Just another diary - nothing to see here

Maccydu

Hi all

This diary is just a self-motivator so I can keep track of my own progress.

I noticed in January that I'd managed to rack up just over £19k of credit card and overdraft debt and, whilst the repayments are manageable, I just don't fancy having it hanging over me anymore.

Using a snowball calculator I'm apparently going to be debt free in 40 months. Let's see how much I can knock off that!

Starting amounts:

HSBC £2290 @ 24.9%!!
Virgin £2083 @ 15.9%
Amex £1570 @ 18.9%
Capital One £6000 @ 12.9%
Nationwide O/D £1880 @ 18.9%
Alliance and Leicester £700 @ 0% (ish)
Barclaycard £2680.19 @ 12.4%
Egg £1800 @ 16.9%

Most of them were initially 0% deals, but I didn't transfer / didn't cancel and spent more etc etc, and now I am where I am.

Although I have a completely clean credit record (i check each month) I am unable to swap / get different cards as I currently live in a rented house whilst having a mortgage at a different address (a long and boring separation story!)

So, here goes, let the fun begin ... !

Maccydu

BEAT_THE_DEBT

So wuld you like some company or is it just for you! I am here if you do!x

Maccydu

Company would be great

Pay day next Wednesday, and should be getting around £1000 bonus (before deductions), so should knock another chunk off my cards! :j

365days

Hi there,

The bonus will certainly help get things going. I'm looking torent out my house and rent another. Is that what you do? Are there implications for mortgages etc? Any pro's/cons?

Tahnks in advance.

savingholmes

hello and welcome to diary land - I am sure you can knock some time off that debt free date

365 - you may find you can't under and ordinary mortgage - as buy to let is a different mortgage type....

Maccydu

365 days - Hello! The situation with the mortgage is that when I split from my ex I gave her the house, but I've yet to transfer off the mortgage (just looking into it at the moment).

I now live in a (privately) rented house. Because of this, my credit record shows my address to be different to that which I have a mortgage account at, and also on credit application forms I have to put living in rented accommodation (meaning I have no assets as such) but have a mortgage too!

Maccydu

Diary update.

I went £4 over my overdraft limit with A&L (back in Jan), and they charged me £5 a day (I didn't realise - stupidly!!), and ended up with over £100 worth of charges.

I rang to complain, they looked into it, refunded me £25 as a goodwill gesture, and then send me a letter 2 days later saying my account wasn't maintained well enough, and that I had 30 days to clear the £700 overdraft. I panicked a little bit, but was able to find the cash (that was a TOUGH month!), so my A&L account is now debt free and closed. Hurrah!!

I've also recently complained to HSBC about the rate-jacking of my credit card, and they've now agreed to return it to the 15.9% rate I had up until last august, with the closure of the account. Every little helps!

Maccydu

Radish72

Good luck

Also just wondering how many of the credit cards you have cut up

Maccydu

It's a good question.

I've cut up all but 2, my Capital One, and my Barclaycard. Here's why ...

Each month I pay the minimum on those two cards, and then after interest has been added, I spend the remaining balance on essentials (petrol, food etc). The money I would have used for paying for these I then overpay on the more expensive cards, so I'm effectively transferring the balance over to the cheaper cards (well, in small increments anyway).

Just to be clear though, I am overpaying the expensive cards more than just the amount I'm "transferring".

Maccydu

Maccydu

Hurrah for payday!!

A bonus for last years company performance means my take home pay was £600 more than normal.

Have made an overpayment of £250 to my Amex account. Will also pay the normal monthly payment when my statement is due, so they'll be getting around £290 total this month.

I'm hoping to enjoy some of the bonus myself, and my daughter has been pestering me for Sims 3 for ages so I think I'll treat her to that, but hopefully at the end of the month I'll have around £200 left of it that I can use to overpay even more.

Updated my snowball calculator with the £250, and it's knocked a month of my debt free day. I can see updating that is going to be addictive!! Have set a target of 30 months for being debt free, so will see what I can do to hit that target!

365days

You've just got to love the snowball-Well done, great news.