Dilemma....

mrsmag

Yep, just checked - you can get an iphone sim only deal for £13.50 on a rolling monthly basis, woo hoo! That's a £30/mth saving!

theoretica

Has anyone yet suggested you shop around to check your life insurances are the best value for what you need? Remember to take into account death in service benefits from work.

I am puzzled by your train costs. Glasgow to Edinburgh monthly season ticket comes in at £306, annual £3188 (= 12 x £266) so depending on how long he takes off (gaps between monthly tickets) an annual ticket might be a savings and his work probably have a salary advance deal for season tickets. Are you paying £6.60 a day for 6 miles to make £306 up to £450 a month?

At the moment you have
a) Mortgage at low rate
b) Additional borrowing on your mortgage (linked account) at standard rate
c) Credit card at 0%

As I see it £10k of the credit card may be at any time added to (b) in effect adding it to the mortgage. There is no point doing this until the 0% runs out. Additionally it is not financially wisest to be paying extra off the CC when you could be paying the same sum off (b) which you are paying interest on AND could borrow back if you ever need to, such as deciding to pay off much of the credit card.

If you remortgage you would gain security but lose the very low rate on your main mortgage and maybe the nice flexibility to overpay and borrow back at will.

atush

mrsmag wrote: »

Yep, just checked - you can get an iphone sim only deal for £13.50 on a rolling monthly basis, woo hoo! That's a £30/mth saving!

Now see- I/we weren't being mean by suggesting this. Keep up the good work! I like to see progress being made ;-)

Has anyone yet suggested you shop around to check your life insurances are the best value for what you need? Remember to take into account death in service benefits from work.

yes, I am sure i mentionned getting quote for insurance (and by that Imeant life car house travel) in an earlier post.

mrsmag

theoretica wrote: »

Has anyone yet suggested you shop around to check your life insurances are the best value for what you need? Remember to take into account death in service benefits from work.

I am puzzled by your train costs. Glasgow to Edinburgh monthly season ticket comes in at £306, annual £3188 (= 12 x £266) so depending on how long he takes off (gaps between monthly tickets) an annual ticket might be a savings and his work probably have a salary advance deal for season tickets. Are you paying £6.60 a day for 6 miles to make £306 up to £450 a month?

At the moment you have
a) Mortgage at low rate
b) Additional borrowing on your mortgage (linked account) at standard rate
c) Credit card at 0%

As I see it £10k of the credit card may be at any time added to (b) in effect adding it to the mortgage. There is no point doing this until the 0% runs out. Additionally it is not financially wisest to be paying extra off the CC when you could be paying the same sum off (b) which you are paying interest on AND could borrow back if you ever need to, such as deciding to pay off much of the credit card.

If you remortgage you would gain security but lose the very low rate on your main mortgage and maybe the nice flexibility to overpay and borrow back at will.

I'm not quite so up on the details of my husband's travel expenses, I asked him for the monthly cost and when I looked into it the yearly cost was exactly 12 times the monthly cost, and he was also doing a car journey of 10 miles on top of it in a petrol guzzler.

I've read and re-read your second bit and I'm not sure what you mean, I think you might mean I should pay off the debt with the biggest interest first, ie the current account at 4% and I wondered about this, but I'm frightened of credit cards which is why I want rid of them.

I have thought today that I might be better making the minimum payments on the credit cards and put the other £250 per month into the current account.

Is that what you mean?

mrsmag

atush wrote: »

Now see- I/we weren't being mean by suggesting this. Keep up the good work! I like to see progress being made ;-)

I know! Thank you :beer:

Seriously, don't take any of what I was saying about rude people to mean you, or any of the others with valid suggestions! I really am open to changing things, just not things that I have valid reasons for not changing - and I don't appreciate the other person earlier suggesting that the reason I wasn't open to changing everything was because I wanted everything now :mad:

I mean, at the end of the day the easiest way to sort this would be to sell up and move to a flat at half the price, but really - is it worth that? Nobody has suggested that to me, but that would fix it instantly! Nobody has suggested it because we all have things that we are willing to pay for, and things we are willing or able to cut back on. I don't see why people would be offended by someone having a different idea on what is cost effective, I don't think changing my car every 2 years is cost effective and I don't think swapping my car for an older car is sensible either. So just because I disagree doesn't make me unwilling to change, or a snob either - that's just so immature, not everyone is going to agree all the time.

