A Return to A Debt Free Mission

Exerbusi2

All of those certs will help, definitely. A more active interest in sport-specific exercise might help you prolong your playing days by a short time if you wanted to!

There is a market for the slightly-older PT, for sure. Most basic level PT's are between 19-23, and as a result so have many of the people skills that come with age. Additionally they can't relate to the clients who are 40+, making the working relationship difficult. If your shoes you could probably establish a business relatively quickly, especially around the Chester area where there is real money!

Exerbusi2

Todays update...

I woke up to a text from Tesco CC telling me my balance was below £200 (£66 to be exact!) That means as soon as I pay the other £66 I can balance transfer another £380 across, which will bring my CC debt down to £1395, meaning I might even be able to get rid of it completely by July, which would be fantastic! (Original target was £1000 or less).

I am due another £220 payment into the account on Monday, and I also have a £250 payment waiting for me too later in the month. The £250 will go straight into savings I think, and I will use the £220 to split between current account and CC debt.

I realised last night that once I have cleared my CC debt, I can pay off my car loan to the tune of £400 per month, making it disappear within 10 months hopefully!

Debt free by my birthday in March 2012 seems a definite possibilty!

jonjamie1970

Good news on the car loan, I too may do the same but I'm not sure on whether I can overpay and how that works. I released the last of my money that I had before I met her, to my wife last night rather than run up huge bills in court, the final £7k was transferred to her bank. Apart from two beautiful daughters I have no furniture, no money that I made on houses before we met, and still a few bills left over from our time together, but !!!!!!!! to it, I dont care really, Im learning a valuable lesson. Only worry is she could come back and get some of my pension also.

Exerbusi2

Well lets hope she isn't tha kind of person and is satisfied with taking everything you have. Is she likely to come after the rest?

Todays update...

Frustrated with Tesco CC - I have cleared the balance on the card. This is acknowledged by the fact that I have the full £400 available to spend, but it is showing a residual balance of £66.02 on the card. I want this to be removed ASAP so I can balance transfer the next £380 onto the card so I can start working on removing the next chunk of the debt.

Payment in today of £240 - the last one until the 15th now, where I take on another approx £800. That will be used to pay our new rent and deposit, and the £300 I have tied up in our current home will immediately go into savings, with a little on the CC, just to keep the balance going down!

I am expecting this to be the last of the major debt repayment months (unless I can bring in additional money), so I will have to balance things around to make sure my debt is still overpaid.

Overall, a good weekend financially, although I spent a little more than I expected to!

Exerbusi2

Just paid off another £45.56 on my HSBC CC and a little bit extra on my flexiloan - the most expensive of all my debts. This brings my current total overall debt to £2940 - the lowest in about 5 years!

jonjamie1970

Exerbusi2 wrote: »

Just paid off another £45.56 on my HSBC CC and a little bit extra on my flexiloan - the most expensive of all my debts. This brings my current total overall debt to £2940 - the lowest in about 5 years!

Morning, Congrats on the further debt reductions, I havent made any inroads and dont want to really until 15th When I get paid.

Is your overall debt, or net debt, the owed amount less your savings ?

I spent a fair bit at the weekend, took the girlfriend out to dinner £48 and then bought her coffee and cake at Waitrose after a long walk yesterday £10. Theres no getting away from it though and Im down to see my children this weekend so thats likely to cost me a bit more.

Capital One always takes ages to show money I have paid, in, how can it take 4 days when I transfer money electronically to show on the credit card website in this day and age, another 4 days they probbaly add interest, !!!!!!!s.

Exerbusi2

Thanks!

To answer your debt question, I calculate my overall debt as what I have saved minus what I owe. That way I know when I reach the point when I could pay fully and finally (which is unlikely to happen as I will need the savings for a tax bill, I just don't know how much).

I don't understand the electronic transfer either. I have heard it is because of interest - it is saved in holding accounts to accrue extra money for the recieving bank (may or may not be true!) Either way it frustrates me as I want to get on with transferring more debt across to the Tesco CC. The 0% deal runs out in June/July so I want to make sure I have as much paid off as possible, so every day counts.

Hoping to sort out a transfer of funds across to my work account, which would be great.

I also have £200 in a Tesco account that I will use to pay off the first £200 of the newly balance-transferred Tesco CC money, which will knock my overall debt down, and more importantly bring my CC debt closer to the all-important £0!

Exerbusi2

Todays Update....

Today is a significant day! My Tesco CC payment came through as cleared, which meant I could balance transfer the next £380 from my HSBC CC over. Now, I have been doing that for a while - no big deal really.

BUT...

When the balance transfer clears (7-10 working days), I am down to £970 on my HSBC CC - the reason this is significant is threefold...

1. I am down to less than £1000 debt on the card - 3 figures are better than 4 when it comes to debt!
2. It means I could pay it off within 3 months.

and most significantly...

