Elmer's moneysaving mission

ElmerFudd

Still not heard anything from the student loan people yet. It will be great if they can defer it but I'm not counting my chickens.
Have a few big yearly bills to pay this month so things are starting to get tight!

ElmerFudd

Still not heard anything from the SLC. I think they have forgotten about me. The odd thing is that the money in my account hasn't moved, so perhaps it's been deferred. It's a bit annoying having to wait for them to let me know. My budget is a little shot to pieces this month, and I already have negative money. Will definitely be back on track next month (I have paid for a couple of yearly bills in advance so I don't have to worry about them each month).

ElmerFudd

SLC still haven't gotten back to me, but it's been about 2 weeks since they should have taken the money out of my account, and it's just sitting there gathering dust while the other account is negative and notching up the daily interest. I'm tempted to just transfer the money back to the other account but I don't have an overdraft facility on the other account so it's probably best if I just wait til my pay goes in later on this week.
Wish they would just let me know what's happening so I can know what my budget will be for the next lot of months.

One good thing is that my loan figure is now at £2049. If the SLC get back to me in the positive then I can think about possibly paying this off sooner rather than later, freeing up £194 a month to go towards other bills.

If SLC works out -

Plan A: Pay off Old Lloyds card. Account is closed so that will be one more card removed from my grasp. (Will take 3 months)
Pay off Loan. (Save the money for 3 months then pay off in one lump?)
Pay off Barclaycard (will take 6 months)

or

Plan B: Pay off Old Lloyds card as above.
Overpay on new Lloyds card.

Advantages of Plan A will have access to an extra £250 a month to go towards the other bills by the end of a year.(+ the £160 odd I won't be paying toward the SLC). Sum total of an extra £410 a month by the end of 2012 to go towards other debt.
Advantages of Plan B will have access to an extra £20 a month, and get to see new Lloyds card figure drop by an extra £180 a month (including the SLC payments).

Thinking about it Plan A looks a lot more tempting.

LianneH

Hi Elmer

I wonder why its taking them so long to confirm one way or another...maybe just the sign of yet another big inefficient organisation! Could you not give them a call and see what they are up to?

I vote for Plan A...imagine having an extra £400 a month WOW!!

ElmerFudd

Hi LianneH. I phoned them today and they don't seem to know their arm from their elbow. The money still hasn't been taken but I am loathe to touch it. Plan A it is then!

LianneH

:mad: that makes me mad!! I can't stand when big organisations are allowed to float through their existence and not be productive!! I would be phoning them everyday and bugging the xxxx out of them! lol

:rotfl:"arm from their elbow" that saying always makes me chuckle tho!!

ElmerFudd

Big organisations pretty much think they can get away with anything. I guess I can't grumble though. I did after all borrow money from them. Finally got a letter from them today though telling me it's been deferred for a year, but it only mentions two of the loans. Not a problem though, I'll just transfer the money that would have gone toward that part back into my overdrawn account! Guess I'll know in the next few weeks if the other one is going to come out of that account.

Yeah it's a bit of an old one that. Not sure why I wrote it!!

Looking forward to Plan A now (once I have paid my overdraft off).

ElmerFudd

While I am here I might as well make a summary of what I owe from this month.

Current debts as of early Nov 2011: (rough figures)

Credit card 1: APR 24.9% = £6300 + £4850 at 0% til December 2011.
Credit card 2: APR 6.95% = £7300 (some at 0% for 9 months ends Jan 2012) *CLOSED*
Credit card 3: APR 6.95%= £1230 + £250 at 16.95%
Credit card 4: APR 0% for 9 months (ends Jan 2012) = 830 *CLOSED* *accurate as of 23rd August
Total on CC's = Currently £20760 (up a bit as I had to use the card for some things - including some yearly payments so I won't have to worry about them monthly)

Loan 1: £2,049
Loan 2 (student loan): £7800
Overdraft: (APR 8%) £1440

Total: £32049


While I know things have gone up slightly some positive things are: 2 major payments are covered for another year and won't be coming out of my account each month. Either way I look at it the debt is 1k less than it was in February. Further to this I am at least £80 better off this month, and if the other money doesn't come out from the SLC (which I am hoping), that will be £190 a month that can go towards other debt.

My plan now is to just pay off the smaller debts as I don't seem to be making much headway with the big debt. I'll focus on that once I just have that one. I realise it's almost reverse logic as that's the one with the most interest but if I just have to find cash for one debt each month it will be less of a headache ultimately.

Hopefully by this time next year I'll just be left with the new Lloyds card, the Halifax CC, the student loan, and the one overdraft (perhaps with a chunk of it paid off).

I still have a target of £26300 for the end of the year but I have no idea where I am going to find £5749 in 2 months! The lottery sounds like an idea!!!

ElmerFudd

Pay day has been and gone, but I have nothing at all to spend. All the bills are paid for except for two small ones, and my overdraft is still in the negative. Once I know for sure the money for the student loan isn't going out (in about 5 days time) I can transfer the remaining funds from that account to the negative one. I'll still be in the negative though, but it shouldn't be for that long (hoping to get some money back in the next week or so).

Edit: The more I think about Plan A, the more I think it will make a lot of sense. I still need to pay off the other overdraft though. I don't think that will take too long though. I really hope I can get all this sorted out relatively soon though. Once I see the debt dropping faster I'll be so much happier.

ElmerFudd

Pay day is still a week away and my account is in the negative again. This should be sorted out by then and should hopefully only drop to negative by a few days (if at all). Positive things: have paid the TV license and insurance for the year so won't have to worry about those. I should also have CC4 paid off in January, and since that account is closed it'll be one less bill to worry about each month.
SLC have confirmed that they have deferred payments so I can now transfer the money over to my other account (however it will still be negative).
All being well the debt will start dropping significantly next month. When I get some spare time I can work out a new SOA and rearrange my budget (which honestly has gone a little to pot this month).