposit done.

Bank Charges letter drafted, printed and ready to post for NatWest. More than likely won't see anything from it, but worth trying as it won't cost me anything.

hallsy85

Morning all!

Capital One have confirmed that the account has been closed, so that's another £50 back in my account (security deposit) - I'm going to keep my Vanquis one open and use it each month, clear it in full and use that to keep building credit up. Once my credit is better I'll switch to a Lloyds TSB (my current account bank) card and keep building with them.

Lowell have confirmed the 2 defaults with them - one for £305, currently settled, and one for £1010 - currently defaulted. They can't do anything about the £305 as it's settled, and the £1010 comes off in Feb 15 - I'm looking to buy in mid 2015, so I guess the best thing to do would be to let this run off my report and use the £1010 to save towards a deposit?

Off to buy stamps later and post my bank charge letter and request to NatWest (default) on a part payment to clear the default - it's not been settled so i'm hoping a part payment would be better suited to them, and me!

hallsy85

Quick update - Past Due Credit have confirmed that the BT default can be removed if fully paid (still disputing this but will have to cough up eventually if they don't budge - won't be happy but it needs to go!), but they're awaiting a response from BT on my query that I informed them the account was to be closed.

Letter to Barclays offering 50% payment of outstanding debt in return for removal of the default also posted, along with a letter updating my electoral roll - all before 10:30am!

hallsy85

Another quick update today - renewed monthly travel card, but removed tube from it. I walk to the office from Victoria station, so will now be walking back in the evenings and saving myself £50 a month!