Debt Free by 2012

mattblue

Is it possible -

Hi Guys,

Have been on the forum for years and thought its about time I posted up my personal debt...am looking to get rid of it by my birthday (June) 2012

All my APRS are high due to an ex ruining my credit history - default(s) due to drop off next year thank god !!

My debt-

Lloyds Loan £5563.27 @ 217 a month
Lloyds CC £ 2320.59 @ 60 a month
Barclaycard £2533.10 @ 60 a month
Very £2762.86 @ 115 a month
Next £349 @ 30 a month
Great Uni £310 @ 35 a month


My income is £1350 every 4 weeks and I roughly have around £550 once the rest of the bills ie mortgage phone etc go out...

Which do you think I should tackle first and would the loan be paid off considerably quicker if i paid say an extra £50 a month off it

Cheers

Matt :beer:

KrazyKeeper

Hi Matt im new here but im sure someone will give you advice at a more sociable hour first thing to do is do a SOA and include the APRs to see which are highest you may be able to save money somewhere else too that you've missed. Your total is about 14k and 20 months till june 2012 but you should get paid more than 20 times in that period being 4 weekly 550*20=11000 so it wont be easy but definitely doable!! you wil get better advice when you do your SOA mate.

KK

Pollycat

Re what to pay off first, take a look at the snowball calculator (explanation & link below), it should tell you whether 2012 is a realistic target:

There is a fantastic online calculator (link below) that you input all your debts and the amount you can afford to pay each month, and the calculator will tell you what debt to pay first and how much to pay each month. It also gives you a debt free date which can be a great motivation and a target to work to.

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

It might be a good idea to do a SOA as KK suggests, there may be some ways to increase your surplus £550 per month to enable you to pay off your debts quicker.

caveman

Whilst its good to have target I'd be wary in case it puts you under too much pressure "oh I'm never going to make it" type thoughts can be damaging as you approach the deadline.
Maybe take the view of "i want to do everything I can to reduce it as quickly as possible and see where that gets you?
good luck anyway

podperson

Hi Matt,

Are the amounts you are currently paying the minimums, and if so do you have any extra on top of this to pay towards them? With say an extra £50 a month I would very tempted to get the catalogues paid off quicker as unless they are on a special offer the interest rates on them tend to be extremely high. Once you have cleared the two with relatively small balances you would have an additional £65 a month to throw at either the other catalogue or the ccs - again check the interest rate. Personally I would leave the loan until last since it's probably a lower apr and you might end up stuck with penalty charges if you pay it off too early.