5 years to go thread

qolwillclearmydebts

Having battled to keep head afloat I finally succumbed tot he inevitable and have decided to do something about it.

In the summer months I earn substantial money , in the winter less so.

Debts Im aiming to clear in 5 years

Firstdirect 6500 - card at 19.6% - £195 a month
Egg 5000 personal loan, 8% at £240 a month
Northern Rock 5000 personal loan at 8% , £120 a month
Sainsburys 3750 card 11% average £75
Barclaycard 3600 card 11% average £75
Lloyds 3750 card 14% average - £80
Halifax 15000 10% lifetime , £154 a month
.
Just begun the phoning process

Firstdirect have agreed to a reduction in monthly payment to £100 from £195, and are arranging a separate account to do this. Very helpful on the phone. Theyha virtually freezed interest, something like 1% which is fine having been paying 19.6%.

Northern rock have sent me a paper form to fill out which I have done.

jwil

Good luck with the debtbusting, I've got around 5 years to go too, (hopefully less!!)

qolwillclearmydebts

i must say its a nice feeling in a strange way, saying thats it, get this sorted.

patman99

You have done well with F/D. Be aware though that when 'normal service' resumes, they are likely to shove the interest rate up to a higher level than it was before you got a rate reduction, so you need to try and pay as much off as you can.

I will assume that your area of work is either agricultural or horticultural (i.e. farm contractor, gardener or landscaper) hence the income drop during winter.

Someone I know works as a gardener, but they also bake cakes to order so have 2 income streams.

The hardest part of dealing with your debts is to admit you have a debt problem in the first place. When I was working, I used to have the attitude that "I can always pay this by credit card, after all, it's only a couple of weeks worth of overtime each month". Then the overtime stopped, but that didn't matter as I was "in a secure job, worked for the firm for 16 years and have been through dips in workload before". Then came the wake-up call, Feb. 2010 and the boss announces "the plant is closing and relocating to France". By the end of April, I had no job and only benefits to look forward to.
From that day to this, I have not put a penny more on my CC's, and when I start my new job on Monday, I will be looking to overpay at least on of my cc's with a view to reducing my cc count from 3 to 2 by end 2011.

Welcome to the world of DFW Diaries, where no-one is judged for their financial errors.

chevalier

Good luck with your debt busting. Have you checked that all your utilities and insurances are with the cheapest providers for you? If you find there are cheaper providers, then you can go via cash back sites to get some extra money for nothing.
chev

wigwam

I have no good advice, just chipping away my own past excesses, but wanted to pop in and say good luck! xx

vka1

Hello! I'll likely be here for the next 5 years too.....hopefully time will fly. Taking the decision to sort and staring it all straight in the face is certainly weirdly liberating! I've deicided on sorting one thing a week to make it all realistic i.e. sorting one APR, closing an account, reducing a bill etc.

Who'd ever have thought i'd look forward to opening my statements.....

Good luck with it all,

V

patman99

Just remember, every penny you pay-off is a penny less to pay. You never know, you might clear your debts quicker than you think.

Have you tried the snowball calculator yet? it is really good. You might just surprise yourself on how long it will take to be free of your financial burden.

Lemon_Tree

hi and welcome to the boards.
5 years will fly by, i've been on these boards for 5 years now and it's definitely flown though sometimes it's felt like slow going (but not often)
have a look around some of the challenges that run on here, they can make a world of difference!