The Debt Free Roll Of Honour

jaxsmar

364ab congratulations on being debt free. What a nice way to start the new year.

Quassi75

a. The date of your lightbulb moment
The 6th of May 2012. I was living payslip to payslip, just about paying off my debt with my whole wage and constantly living in debt. Then my Mum passed away and all the extra expense, just made me look for help. As I could no longer cope financially.

b. Debts at their highest
My debt at the start was just over £31k

c. Debt-Free Date
January 2019

d. Your one perl of wisdom.
To start a DMP was difficult, as I was embarrassed having to ask for help and give a total stranger all my debt information, especially as it was so high. But once done, they really helped me out and supported me through all of it and made me feel at ease. And then when the first payment went out, I felt I was on the road to getting it all sorted. It was a very hard 7 years, with a lot of downs and some ups. But keep working hard and keep paying the debt and keep the DMP people in the loop if you struggle, as they are really there to help you.

e. Links to the MSE guides that helped you
Lots of posts helped me out, too many to list.

g. And if you had a debt diary on the Debt-Free Wannabe board (DFW), a link to it
My debt diary is posted on https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3947423/started-my-long-way-to-being-debt-free

DannyPearce90

This really is awesome. Great community

jubilee14

a. The date of your lightbulb moment - Sept 2012

b. Debts at their highest - £37,012

c. Debt-Free Date - 10/01/2019

d. Your one pearl of wisdom. Its not necessarily easy, but its a whole lot easier than the strain and worry debt gives every month. DMP gives you the time to learn good budgeting skills preparing you for life after Debt!

f. Which forum threads helped you- DMP Mutual Support Thread started when it was part 8. Input in early days from Time to Face the Music, Hopelessly Hopefull and Antonic spurred me on to know i wasn't alone and it could be done!

No Diary

LondonGirl252

Well done Jubilee14, must be a huge relief

misspuddleduck

Lightbulb moment July 2006
Total Debt £82500
Debt Free 7 January 2019

I've followed MSE since the beginning of my journey in 2006 and can honestly say it provided me with a lifeline throughout this whole debt experience. I commenced a DAS DPP in November 2006 and apart from the Money Advisor at CAB I have never told a anyone about my debt because that's what it was 'my debt' my stupidity and craziness so I had to sort it. The stress has been almost too much at times but reading the advise and other people's experience on here has kept me this side of the edge. I paid off 87% of my debt by December last year when the DAS Administrator advised as I had paid the DAS for 12 years and paid over 70% I was entitled to request a Composition, ie the remainder of the debit is written off. After a lot of thought I requested the Composition and it was granted at the beginning of the year. I am very fortunate as this arrangement provides legislation that ensures none of the creditors can take any action against me EVER.

If anyone is thinking of taking out a DAS I would say go for it!

I follow all the advice about saving, budgeting etc from this site and it's changed my life. No more credit EVER!

My initial thoughts on the extra money I now have every month...'fantastic my savings pot is going to get all that extra money every month!

Thank you everyone :T:j

beanielou

misspuddleduck wrote: »

Lightbulb moment July 2006
Total Debt £82500
Debt Free 7 January 2019

I've followed MSE since the beginning of my journey in 2006 and can honestly say it provided me with a lifeline throughout this whole debt experience. I commenced a DAS DPP in November 2006 and apart from the Money Advisor at CAB I have never told a anyone about my debt because that's what it was 'my debt' my stupidity and craziness so I had to sort it. The stress has been almost too much at times but reading the advise and other people's experience on here has kept me this side of the edge. I paid off 87% of my debt by December last year when the DAS Administrator advised as I had paid the DAS for 12 years and paid over 70% I was entitled to request a Composition, ie the remainder of the debit is written off. After a lot of thought I requested the Composition and it was granted at the beginning of the year. I am very fortunate as this arrangement provides legislation that ensures none of the creditors can take any action against me EVER.

If anyone is thinking of taking out a DAS I would say go for it!

I follow all the advice about saving, budgeting etc from this site and it's changed my life. No more credit EVER!

My initial thoughts on the extra money I now have every month...'fantastic my savings pot is going to get all that extra money every month!