I CAN CLOSE MY WRETCHED HSBC CC ACCOUNT!

That account has been abused by me, and as a result I have been in debt for 5 years on it. Not good, and I should have known better. As they say though, hindsight has 20:20 vision. It is time to learn from previous mistakes and move on, closing the account and never relying on a CC again, unless for my benefit, not the banks'.

The credit card repayments accounted for a MASSIVE £620.14 in February. That figure shocked me - really shocked me. I won't be able to keep up that level of repayment when I move house next week, but if I can even keep up 80% of that I am paying back £496.11 on my CC, which would actually clear all of my balance within 2 months. Whilst that would be great, realistically I have to allow a third month for repayment, which would still take me to June. My 0% on the Tesco CC expires on July 18th, which has to be my target date for CC debt removal.

I have £200 sat in a Tesco savings account (soon to be £250), which I will use to pay off the first chunk of my next £380 that has been balance-transferred. That money would be great to use as it means then that I am down to pay a small, but significant £130 to clear the card and allow me to put another £380 onto it, which would see my HSBC CC go down to £590. I would probably then be tempted to use £400 worth of income and £190 from savings to remove that HSBC CC debt completely. I would then only be left with a residual balance on my Tesco CC, but that would be 0%. Once that is paid off, I am CC debt free! Exciting!

Oh, and I have just remembered I am due another payment of £250 this month, which may even be heading up to £350 by next month - that would be great news!

Sorry for the CC debt payment lecture, but these things are important to me!

jonjamie1970

Sounds like you have it worked out and that £250 in savings is a good back up. Have you considered increasing your limit on the 0% card or getting another for easier transfers and getting shot of HSBC earlier ?

I cant wait to clear the Capital One card next Tuesday, im sure there will be a residual interest payment the following month, and I may use it for the Holiday Inn 2 for 1 offer this weekend but I will be glad to !!!! them off....

Next target is the Barclays OD, I am now watching these accounts on line so I can keep a track of whats happening, before I was only reacting to monthly statements and then it was too late, the unauthorised OD interest was what was killing me so hope to make better progress on that £3500.

Exerbusi2

The Importance of Strategy

In many areas of life, a good plan is required in order to be successful. Finances are absolute proof of this - poor financial strategy leaves people in debt. Good financial strategy gets them out of it, and allows us to make more money. Luck only shines on the (lucky) few.

This is my second attempt at debt repayment. Why should it take a second attempt? Why didn't I get it right first time?

The answer is simple - I didn't have a strategy.

Originally I was 'playing' at paying off my debts. After a brilliant start, I let the focus shift. It was very much an 'as and when' approach - I paid off my debts as and when I had money. I quickly lost focus and it went wrong. Lo and behold, a few months later I found myself back in (almost) the same position.

So what changed?

I grew up, I took notice of my situation and decided enough was enough. In my line of work I deal with people who have lots of money, and the striking thing about them is that they take the time and effort to earn their money. They work hard, they make measured decisions, they have a strategy and think things through. I wanted to enjoy the quality of life these guys do, and I realised that I can, as long as I work towards a goal. I also have a child on the way, so therefore a family to support. Luckily, my girlfriend earns good money, and has done for a while. She addressed her money attitude a long time before I did, and as such has put away over £10k in savings - not bad considering she started only 2 years ago and has CC debt. The point is, collectively, our family would be OK even without the money attitude changing. With us both looking after our finances, life will be much easier.

So I decided in February to start attacking my debts.

My strategy for debt repayment has been simple - pay off the expensive debts first, move as much as I can to 0% interest and attack it in big chunks. Pay off £hundreds at a time, not pay it off in dribs and drabs like I did last time - £10 here and there.

The most significant change in me was my psychology. I was frustrated that a job determined my financial reward - I wanted to earn a salary I felt I deserved. I was working hard - very hard, and only earning just over £20k per year. Some of my colleagues in other areas of the company were earning more, and doing much less. My stress levels were high, and my job satisfaction was low. I decided enough was enough, and set up my own fitness business. Having my own business meant the onus was on me to earn - if I didn't work, I didn't earn. That simple. It took my out of my comfort zone.

I now earn much better money, and have plans and projects to increase this further. My stress levels are low, and I love what I do. I work very long hours, but it has allowed me to attack my debt with big hits - I am currently paying around £800 per month towards my debts, and putting another £300 into savings. I want to be debt free by my birthday in March 2012, but if I keep up my repayments at a level I think I can, it will be much sooner.

So, the moral of the story is decide on a a strategy that works for you. Then, look to increase your income - don't simply cut back to the bare bones on everything, you need to enjoy yourself, it is good for the soul. Just make sure that you don't overspend, and seek to increase income - it makes the debt repayment a game, a challenge that you will enjoy!

For more adventures from exerbusi2, keep following the diary!