MSE Newbee

Kerryc82

Hi there,
Its my first time on this site...I have been receiving Martin's emails for a few weeks now and decided I needed to start looking on here for other people's advice and tips on saving cash!

I'm 24 and bought a house last year with my partner....because of the change of money situation, I suddenly realised I had no money to myself and boosted my credit card from £800 to £2,000 and applied for a £500 overdraft (this is on top of a loan which is now down to £3,000). Total debt, minus the mortgage, is £5,500. Today I decided to tell my dad about my debt situation .....and he was really supportive and he has helped me apply for a loan with Northern Rock at 5.9%. I will be paying it off at £185 for three years (at the moment I pay £200 towards my credit card/loan a month and this isn't paying off my overdraft). I think if I am accepted I will defo not get any credit cards or loans....I will also feel better I will have one debt as opposed to three (and not knowing where I am up to in my current account due to my overdraft)...

I feel like a huge weight has been liftedl. Now I need to save for decorating/new windows so instead of getting into debt I am going to rummage around for things to sell on ebay - which this site has inspired me to do! thanks peeps :T

Kez xx

ps. how do you get a DWF no. on your signature? I dont understand that part....

amosworks

To get your signature, look at the dropdown menus at the top for Edit Signature.

CLAPTON

quote 'Now I need to save for decorating/new windows so instead of getting into debt I am going to rummage around for things to sell on ebay - which this site has inspired 'end of quote

but you are in debt.....

you might what to consider posting an SoA so you can see whether you are over spending, but whatever you do, you need to start building up an emergency fund...houses cost, so do cars and so does life and in the nicest way possible stop spending on credit cards now.

seven-day-weekend

You can get a DFW Nerd number by going to the thread entitled (something like) 'Debt-Free Nerd! How Rude' and asking to join, then you will be given a number.

lyric_grace

Welcome! I've not been here that long myself (on the boards that is, been on the site for ages!) There is lots of wonderful people on here who will be able to best advise yu with money etc. Hopefully one day I'll be one of them. See you around!

amosworks

Whoops! I forgot to mention your SOA!! See, I'm losing it in my old age lol

Kerryc82

CLAPTON wrote:

quote 'Now I need to save for decorating/new windows so instead of getting into debt I am going to rummage around for things to sell on ebay - which this site has inspired 'end of quote

but you are in debt.....

you might what to consider posting an SoA so you can see whether you are over spending, but whatever you do, you need to start building up an emergency fund...houses cost, so do cars and so does life and in the nicest way possible stop spending on credit cards now.

Oops...I had meant to say "adding to my debt". From now on I will save up to spend, if I dont have the money, don't buy it....I just hope I keep that mentality - cheers for the advice!

Kez

southernscouser

Welcome aboard kerry!

Can I just say that although you might feel happier about having only one bill to pay each month it might not be the best situation financially! :think:

There a normally a couple of problems with consolidations loans.

People like the appeal of a lower monthly payment. The downside of this is that it is generally going to take you longer to pay off the debt which inevitably means you pay more in interest.

Also with loans most of them are not flexible. This means that you cannot pay them off early or pay extra towards them without incurring penalties. Also the interest is front loaded. This means when you start paying of a loan you will be paying most of the interest of first. So say in 6 months time you have a small windfall even though you have made six payments you will find that your outstanding balance is more than the original amount you borrowed.

The plus (if you can call it that) with credit cards is that you can pay back as much as you want without penalty.

There is a great calculator called the snowballing that allows you to put in your debts and it works out how long it will take to pay them off depending on what monthly payment you make and how much interest you will pay. Play around with the payment figure to see how it changes, then compare this to the loan.

http://www.whatsthecost.co.uk/snowball.aspx