Betti's debt free diary

betti911

Have been busy this weekend with more flat decorating. My parents have kindly given me money for most of the paint so I'm just giving the labour I suppose. Am getting lots of help though from my family and my boyfriend who has been amazing even though he despaired at me today for getting pain everywhere! I'd forgotten to buy turps as well so had to go to homebase with white hands

Filled in all the necessary docs for the refinanced car loan and the lo and behold RBS only gives me £3000 instead of the £3500 agreed in the papers I've signed!! I shall be phoning them up about this 1st thing tomorrow. Am peed off as at the moment my parents have advised me not to pay off the Blackhorse car loan until I have this sorted out (only found out about it today) so at the moment I have THREE loans!! Not the point in refinancing although I have not touched ANY of the money in my bank and have only spent £1.50 this weekend.

Have filled in about 1/2 of a job application tonight. Not due in till 30th March so we'll see what that brings.

Am worried about my car insurance just now. Its due up in July and think it might be about £400. I can't afford to save any money towards it just now as am still paying last year. Will have enough come May to start to save but that only gives me 3 months and can only really afford £50 per month which is a worry.....

betti911

Went into the bank today and they said they'd draw down another £500 for my loan and not charge me interest for the past 2 days and until thats in my bank account. Said it was their error so am pleased with that.

My initial intention was to pay £224 per month towards my car loan (more or less what I paid before) but am thinking of paying £190 and saving the extra albeit £24 per month as more towards my insurance (due up in July) guess every wee bit helps.

Have nearly finished some job applications so hopefully will find something else soon job wise. Feel as if the company that I'm with just now really doesn't value me. Am becoming quite down about it

Sugarhunny1

Hi Betti,

Keep up the motivation! Your doing a great job at driving things down, Its good having someone to support you, sounds as if your partner is trying to give you the odd treat, you should accept gracefully. Keep up the good work!

Sugar xxx

betti911

Thanks Sugar Have got the money to pay off the loan now, just checked on internet banking so will pay Black Horse off 1st thing tomorrow and then adjust my sig accordingly.

Was at Weight Watchers tonight... only lost half lb but they didn't notice that I missed last week so saved £5 in fees which I shall save Would love to get the car loan paid off this year. My boyfriend has offered to pay some of it for me but I want to do this myself. He is kind enough treat me to other stuff and I don't want to be seen to be taking him for a ride.

On the plus side it looks as if I've made a wee bit of money in my wee flat already. House prices are rising so quickly still in Scotland. I really feel for 1st time buyers....

Tustastic

Hi Betti, just read your thread - well done for deciding to tackle the debts. Re your insurance, please go to http://www.quidco.com/ to see the tremendous cashbacks being offered on insurance.
Join quidco now and do the daily clicks on kelkoo, high street web and carsource; those 5ps and 10ps mount up gradually.
Also do Pigsback; http://pigsback.com/registration/memQuickReg.asp
I joined last year, have never bought anything through it and have still earned £22 - you can use your points to get vouchers for all sorts
Ditto for Mutualpoints - I've not bought a thing but have earned £25. All very handy for birthdays, Xmas etc.
The Freebies Board has threads on all of these, full of advice.
Re the job, do crack on with the applications - some employer out there desperately needs you and will give you respect and good pay in return!

chevalier

I second the previous poster about checking your car insurance via quidco, most of the big insurers will give cash back. Also as you are now 26, you may find that your quote this year is less as you are now over 25!

One thing though, it doesn't look from your SOA as if you have any buildings insurence for your flat? If this is the case, you may want to do something about that. It was part of the terms and conditions of the mortgage we got that the property was insured. Again you can get good cash back deals on buildings insurence (and contents insurence if you have furniture in your flat), via quidco.

The other thing I thought about is that you could phone your current car insurer and ask them what your new premium is likely to be. That way you will know what your target for saving is.

Finally I noticed you saying that you are ebaying things, but you might also want to put books up on Amazon or https://www.greenmetropolis.com. The good thing about green metropolis is that there are no up front fees. The buyer pays £3.75 and the seller gets £3.00. Books do have to be in very good condition though.

best of luck
chev

betti911

Thanks Tustastic

Have sorted out my car loan and waved goodbye to Black horse this morning which is such a relief. My new loan is a graduate one from RBS. I now only have to make repayments at £89.90 per month instead of £124.99 aprox but I will be overpaying it anyway. Am still putting my pension money into my car loan for the moment. Planning on putting aprox £175 per month away for car loan and saving £50 per month until July for my insurance.

Have joined Pigsback but only have £4.00 of points. Have not bought anything yet though. Will def look on Quidco for insurance quotes. The annoying thing is that I can't actually get a renewal quote from anywhere as my renewal date is so far away so plan to save £400 if I can. Will only have 2 yrs no claims bonus by then and if I have any extra left over then will put it towards the car loan.

Have just noticed on direct banking that there is no standing order to pay my new car loan. Will have to visit the bank at lunchtime and get that sorted ASAP as I believed at the time that there was one set up. Don't want to have a default on my 1st payment!!

betti911

Bad news... my council tax exemption was granted for 3 months and pending for another 3 months until I handed in some gas and electric bills. Don't have gas so handed in my electricity bill and they take 5-10 weeks to process the exemption and application so I have to pay in the meantime. I should get the money back so have put it in my interest free credit card but am really peed off with the whole system.

Have also been to RBS to see about my direct debit for my carloan. It would appear that I can't simply set up a direct debit as planned but have to log it as a 'concern' and RBS will get back to me.

I will def keep an eye on that as I know what my banks been like to me in the past!!

betti911

Have had words with the council and quoted a few legal terms and they fast tracked my examption and it was granted today. They asked me did I want my money back though that I'd already paid or did I want them to oh so kindly keep the money for me until my next council tax bill was due in 3 months.... what a silly question!!! The moment I get the cheque I will pay back my visa card so I'll not pay interest. Am really really determined this time that I'll learn to use cards to my advantage and not to the banks.

Other piece of good news is that my boss said today that he's agreed to give me a small pay rise which is positive. I shall then do a new SOA and see if I can cut back anymore.

Have transfered £20 into my account in ebay fees and have put it as the wee starting point towards my car insurance. Just £380 left to go!!

Tustastic

Congratulations on sorting the council tax exemption Betti, and well done on the start of your car insurance savings. Have you had a look at the insurance deals on Quidco yet?