Sorry for the rant but I am open to suggestions! And open to changing! And willing to pay for what I've spent!

But it is my life, my debt and my responsibility not only to provide a safe roof over my daughter's head - but a happy one!

SJ1

wanted to explain what theoretic was trying to say as I think it is a good point but you need to hold your nerve. He is saying that you are paying interest on the mortgage but not on the credit cards so why not throw your overpayment at the mortgage, leaving the cc to the minimum payment and then add it to the mortgage at the end of the term. This actually ends you up in the same situation as you were in previously but you will have saved the interest on what you have repaid under the mortgage so actually you are better off.

BUT it does depend on your nerve, I don't like credit cards either.

Think you are doing really well and mortgage isn't that high so if the rest had to go on to the mortgage at the end of the interest free period then sure you would cope and be fine...

SJ

boultdj

Would be worth looking at get a bundle?, by that I mean land line/internet/TV.

mrsmag

Yeah, that's what I thought theoretic meant - and I'm glad you said hold your nerve because that's what it feels like! I would need to be totally on top of it. Its by far the most sensible thing to do I think, and its maybe not as risky as it sounds, as at the moment the minimum payments are bloomin huge anyway, so I'd be taking a fair chunk off the credit cards at the same time.

Hmm. I think its the way forward actually.

boultdj - the phone/internet/tv are all BT, just separated out for the purposes of the SOA

edinburgher

I have internet access at home, and restricted internet access at work, not that I have time to use it there. I tend to use it on the train to work. But not sure why you're pointing this out - its not very constructive when I can't do anything about it now that I'm tied into a contract.

It was just one to consider for future - i.e. getting your telecoms cost down to the lowest possible level, constructive enough in general, even if not for a few months

I'm very sorry if you feel that people aren't being their usual, friendly selves in this thread. To be honest, I think that your tongue in cheek tone threw a lot of us and was mistaken for burying your head in the sand (as you've already theorised). People are definitely straight talking on DFW as a lot of people pass through with real problems (and real denial about said problems). In your case, however, you really need more of a lifestyle tweak than anything and the strident reactions probably seem a bit patronising?

You're in a great position in a lot of ways, with a family, plenty of equity in your own home and sounds like you and OH are very much on the same page as well.

Sure you'll sort this lot in a flash - have a great weekend

mrsmag

Thanks! I know what you mean, I think there's a vague possibility that I may have overreacted to your post and the one after you (or before you) but it was really the patronising one that annoyed me (sorry, I do appreciate advice even if there's not much I can do about that at the mo - or maybe there is, who knows I didn't think I could do anything about the phones and we've saved £30 already!)

To be very honest, I feel a bit of a fool for getting into debt actually, because I've been 'lucky' in many ways (if you can call inheriting a bit of money from my dad when he died lucky, but you know what I mean) and I just feel I've wasted it sometimes - so that's probably why I come across like that - because I think I'm an idiot most of the time! We inherited money that we could have just bought a smaller house in a different area, and we'd have probably had no mortgage! But we wanted a project and we got one, and I've not only spent the money I had but totally underestimated what it cost to clear up the mess after a building project - landscaping to prevent my garden turning into a landslide, furniture for the new extension, painting the extension, an unexpected re-wire of the original house. If I was ever to do it again (hahahahahaha) or if I could offer anyone any advice on budgeting for an extension, take the build price and double it. We had a contingency of 10% and it was a joke!

So yeah, I take the mickey out of us because sometimes it feels like we are a joke! But I do agree that I have the potential to be in a fantastic position, I do need to knuckle down though. So lesson learned