Can You Live Without Credit? Please Answer.

Poosmate

Mikon, you know I've already posted on both of your previous threads so I guess you'll have some idea of what I think. But that's me. It's impossible to give informed opinions on someone's circumstances without knowing the hard facts.

All I would ask is have you truely and seriously exhausted all other ways of dealing with your debts before resorting to the DMP?

If you haven't already, please look at some other's SOAs and the advice that's been offered to them. There really are so many ways that you can deal with debt and absolutely nobody needs to be any the wiser about it. You have the added bonus that you have your other half on board so you'd be working as a team. Many people are doing this on their own, some have handicaps where their other half's are not playing the same game because they haven't realised the predicament they're in yet.

There isn't an easy way out of this and I appreciate you know this but I'm pretty sure once you go on your DMP you can kiss goodbye to the 22k car lifestyle.

It is going to take some time to readjust, I hope you get on ok with it.

All the best

Poo

mikon

Poo

Your replies in all my threads have been useful and helpful and have aided me in coming to the decision I have reached which is DMP. Remortgage is out of the question as is an IVA I will get around to posting my SOA for people to advise me on. I feel better just knowing that their is a possible solution rather than stumbling from month to month and I know we will never be alone as we have this forum for support.

Thank you once again for all your advice.

Poosmate

Thanks. I have struggled with debt for years so know where you're coming from. This is the first month I have money left at the end of the month since I can ever remember!

Good luck with your DMP and I hope your OH feels better soon.

Poo

jonni3000

Mikon said:

I guess my image needs to go out the window and my OH health and well being needs to be my priority.

I know exactly where you are coming from! I used to have a Range Rover Vogue SE & a Porsche 997 and was very, very image conscious, but I started using MS Money for tracking my spending and came to realise (after logging vehicle spending for a couple of years) that there were other less expensive ways of getting from A to B, or should I say that I'd had enough of fuel, insurance and servicing costs getting higher and higher. I now have an A4 diesel estate - bought cash. Nobody has said anything to me about the change in vehicle, if they do I'll be honest and tell them I'd had enough of increasing running costs. I doubt you'll get any criticism for your honesty or common sense approach, particularly in the current climate. I liked driving the other cars, but I much prefer having the additional money in the bank. It was a sort of LBM, but with vehicle costs

In answer to your original question, I don't use credit either. Got rid of my credit card in 2004, the OH still has one but it just doesn't get used. If we want something it comes out of savings. My LBM happened about 15 years ago, and the OH's about five years ago.

elsie52

Mikon,

Can we live without credit........of course we can. You budget, save what you can, and budget some more.!! The feeling when you have cash in your hand to buy something, is one I love. It's paid for, done with, and you don't owe anything for it.! This is the voice of experience. We started our DMP just over 2 years ago, owing £74k.........we now owe £33k. so have paid off £41k in 2 years, and do you know what, we must be doing a pretty good job of keeping up appearances, because not a single family member or friend know a thing about it.! It can be done. The main advice I can give you is to budget, for absolutely everything, spend your housekeeping budget wisely, learn to know the difference between NEED and WANT.! You can do it, take a bit of advice from an another "oldie" and do this whilst you are young enough to recover from it.

Good luck

bertman

Hi Mikon,

Just wanted to add my two penneth, we had to live on credit as our business failed, stock, lease payments etc. all came from CC and loans until we managed to get rid of the business. For the last 6 months we have lived by using cash and also using the tips on this website. The people on here are (mostly) really concerned for you which helps, especially in the dark times that we have all had.
By using cash we have managed to find the value of things, also we can't overspend as when the cash has gone its gone so we budget very well now. We cook all our own meals and really enjoy it - Sundays over the winter have been fun trying new recipes and having a glass or two of wine, these meals have lasted us all week for a vastley reduced sum.
We also don't care now what people think, we keep our house neat, tidy and clean but don't have all the gadgets everyone else has - playstations etc. We just say we don't have time for them and to be honest we probably don't, we get out more now walking, visiting places etc. with packed lunches and have really found a lot of things in the UK that we didn't relaise existed and all free - again this website is great for cheap days out.
Sorry if this sounds like rambling on but keep your chin up, you will come out of this and be better for it - and no longer be in the hands of the banks...

katsu

mikon wrote: »

The problem is I am driving a £22k vehicle now private plates so to come down to a £500 vehicle will set alarm bells ringing amongst my family and friends. I know this sound stuck up my own ars* but I am one of those individual that has to maintain an image albeit the image I have been protraying over the past year has been beyond my means its difficult to readjust, its easier to go up than it is to come down. I guess my image needs to go out the window and my OH health and well being needs to be my priority.

Sorry for sounding a stuck up pompus, I'm not if you knew me.

Hi Mikon,

Can you look for a quirky car? Say you are experimenting with the fun of a small mini (for example) that rockets around the streets?

To be honest, I'm wondering why you feel you need to maintain this image - you know if you can't afford the image then the cost (to the OH's health and your life) is too high.

Surely your family and friends like you, not your car? If your friends are engaged in some "keeping up with the Joneses" type game, then maybe you want to spend more time with friends who aren't?

I agree that there are certain professional issues and it may raise questions at work if you went for a rusty banger with all doors and panels different colours. If you save judiciously you should not need to come to that. After all, if your car is worth £22k then it should last ages. If nothing else, if you sold that car you could easily have a great £5k car and put some money aside for emergencies/reduce your debt.

Good luck.

Mags_cat

I'm afraid I have to say "Yes, all too easily".

However, that is entirely down to my mum who worked in a bank and taught me from an extremely early age that if I didn't have the cash in my hand I couldn't afford it.

I've never had a credit card - although I did once take advantage of a 6 month interest free deal to buy a computer to get some "free" added extras. I paid it off the following month. It actually looked for a while like I wouldn't get the interest free deal because apart from a mortgage and a very old (and extinct) mobile phone contract there is nothing else on my credit record. Who'dathunk it? I'm a bad risk! :T

So thanks, mum...without your training I'm sure I'd be in a very different place right now.

mikon

A Big Thank You.

Life after credit does exist and it seems a healthier and more liberating way of life. So the sun will be setting finally on my lifestyle and will rise to a new dawn of no credit cards but a monthly budget that will allow me and my OH to live a stress and healthy future. So here we go....

Thank you all for the advice.

JES_F1

Others have given advice on what to do if you need a new car but thought I'd reply in general to the question of whether we can live without credit.

Until my 'lightbulb moment' a couple of years ago, my response would have been "no way". And I would have probably had palpitations and gone 'cold turkey' if someone said I couldn't have my credit cards!

I now feel very different. Two years into my DMP, I now know that I don't need credit cards. It can be frustrating, yes, but I don't want to return to where I was, running up ridiculous amounts on cards - I was convinced I had to max out all my cards!

I was initially worried I wouldn't be able to order stuff online any more but I can of course use by debit card - and if I can't afford something this month, I wait until I've saved enough.

When I finish paying off my debts, the amount of money currently paid to my DMP will become a wonderful amount of "spare cash", which will allow me to live well without the need for credit cards. I also intend to save a substantial chunk each month (e.g. for holidays, days out, more expensive items, an emergency fund).

Maybe one day I will get ONE credit card and use it 'properly' but that's a long way off!

Good luck!