I have done the snowball calculator

MrsBrown30

And it says i wont be debt free until am 63!!

Am only 30 and cant imagine being in debt for another 33 years also I dont understand it all so am just going to pay off the lil ones first and then concentrate on a card at a time, do I just pay min payment on the others whilst focusing on one at a time?

I think my problem is I always pay above the min payment which is good but I should be targeting one at a time rather than them all.

I dont think we can do anything about the loan of £100 we got alongside our mortgage as its fixed for 5 years but am worried when it comes out of the fixed rate the payment will shoot up through the roof.

Anyone help me on that one?

:eek:

dancingfairy

Hi Mrs Brown - generally the most efficient way to pay off the debts is to tackle the one with the highest interst rate first - so you pay the minimums on everything else and anything spare throw at the one with the highest interest until this is cleared , then move onto the next one.
The other approach is to maybe pick one of the smaller debts and tackle that one first - o.k it's maybe not the most efficient way of doing things but if you can tick a couple of small ones of fairly easily it does give you a positive boost I think and make things seem a lot more manageable.
I think I would try and pick one debt to concentrate on at a time though so you can see your progress - either the highest interest one or the smallest -the choice is yours.
Also a dmp is unlikely to take 33 years - as you get into it you will get better and better at living frugally, also 33 years is a loooong time - hopefully you or your OH will get a pay rise, you might move house, you might get an ineritance, etc, etc - all of which would significantly change your debt free date -at times it might get a lot closer while at others it might slip a little.
The other thing is I would suggest having a chat to one of the debt free charities Martin recommends - just to see what they suggest- because of the levels of your debt and the fact that you may be in for a long dmp - you may find something else better for your situation - perhaps bankruptcy or an IVA? Just make sure you go to someone who will give you free impartial advice - CCCS are well used and recommended by people on here and you can input your figures into their website and see what it recommends - they also have a helpline, there's also National Debtline or your local CAB or maybe you have a Christians Against Poverty group near you?
Good Luck with whatever you choose.
df

Tixy

When you did the snowball how much did you put in as the total amount to pay each month?

Did you put in the £1040 available for debt repayments from your SoA, or a smaller amount?

EDIT
MrsB - are you sure it didn't say 63months not when you are 63?

I have just put your 8debts in and although I have had to make a couple of assumptions (eg I think the APRs on credit card 1 and the overdraft are probably monthly APRs) - but when I did it, it cam out as 62months (with a £1040 repayment).

Even if I bring the repayment down to £700 (as I know you have mentioned other costs) its only saying 72months (9years).

You might want to try the snowball again. Did you use the makesenseofcards snowball or the whatsthecost.com snowball?

(Just to say all these calcs were based on your unsecured debts only, not including the mortgage)

MrsBrown30

Hi I put 700 a month down to clear debts but am not sure if thats what free income we have as with hubbys job we are always overdrawn so its hard to see how much we have spare if in fact anything.

I have decided to pay min payment on all the debts I can pay min payment on as loan and coventry loan are fixed payments and then tackle a small one at a time.

I am sure it said 365 years but am not sure now as it didnt save, I will do it again.

Our mortgage was a 95% one the other 5% was borrowed by same lender and an additional consolidation loan of 12,500 hence the £17,500 we have been in our house nearly 3 year so i think this would have come down now but ultimately I think we are stuck paying that along the length of the mortgage unless our circumstances change.

We can pay it off earlier but think there would be early repayment charges and its costing us £100 a month which we can both live with.

Our halifax loan ends Mar 2014 then that will free up £330 a month but at moment its all these cards that are doing my head in.

We couldnt get a bal trans card so have split 4,400 between virgin at 1.9% till dec and left 1000 on halifax.

Maybe we should be tackling the credit cards as the little debts will in time be paid off.

Also we have stopped spending on our credit cards now and have no intention of using them again!!

Thanks

Happytogetdebtfree

Hi mrs brown, it might be an idea to post a statement of affairs and maybe we can help you cut back or show you our ideas of which to pay etc all the best :-~)

Tixy

Happytogetdebtfree wrote: »

Hi mrs brown, it might be an idea to post a statement of affairs and maybe we can help you cut back or show you our ideas of which to pay etc all the best :-~)

its on this thread happy
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=2335233

Mrs B

Good news that MBNA is only 1.9% APR.
I would pay off the DP card first (should only take a couple of months) then move on the 19.9% card.
Work your way through the cc's like this in order of APR until you are left with just the loans. Then look into the paperwork and see if you can start overpaying the £13k loan.

Good luck

MrsBrown30

Thanks for all your help, I think we can overpay on the halifax loan.

Yeah I am going to pay Next and DP off over next couple of months and then start tackling the highest interest credit cards, do i do them in order of bal transfer.

Am lucky our credit rating is ok now after a long haul and hubby was never in any debt until we got the house etc so his credit rating is excellent, I always pay bills on time.

What do i do about our overdraft as Halifax are charging £1 per day and we tend to be overdrawn most of the month, however we do need the overdraft at moment incase hubby comes out of work to pay mortgage, bills etc (he is self employed).

Thanks Tixy and Happy xx

DVardysShadow

MrsBrown30 wrote: »

... What do i do about our overdraft as Halifax are charging £1 per day and we tend to be overdrawn most of the month, however we do need the overdraft at moment incase hubby comes out of work to pay mortgage, bills etc (he is self employed).

You might need the overdraft facility, but you do not need to be living in it. If it stands at £1500 maximum all month, it could be costing you £30, which is a flat 2% - APR over 25%. It is probably the one to pay off first.

MrsBrown30

Hi Dvardy,

Yes we are in it at present but how will I know how much we owe to get back in the clear with it?

katsu

MrsBrown30 wrote: »

Hi Dvardy,

Yes we are in it at present but how will I know how much we owe to get back in the clear with it?

Hi Mrs Brown,

Get your bank statements and look at the balance the day before your wages go in. That should be the most money you are overdrawn by each month. Then (over time) pay that much into your account (probably by spending less than you have coming in each month). You can check you are making progress by every month checking that the overdrawn balance before payday is less than it was the month before.

MrsBrown30

Thanks hun, I noticed that you are now debt free, care to share your tips?

MrsB x