Thank you everyone :T:j

Lovely to read this

ThirdTimer

a. The date of your lightbulb moment
January 2017. At this point I was in debt again, for the third time in my life, having learned nothing from my previous episodes of rampant and foolish spending. I had been helped out of credit card debt by family on two previous occasions before, but had failed to change my behaviour long term, eventually creeping back into spending on multiple credit cards for the third time of my life. I was paying the minimum payments on my cards, but had hidden my relapse from my wife and family. Eventually, my wife found out and I came clean, fully expecting, but terrified of it all ending in divorce. I certainly was wracked with guilt and used to end up waking up at night covered in sweat. My wife sat me down and gave me one final chance to change, and I am proud to say that in the last two years I have not only paid off me debt fully by myself, but I have also fundamentally changed the way I think and importantly, 'feel' about money in general. The first 13/14 months were extremely tough and required significant self-discipline, limiting myself to nothing other than essential spends to maximise the debt payment, with the remaining time easing slightly due to starting a very well paid new job in March of 2018. However, the extra money provided by this job has been wisely used to accelerate becoming debt free, which as of yesterday, I am!

b. Debts at their highest
My debt at the start was £18,600

c. Debt-Free Date
14th of January 2019

d. Your one perl of wisdom.
More than one bit of advice here: You need to try and start to think about money differently by recognising you have a real and very serious problem in how you spend money/view debt. Once this is recognised, I would say that being extremely disciplined and hard on yourself is absolutely essential, as is checking your balances and transactions every single day. Make sure you track your spending throughout and never miss your targets under any circumstances. Get everything onto a 0% deal and then pay a set amount in each month – invest any extra money into an ISA and generate a little interest – although you MUST make sure you pay off the balance before the end of any balance transfer or other 0% rates finish. Basically, be smart and make sure you make the most of the money you have. Finally, don’t keep anything secret (financially anyway). Don’t dwell on the past, but embrace your new found determination, and where that determination will lead to a better life in the future.

e. Links to the MSE guides that helped you
Lots of posts helped me out, too many to list.

g. And if you had a debt diary on the Debt-Free Wannabe board (DFW), a link to it
I don't have a MSE diary, but my wife and I had weekly, and then monthly household budgeting meetings in order to track progress of spending, debt repayment and costs of utilities etc. We run a pretty lean house now and use every opportunity to invest money wisely as a household.

avian946

Hello all!
delighted to be posting here, its been a rough ride but I finally completed my goal. I had a lot of set backs but here is a brief description of my debt free journey.

Light Bulb Moment: December 2015 (approx). The specific moment i realised i was in trouble was when I was looking to take out a loan to consolidate my debt. I was attempting to take out a loan of £7500! i was gob smacked when I looked at this grand total. I had a credit card that I got when I was 18 and I maxed it out within a month. lack of financial education and a couple of holidays later really got things moving quickly! at the point of getting this loan I really wanted to buy a house and it was this point that I realised I had no hope if I couldn't control my spending and pay off my debt. along the way i made some silly decisions as well thinking "oh it's fine ill get this credit card with 24 months interest free and buy a whole bunch of rubbish I don't need. *eye roll*

Debts at their highest: 9128.00

Debit free date: 01/12/2018 (2 days before my birthday) best birthday present ever

Pearl of wisdom: two main points here, first is be honest with yourself and accept the debt you are in, I was lucky as I was able to consolidate debt. I ended up going with 4 0% money transfer credit cards as this saved nearly £4000 in interest (wowza!!!) and it allowed me to easily make over payments without getting penalties. Budgeting is also key! find a solution that works well for you. I tried to do it on paper however I don't do well with this sort of method. I ended up using Spendee.com as they have an app as well. The app allowed me to input transactions and set budgets for transaction groups. this easily allowed me to keep bills in check and more importantly keep my spend under control as I could easily see where everything went every month.

MSE members that helped me Ellieseleven. The story this lady had was amazing. I read the entire thing and it inspired me to do even better! thanks ellie! here is the link to her debt free diary: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2599257/stop-being-a-wimp-dmp-journey&page=01

good luck everyone!

millicent

Date of Light Bulb Moment: January 2012 - that moment when the bills come rolling in after Christmas and you haven’t a clue how you’re going to pay them. Started DMP with CCCS as it was then and never looked back!

Debts at their highest: £46,484.00

Debit free date: 28th January 2019

Pearl of wisdom: Don’t bury your head in the sand, I know it can seem overwhelming when you have debt that you can’t service but the DMP was the best financial decision that we made.
There really is nothing to be scared of and the relief that you are actually doing something about your debts is amazing!

Links to the MSE guides that helped you: Deft free wannabe, would read everyday to keep me on the straight and narrow, really helps to know that others are going through the same thing. The wealth of knowing on there is amazing

And if you had a debt diary on the Debt-Free Wannabe board (DFW), a link to it
No diary but loved reading about others journeys :beer: