The Debt Free Roll Of Honour

Former_MSE_Andrea

Hi everyone!

Huge congratulations to everyone who's cleared their debts off recently. We're so excited for you!

This week is Mental Health Awareness Week (#mhaw15) and of course debts can and do play a large part in mental health issues.

If you know of anyone who could really get a boost from reading all these inspiring stories please share the Debt Free Roll of Honour with them to show them it's do-able:

If you use this link we can see how many of you have shared it

mse.me/debftfreerollmhaw15

sourcrates

Acheron wrote: »

Don't know what to do... If I'd done an IVA when I'd first gotten in touch with Stepchange (CCCS), I'd have been debt-free a long time ago. I'm reduced to paying the bare minimum because my reduction in salary dictates it which means my debt will not be paid off for another 26 years. Very depressing. I wrote to all of the companies to ask them to write off the debt - just one out of six replied saying "no". Another wanted a letter from my doctor to get it even looked at (I laid it on about stress etc.) . The rest simply didn't reply/ignored the letter.


My job means I cannot go bankrupt - if I did, I'd lose my job which is just not an option. Is an IVA the right way out of this? Is there anything, given I've been paying for last seven years with no visible sign of it being over, I can do to get it wiped so I can rebuild my life again?


Thanks in advance.


A.

Hi,
Try posting in the forum, by starting a new thread, you wont get any responses by posting in this section.

MNM2903

a. The date of your lightbulb moment - May 2014

b. Debts at their highest - £17,865

c. Debt-Free Date - 02/05/2015

d. Your one perl of wisdom. Take ownership, negotiate and offer what you can afford or set up a payment plan.

e. Links to the MSE guides that helped you - Done this all on my own and mainly use MSE now to help maintain this and build my credit history for future purchases. The debts gone, the damage is still there.

f. Which forum threads helped you - Loans/ Credit file and ratings.

It took alot of sacrafice and hard hours at work but everyone can do it.

*zippy*

a. The date of your lightbulb moment....November 2005

b. Debts at their highest....£30,000

c. Debt-Free Date....May 2015

d. Your [STRIKE]one[/STRIKE] pearls of wisdom....just starting out find out what you owe, only once you know can you plan how to sort it out. Seek help and support, you are not alone and there is lots of support here and if needed from one of the debt charities. Don't beat yourself up, learn from mistakes and move on. Don't be unrealistic how quickly you can pay it back, if there's room in the budget then allow for some treats so you don't get bored.

e. Links to the MSE guides that helped you

f. Which forum threads helped you....not a particular thread, but I probably used most of the boards over the years, especially the old style board and dfw

g. And if you had a debt diary on the Debt-Free Wannabe board (DFW), a link to it

Best of luck to everyone

Pollygarter

Some absolutely amazing awe inspiring debt busting. Thank you all for posting and well done. I am planning on joining you debt free peeps soon as I can.

NorthernMonkey1

I've just realised via my Noddle account quite how much I used to owe.

£7776, £5588, £797 and £701 on credit cards and £8343 on a personal loan in April 2009.

Holy Cow. That's a total of £23205.

For anyone just starting on killing their debt, stick with it. It can be done, just a tiny little bit at a time.

6 years for me, but I'm so glad I've done it

NorthernMonkey1 wrote: »

Dear NorthernMonkey
ACCOUNT NUMBER xxxxxx

Thank you for your payment reference no. xxxxx. Your payment details and account status are detailed below:

• Payment method: UK Visa DR
• Settlement payment: 163.74
• Card payment charge: 0.00
• Total amount paid: 163.74
• Account status: Settled in full

OOOHHH Yeah.

Down from about £16-17000 5 years ago (I don't know the full amount, I was too scared to add it up)

boucho11

Decided to become debt free Jan 2014

Owed £1900 and 3 defaults

Debt and default free - Feb 2015 (yes I managed to get all 3 defaults removed! I've a thread posted about this and am happy to provide the templates and correspondence I used)

Helped by quite a few peeps on the forums

Used mostly the Credit File & Ratings Board

In Jan 2014 I couldn't even get a mobile phone contract. Using advice from these boards and a poor credit credit card (Aqua), I have managed to get a "good" credit rating, get a proper credit card and am currently moving towards a getting a mortgage! Well happy with myself!

Thanks guys

DireDebts

boucho11 wrote: »

Decided to become debt free Jan 2014

Owed £1900 and 3 defaults

Debt and default free - Feb 2015 (yes I managed to get all 3 defaults removed! I've a thread posted about this and am happy to provide the templates and correspondence I used)

Helped by quite a few peeps on the forums

Used mostly the Credit File & Ratings Board

In Jan 2014 I couldn't even get a mobile phone contract. Using advice from these boards and a poor credit credit card (Aqua), I have managed to get a "good" credit rating, get a proper credit card and am currently moving towards a getting a mortgage! Well happy with myself!

Thanks guys

Congratulations on being debt free. I am debt free too but am interested for the friend in how you removed the defaults. Can you post more details now please?

Karen777

well done - that's brilliant!

cottage_retreatist

I cannot believe I am writing this as it has seemed such a long time coming but I am now debt free!!!!!!!!! :j:j:j:j:j:j

a. The date of your lightbulb moment May 2013 - when i cut up all our credit cards sitting on the floor of the living room after doing the first ever count of all our combined debts :eek:

b. Debts at their highest £26,000

c. Debt-Free Date Payment needs to go through still but TODAY!!!

d. Your one perl of wisdom. My pearl of wisdom would be never give up! And never expect to pay it all off in a day - it's demoralising taking years to pay it off but it's also an opportunities to re-assess your relationship with money and what is important!

e. Links to the MSE guides that helped you
The PPI guide helped me claim £800 back!

f. Which forum threads helped you
EVERYONE on the DFW board who have been so supportive over the years, especially HOK3Y - my debt busting sister, Wantabetterlife, NinjaSavingKat's challenges, giblet1979, debtfreewannabe321

Also - the old-style board has been invaluable for tips and tricks to save money!

g. And if you had a debt diary on the Debt-Free Wannabe board (DFW), a link to it

I do have a diary! 6 grand in 6 months - my personal challenge!

Thank you everyone! Join me in a glass of champagne and never give up!!!!

:beer::beer:
:money:

C-R x