Debt Free by Thirty!

d3mon4ngel

I feel slightly better after reading a few of the other diaries on here and also after speaking to a very nice lady at the court about my CCJ.

I've found out that I can get it marked as satisfied by simply sending in the letter from Severn Trent that says it has been paid. I don't have to pay the £15 unless I want a certificate of satisfaction which I don't need at the minute, and if I do need it in future, I can get it then.

She also said that the amount of the CCJ was £156, and the original amount was for £65.10 - I told her I'd paid £221 and she said she has no idea where this figure has come from! If I can prove I paid the £156 before 28 days was up, then I can get it removed completely (though as I didn't know about it I couldn't have paid it). If I can prove I paid Severn Trent before it even went to court, which I am damn sure I did, then it will be set aside as taken to court in error. At least I think that's what she said! I was just happy to not have to pay the £15 to be honest lol

So by this weekend I will:
- Send my letter from Severn Trent to the courts so that the CCJ is marked satisfied
- Find my bank statements that I ordered when I was being chased by Advantis for the £221 to see if I can find the original payment to Severn Trent
- Question Severn Trent about the amount that I paid - can they add more costs on after it has been sent to court?

Hmmm... another question for the main boards I think

CaroleM_3

Hi d3mon4ngel - am glad your feeling better, your always going to have bad days where it all feels a bit rubbish - but your doing really well, you've done loads of things recently that are going to help you and make your situation better, you just need to focus on what you've done now, not on what you could have done better/differently before - easier said than done, I know.

Well done on the dress - you should be really proud of yourself - thats some serious skills!

d3mon4ngel

Thanks Carole

It is hard to keep focussed on the good things that I've been doing lately, as the things that I've done wrong in the past are always there looking over my shoulder. I shall do my best to stay positive! I can't wait til I can give the final payment on the final debt... it seems so close and yet so far away! Less than 2 and half years... but 2 and a half years too long for me lol

d3mon4ngel

I've just had my credit card statement through, and would like to confirm that they have indeed reduced my interest rate to 18.9% pa - got slightly worried that they wouldn't actually do it after reading some other posts on here.

Update on financial situation:

Littlewoods..........£79.93 - Next direct debit payment is set up to pay off in full
[STRIKE]Rossendales..........£105.97[/STRIKE] - Cleared: 02-Jun-10
Wescot...............£184.01
Credit Card..........£513.63 - min payment = £15.61 - my £40 payment should actually make a dent in the debt
Car Finance..........£2,095
Family...............£700
Ex...................£1,000
Overdraft............£1,000

Current debt balance: £5572.57
Paid since last post: -£12.55 All added interest
Current savings (Virtual pot): £9.85 (in overdraft so none added to the pot this week)
Next target on the list: Littlewoods
Total paid off since start of diary: £67.28

d3mon4ngel

Did well on spending yesterday. Put £1 into a World Cup sweepstakes at work and drew Italy (according to the guys in work I've got a good chance of winning the top prize of £18 :cool: ). No other spending apart from OH buying his ciggies.

Had another talk with OH last night about our spending habits. According to what we've worked out, we should have about £200 each left at the end of month, after paying all the bills, buying shopping, etc. The end of May was both of our first paychecks with our new employers, so everythings a bit out of whack for this month. I got paid slightly more as I started at the end of April, and he brought home less because he didn't get his P45 into them in time and paid BR tax It should start to settle down over the next few months though and we should get a clear picture of whether this is actually happening.

I'm also not so impressed with the CCCS. I filled in everything on the website, then it told me that I needed to call them so I did. The man I spoke to said that I'd put too much in for tobacco - they recommend spending £149 max, but I can't help it if OH smokes 20 a day at £5.70 a pack, which works out over £170 a month. Even if he buys them at a cheaper price of £5.40, it's still over £160. He's cut down from nearly 40 a day when I first met him, so I'd say he's doing pretty good now by comparison!

