Xmas "round robin!" A catchup & intro for all!

clarab_3

Great idea - maybe we should do these semi regularly!

Got a good job, which i wasted until recently by only making minimum payments. Since LBM 18 months ago have cleared + closed one credit card and made inroads on another while keeping up repayments on 2 loans. Got a court judgement removed from my record. Next year's plan... Rid of last of credit cards (£1900) by Easter - start on £16k's worth of loans

Here for the long haul folks so hi!

Donedoingdebt

Approaching my 7th year of my own private DMP. 2006 saw 1 LLoyds account paid off, MBNA credit card paid off & the Inland Revenue (HMRC) tax bill finally paid off after 12 years. Still have to pay off Nat West loan £330 monthly (June 2008), Black Horse loan £85 monthly (June 2011, although probably much earlier), 1 Lloyds account £47.10 monthly (May 2008), 1 Lloyds account £77 monthly (May 2009), Blair, Oliver & Scott £90 monthly (December 2008) & Wescott £61 (October 2008). 3 defaults have come off my file this year, 1 in October & 2 on 9th December. In dispute with Aktiv Kapital regarding a default they registered against me dated November 2002, when in fact I have proof it was May 2000. By Nov 2002 I was well into my DMP & hadn't missed a payment for 30 months so I don't know where that one came from. This is still ongoing. Roll on 2008!!!! Nearly forgot to mention my BoS credit card on which there's still nearly £11000 owing. Struggling to do minimum payments at the moment.

nevadagirl

Hello all

I've been lurking for about six months and have only recently posted for the first time. I've got debts of just under £21k, mostly from doing up a flat I bought for about the same amount four years ago. I am, on the whole, fairly frugal and whatever I've spent money on, I've made sure I get every last drop of use out of it. A sizeable chunk of my debt was run up by my rather unscrupulous ex (egged on my his particularly unpleasant family) in my name, but I wasn't the first and I doubt I'll be the last to get into that situation, so I've had to just pull my socks up and get on with clearing it. The life lessons I learned from that one, I think being £10k down at the end of it was one of my lesser worries but hey ho, you live and learn :rolleyes:

I want to get rid of the debt as soon as possible so that, should the right time come, I can get married and start a family with a clean slate and a slightly more cheery outlook on life! I've had a pretty rubbish couple of years, so I'm definitely looking forward to 2007, and to learning more on here to help me ditch the debt. Good luck to everyone else and it's great to find out more about you all in this thread - thanks Lynz :T .

PeachPickle

I joined MSE in June, and have paid off 4 debts since then (ok, they were the smallest ones, but still!) with another one to be paid this month
I've finished my christmas shopping before december payday - a first!- and thanks to MSE bought some very good presents for next to nothing :T

I've had a bad couple of weeks but whereas pre-mse I'd have been out to the shops to distract myself, I'm now just more determined to make 2007 count. The plan is to combine moving out with repayments in a delicate balance

Oh, and I successfully claimed my bank charges from Cap 1 and the cheque for £469 is due within the next week or two :D:D

lil_me

Well I'll keep mine short and sweet (just like me of course :A :rotfl: )

Anyway, when I joined this site I lived beyond what income I had, actually I think I just 'lurked' back then, we had a huge amount of debt and no idea how to deal with it. I realised we were wasting huge amounts of money without even thinking about it.

Now, well totally different, now dealing with life, had a holiday without getting into debt and saved a fortune with vouchers etc, and saved up for our first 'no debt' Christmas :T with money to spare actually, even more shocked.

I now have rethought what we spend, and how we spend. I kept a strict spending diary at first which I have now kept to. I have reduced our food shopping bill by over half :eek: and proved to myself it can and will be done.

Anyway, that's enough from me, wishing you all a very Happy Christmas and my best wishes for the New Year

Mrs_Sparkle

Hello everyone,

I've been lurking rather than posting recently, mainly due to it being the silly season at work and not having as much spare time as I used to have. I will of course still be with you in 2007 as I'm in it for the long-haul. I'm still feeling pretty positive about my progress and I take comfort from the fact that my debts are no longer going up, even if they're not going down as quickly as I'd like!

2007 is going to be a good year... small pay rise and bonus (hopefully) in January followed by the arrival of baby in February. Well done everyone for doing so well this year and for being an inspiration to me.

Lynz I wish you all the best for your medical treatment and a speedy return to full health.

C x x

Mrs_Sparkle

Hello everyone,

I've been lurking rather than posting recently, mainly due to it being the silly season at work and not having as much spare time as I used to have. I will of course still be with you in 2007 as I'm in it for the long-haul. I'm still feeling pretty positive about my progress and I take comfort from the fact that my debts are no longer going up, even if they're not going down as quickly as I'd like!

2007 is going to be a good year... small pay rise and bonus (hopefully) in January followed by the arrival of baby in February. Well done everyone for doing so well this year and for being an inspiration to me.

Lynz I wish you all the best for your medical treatment and a speedy return to full health.

C x x

mountainofdebt

Well I won't pay off the card that I wanted to by31/12/06 (ie the one in my signature!) but I guess if I hadn't tried then I wouldn't be as close to paying it off as I am......so I'm going to try and clear it by 30/04/07 instead!

2006 saw me move from the job with a boss from hell to one where the boss is a pleasure to work with - and that is even without the large payrise I had when I moved.

The main monetary event for hubby and I was being able to clear our mortgage (hope to give hubby the letter on Christmas Day as he thinks there's £1100 outstanding) but it was a bitter sweet moment really as the only way we did this was from hubby's inheritance from his dad. However it does give us the chance to clear those debts in a meaningful way whilst being able to enjoy life if we wanted to one month.....all in a MSE way of course.

judi24

Hi all. Great thread:T
I just wanted to say that this forum and all your great advice and support has been inspirational!

My OH and I were serial overspenders. Niether of us had any sense with money. Both of us had problemetic 1st marriages leaving us with a fair amount of debt between us when we first met. We happily added to this over the past 5 years repeatedly consolidating. It got to the point where I felt the need to earn more and more just to cover the bills.

I had my lightbulb moment in August. Since then I have recliamed almost £5000 in bank charges!!!:eek:
Cut our grocery bill by about £200 per month
Finnished a masters degree and got a new job that has incresed my income by over £1000
Finally had an assessment completed on my ex by the CSA (after no support for 12 years) - no money as yet but will be getting another £450 per month soon.
All debt now on 0%
Paid off about £8000 so far.

Roll on 2007 - aiming to be debt free by Dec 2007:j

poorbutrich

Evening all! I hate those round robin letters you get with Christmas cards - however this thread is a great idea!

I'm a bit of a fraud as I'm not actually officially in debt, but I tend to zone in and out of my overdraft all of the time. I did really well in staying in the black and not in the red (nothing in this game for two in a bed), until I decided to quit my low paid & long hours job and move to London for a slightly bigger salary, but higher outgoings! However, thanks to Martin and everyone on this site, I'm clawing my way back to a + figure in my bank account (and an appearance on Bullseye).