a little advice

bobsgirl

I just turned 30, and finally facing up to the debts i have acquired over many years. The advice and support on this site has helped me immensely; I'm currently throwing all available income at my debts, and looking to be DF by the end of 2011. I have just recieved a really generous offer from relatives of a cash lump sum, following the completion of their endowment mortgage. I know the standard advice is to pay off my remaining debts, before starting to save. However, I have no money saved for emergencies/future house deposit and locking this bit of money away in an ISA would provide me with an enormous sense of security that has been lacking for quite some time. My question is this, given my chequered credit history, is their any value to me taking out a cash ISA with the bank which holds my basic current account (with a slightly less generous interest rate?) Will this improve my customer profile with them? Or am i better off taking the highest possible interest elsewhere?

Any advice?

mrsb83_2

I'd save £1k for genuine emergencies and put the rest towards debt. It'll take the edge of living month to month.

If you're going to be DF by the end of the year then it won't be long before you're saving properly anyway.

Also, I wouldn't worry about getting a good 'customer profile' with the bank. I have an ISA and an instant access savings with my bank because it makes transfers really easy. That's more attractive to me than a slightly higher interest rate. Do what works best for you.

FireWyrm

Seconded. Take a proportion, say 20% and squirrel it away. Use the rest to get debt free a few months earlier and then take the money that you would have paid into the debt and squirrel that away for the next 6 months. The aim of the game is to stop any interest accruing and save even more money in the long run.

getmore4less

What are the numbers?

debts/interest rates?

lump sum?

monthy surplus/debt payments. (total going to debts)

My feeling is pay of the debt and look at monthly savers/ISAs.