The guy from CCCS also had issue with me only putting in £20 for clothing and shoes for the month, when their minimum is £22. True, we spent £23 on a jacket and tie this month, but that was a one off for a funeral. Last month and the month before that, we spent £12 on a shorts/t-shirt set for him, and £5 on a pair of value jeans. That's £30 over the last 3 months, so I was over estimating when I put in £20! The bloke said I had to change it so he did. I thought then that he would speak to me about it, but no, I had to go back on the pc and click through to the end to get a booklet - which told me what I already knew... that we should have about £400 left between us each month lol.

To be honest, I just wanted advice about the CCJ issue, but I thought that I had to fill all the budget stuff in before you could talk to them about other stuff. I'll try them again tonight and avoid mentioning that I've been on the website

On the smoking issue, OH has said that he might consider swapping to rolling baccy completely, but I know he really doesn't want to. I was quite harsh with him last night and pointed out that each month he gives more to the tobacco companies than he does to his daughter. I don't like having a go at him too much because of his smoking, as I am a former smoker, but he's always saying how he could just stop smoking if he wanted to, and he's always "going to quit soon". I split the bills unevenly in his favour so that we will both have about the same amount left, but after just thinking about it, I might suggest that it does get split evenly. That way it's more of a motivation for him to quit because it's coming out of his spending money

jwil

Sorry you were having a bad day yesterday, I think we all have days like that, especially when you've done everything you can, and still don't seem to be getting anywhere!

That's good news if you can get the CCJ removed or at least marked as settled. Hopefully that will make a difference to your credit report. You will be able to get your Smart Car eventually, so don't be too disheartened.

That's great that your credit card co did actually reduce your rate! :T

That seems weird about the CCCS not being very helpful, perhaps try one of the other charities if you don't have much luck.

I reckon it would be worth your OH going onto rollies if it's going to save you some money - he can go back onto cigs when you are debt free - it might happen a bit quicker if you've got a bit of extra cash.

Keep going, you're doing really well :beer:

jwil

I forgot to say, I entered the sweepstakes at work too and I got France, so we'll see how things go...

d3mon4ngel

I've decided that I am going to tell OH that I want to split the bills 50/50. I'm sure he won't argue as he hates the idea that I am supporting him, and thinks that he should be supporting me as the man of the house. It will help me as, although I earn more than he does, I do have more debts to clear.

Another thing I've been having a think about today is trying to decide which debt to tackle next. Littlewoods will be paid off this coming month, so with that gone, I need to decide which one will get my full attention.

Wescot
- Can probably pay off in one go next month
- Doesn't cost me any interest

Credit card
- Will take several months to clear
- Adds on interest every month

Do I clear off the Wescot debt for the quick feeling of satisfaction that it's another one gone, or do I concentrate on killing the credit card and lowering the amount I'm paying in interest? I know which one sounds more sensible, but when has that ever stopped me before?

My plan is to get these two gone and get out of my overdraft before Christmas this year. My additional plan is to have £1500 saved up by Christmas too, so that I can pay off the car finance in the new year.

I'm going to open a basic bank account and put my £100 "monthly allowance" into that each month. This is going to be the money that I am allowed to spend on myself - the rest goes towards bills and debt payments. Doing this should also help me pay off towards my overdraft as I won't be actually living in it, if that makes sense? My OH is going to open an account in his name for the bills money to come out of and we're both going to transfer the cash across into it. The original plan with that was to open a joint account, but as pointed out on one of my other threads, my CCJ will then get linked to him and I don't want to ruin his credit rating too!

Roll on Saturday so we can get this stuff sorted out! ARGH! MORE WAITING!! :mad:

d3mon4ngel

jwil wrote: »

I forgot to say, I entered the sweepstakes at work too and I got France, so we'll see how things go...

Good luck!

(but Italy is going to win :rotfl:)

Happytogetdebtfree

Hi just wanted to say good luck with the debt busting x