Depressing numbers....

PrettyWoman

Hi - had my lightbulb moment at the start of the year and I've set up a spreadsheet to monitor everything. Not on a DMP as I can service my payments, albeit at just above the minimums.

Just crunched some numbers and I'm pleased to say that in five months I have paid £9502.22 towards my debts :T

However, my balances have only reduced by £3234.63

That means I have paid a whacking £6267.59 in interest :eek:

I wish I hadn't looked now!

Teekaylon

Surely given those figures you would be better off just going on a DMP (even a self managed one) for the sake of getting all of the interest frozen possibly?

Before i had my lightbulb moment i was struggling just like yourself to pay just above my minimum payments and getting nowhere because of the spiralling interest charges. The way i see it is that i am in a OK position because having a negative credit rating wont have a dramatic effect on me like it can with others, so in short am now negotiating with both of my creditors for reduced repayments and frozen interest charges

Good Luck! and sorry to hear your depressing news!

WASHER

could you not transfer some of the balances onto a 0% card? If not, I would too contact the CCCS, 6K in interest is huge.

PrettyWoman

Thanks for your reply and I would love to get the interest reduced but as I can meet my minimum payments I can't see that it will happen.

Most of my debt is on credit cards and one is charging 34.9%. I stupidly didn't opt out when they hiked it as I though I might need it in the future. The stupid thing is when my card expired they didn't send me a new one, so now I'm stuck with the high interest and no card!

Teekaylon

WASHER wrote: »

could you not transfer some of the balances onto a 0% card? If not, I would too contact the CCCS, 6K in interest is huge.

i been there done that and managed to reduce my debt from 24k to currently nearly 19.5k but i have no interest free options remaining as i have like 5 or so cards so although this can be a fix its only a temporary one if you have large debts! card tarting i feel is for people with much smaller debts is my experience

Teekaylon

PrettyWoman wrote: »

Thanks for your reply and I would love to get the interest reduced but as I can meet my minimum payments I can't see that it will happen.

Most of my debt is on credit cards and one is charging 34.9%. I stupidly didn't opt out when they hiked it as I though I might need it in the future. The stupid thing is when my card expired they didn't send me a new one, so now I'm stuck with the high interest and no card!

well why not just manipulate your SOA whos to know?

Teekaylon

PrettyWoman wrote: »

Thanks for your reply and I would love to get the interest reduced but as I can meet my minimum payments I can't see that it will happen.

Most of my debt is on credit cards and one is charging 34.9%. I stupidly didn't opt out when they hiked it as I though I might need it in the future. The stupid thing is when my card expired they didn't send me a new one, so now I'm stuck with the high interest and no card!

also Virgin told me they are suspending my card account in one breath and then 3 days later MBNA (same company) sent me my new replacement card on my soon to expire MBNA card!! how mad is that!

Oneday77

Are you snowballing your existing debts, paying all extra payemnts to the one account charging the highest interest rate?

You could always contact the cards that have terminated and ask for an interest reduction?

Teekaylon

Oneday77 wrote: »

Are you snowballing your existing debts, paying all extra payemnts to the one account charging the highest interest rate?

You could always contact the cards that have terminated and ask for an interest reduction?

i am paying equal amounts to both of my creditors £50 to each a month and am in the process of trying to negotiate for interest rates to be reduced or even stopped!

Oneday77

What you need to do is pay the minimum payment to each creditors rather than an even £50 to each.
That may only be £15-£20 a month but you'll reap the rewards.
Then you pay the difference to the one that charges the most interest.
Use http://www.makesenseofcards.co.uk/snowcalc.html to work out what you need.
It is easy to think that paying them evenly it makes it go away faster.
The snowball does it the scientific way and makes a huge difference.

Teekaylon

But i have already sent both my creditors letters telling them they wil be recieivng said £50.00 each a month so do i just welsh on this deal then and pay 15-20 a month instead to both then wiegh up the situation once they have settled on what interest rate they are going to charge? :think: