What made you realise you needed to do something about your debt?

foxgloves

I think it may have been the fact that my partner & I always talked about our debts in terms of them going down as though we were getting rid of them. BUT when we looked at all the figures in the cold light of day, we realised that they weren't going down at all!! i.e We had been congratulating ourselves because one of our debts had gone down only to find another one had shot up because we were overspending just the same! I looked at our earnings and outgoings and worked out that we would actually have a decent amount of money left at the end of each month to spend on whatever we want IF we were not servicing debts. Since getting on top of our finances, I have chosen to halve my hours at work. It has made no difference to our finances at all so far.....a sobering thought in a way, since it means that the amount of money I've lost each month must have been more or less what was going into paying off debts. I do sometimes get cross with myself as it makes me realise how much money I could have put into savings while I was working full-time, but you can't go back & dwell on the negative, I'm just grateful that we saw the light and I'm much happier being in control than when I was before when we were both buying more than we could afford. Our rule is now that if it has to go on a credit card then that's using someone else's money so we obviously can't afford to have it. It's the sort of annoying thing my Mum & Grannies used to say.......but then again, they never got into debt!

Deep_In_Debt

My reason was mainly because my minimum unsecured debt repayments came to more than my monthly mortgage payment...and that scared me!

I only have a small mortgage which I have never been in trouble with in the 20 years I have had it and my unsecured debts came to 7k more! Yikes! Am due to be mortgage free in just under 5 years and was originally going to be debt free in 9 years but reduced that term to 3.5 years...the wake up call I obviously needed.

TheLightFantastic

Hi Everyone

For me it was coming back from holiday and receiving a letter from my bank telling me that if I kept behaving the way I was on my accounts, they would seek to review credit limits. I have a good job, but I always seem to be living from hand to mouth. I don't buy any designer gear, but I never seem to have money. I know what I owe is a lot less than a lot of people, but the realisation was that I have debts because I live beyond my means. Very sobering. I am single and the scariest thing is, if I were to lose my job or anything happened, I have no leg to stand on. I know I can sort myself out and am hoping to learn a lot from people on this forum.

Here's to being debt free!

LexieLou

My actual lightbulb moment arrived about 30mins ago. Lost my job in Jan 09 (27k a year) and decided to set up my own business in Apr. Gone from earning £2250 per mth to £600 plus £550 WFTC. HUGE drop and HUGE debts. Currently have my credit cards in payment plans, after months and months of ignoring the situation. Some I have to pay the full amount per mth, some I can pay a percentage per month. That feels good, I can't use them and want rid of them, NEVER to see them again, EVER.

Loans are a set amount each month, one will be paid off in AUG 10, the other in 3 yrs.

But my main concern is my overdraft, £4000 and I desperately want rid of it and the HBOS won't help me do it in a phased manor. To the point where I have actually stood in the branch and had a tantrum about them dishing out money and not helping us pay it back. Not the best way to approach the situation. I now have to go in a physically pay an amount wach month. Jan's target is to reduce it by £50.

I also want to have more kids, so I really want this to be my year to put this huge mess behind me. So today is the day to turn my life around.

Think I will join one of the save money a day things that are going on in the site. I'll raid all the rubbish I have and put it on ebay tmmw.

It's good to know that there are other people out there, like me, who made a mistake and are big enough to admit it. Here's to a brilliant 2010, we can all do it.

iwillgetoutofdebt

This may sound really silly, but I was watching an advert for Bright House, and I suddenly realised that I was being charged a higher APR by some of my credit cards than Bright House did.

Up until then I knew how much debt I was in, but I suddenly realised that I had a snowflakes chance in hell of paying it off within the next century due to the amount of interest that I was being charged. That prompted me to get sorted out with a DMP, although I have yet to see whether or not the creditors will freeze interest :rolleyes:

southernscouser

It was a bit weird for me. I always knew I owed quite a bit but had never added it all up. This wasn't deliberate (or maybe not conciously), it just never occured to me to do so. My debt wasn't overly bothering me, down to me not realising the extent of it.

It was only when I found this site (googling for cheap car insurance) that I stumbled upon this board and the umpteen number of people who were also in debt, that made me think. I saw other people paying off their debts and the lightbulb began to flicker.

crawley_girl

Like others, I think I was googling for something and this site popped up. Through reading other people's posts I realised that I was going to become unstuck if I didn't do something... and not take out another loan or get another credit card!!!

hypno06

southernscouser wrote: »

It was a bit weird for me. I always knew I owed quite a bit but had never added it all up. This wasn't deliberate (or maybe not conciously), it just never occured to me to do so. My debt wasn't overly bothering me, down to me not realising the extent of it.

It was only when I found this site (googling for cheap car insurance) that I stumbled upon this board and the umpteen number of people who were also in debt, that made me think. I saw other people paying off their debts and the lightbulb began to flicker.

Long time, no see, SS!! Happy Christmas/New Year x

savingmummy

I have nowhere near as much debt as some, BUT i became a stay at home mum with no money coming in and monthly payments that had to be paid.:eek:
I was a fan of the dreaded catalogues and realised i had to do something!
I am almost there now and so proud to be a `debt free` woman.
The moment came when i realised how selfish i was ordering from a catalogue despite having loads of bills sitting on the side needing to be paid!! I suddenly decided to rip up the order form, throw the catalogue and sort the debt.
I have since paid and closed several accounts and have 2 remaining which are to be paid in the next couple of weeks - then cancelled too:T

southernscouser

hypno06 wrote: »

Long time, no see, SS!! Happy Christmas/New Year x

And to you too hyps.

How's tricks?