Deliciosa’s DFW diary

deliciosa

Well I am not quite sure, I am always paying more than minimum.. on Amex its about £22, on HSBC its about £35.. M&s minimum is less than £30.

I am paying off amex in full each month ensuring that I dont get charged interest. I haven't been charged interest on amex since January.

That's the card I am using for everyday expenses.

deliciosa

Hi Nic! How are you? good to see you how's school going??

thanks, I am trying... today is a slight failure because I had to pay £24 on work lunch out... ridiculous. not going next time kif I can get out of it.

slowlyfading

I'm home from uni at the moment so no school teaching for the time being! I've got 2 jobs, so I'm working all the hours god sends, and am always shattered, but good apart from that Nearly paid off my overdraft, so I'm happy not seen you on msn in ages! lol :P
Nicola x

slowlyfading

and dont worry about the lunch, you have to treat yourself sometimes

deliciosa

Well done re the overdraft - amazing news!!! make sure you dont overdo the work though!

ZTD

deliciosa wrote: »

Well I am not quite sure, I am always paying more than minimum.. on Amex its about £22, on HSBC its about £35.. M&s minimum is less than £30.

Ahh! That's the important part of snowballing. If for example you paid £1000 off your M&S card that you could have paid off your HSBC, that will cost you £70 extra in interest over a year. Not much, but that £70 will attract interest of its own and so forth.

deliciosa wrote: »

I am paying off amex in full each month ensuring that I dont get charged interest. I haven't been charged interest on amex since January.

According to your sig, you have £300 still left on that - how does that work then?

deliciosa wrote: »

That's the card I am using for everyday expenses.

It's spreadsheet time,(:D) but why don't you try it this way. Put a direct debit on all of your cards for the minimum payment (which will be a crappy non-round number every month), and live out of your current account. Just before you get paid, make a payment of all your "spare" money into your highest interest bearing card.

That will help you get debt free quicker.

deliciosa

Hello - thanks for your advice!


I see the principle of snowballing but my point was that with a £65 payment I will bring the balance under £1100. The balance transfer rate on M&S card is 3.9% for the life of a balance and no fee. But the minimum I can transfer is £400. so once this payment clears, I will be able to transfer £400 from the HSBC card to the M&S card which will save me a lot in interest, at least a tenner a month. If all goes wel I will be able to transfer this balance this Friday.

Amex: well, I am paying off everything each month but I am also spending on it (collecting BA miles). So the statement date was the 26th and the balance was a horrid £954 - I had to pay this money by the 20th of April in order to prevent them from charging interest. I just paid it off yesterday. But since the 26th of the month, I have further spent on the card and that’s how the balance of £300 is there. This 300 I will only have to pay back by the 20th of May , so next payday.

Living off my current account – I have considered it for long but in the end of the day I am earning BA miles for spending on my amex and this gives me about one free flight each six months. Since I have to travel a lot, this is very important for me. Spending on current account does not give me rewards.

ZTD

deliciosa wrote: »

I see the principle of snowballing but my point was that with a £65 payment I will bring the balance under £1100. The balance transfer rate on M&S card is 3.9% for the life of a balance and no fee. But the minimum I can transfer is £400. so once this payment clears, I will be able to transfer £400 from the HSBC card to the M&S card which will save me a lot in interest, at least a tenner a month. If all goes wel I will be able to transfer this balance this Friday.

Aah! You didn't mention the balance transfer. But I hope you see you should pay off the absolute minimum on cards other than the one you are targeting. Every time I see payments which are round numbers, I know it isn't the absolute minimum.

I also thought the Amex card carried a balance month to month, which was why it was in your signature.

deliciosa

ZTD wrote: »

Aah! You didn't mention the balance transfer. But I hope you see you should pay off the absolute minimum on cards other than the one you are targeting. Every time I see payments which are round numbers, I know it isn't the absolute minimum.

I also thought the Amex card carried a balance month to month, which was why it was in your signature.

Noo, the amex card balance changes every day. After payday it drops, then it grows until next payday. So my debt goes up and down too, highest before payday.

I am dissappointed that I have overspent last month, otherwise I only would have had to pay amex 600 if I dont blow my budget and not 950... I will do better next month and all thats left will go on HSBC.

I will keep you updated about the balance transfer once its done - so exciting!

deliciosa

I am just now trying to transfer part of my balance from the hsbc card to the M&S card - am on the phone with them as I am typing.

Nobody's reading my diary anymore?

Anyhow, I am writing to experian and equifax today and tell them to try to remove the hsbc things that have been put there as a mistake.

I have alsoitried to set up Volksbank (this is my germen bank) internet banking but I am stuck, gunny language and not clear instructions at all... ohh well.

I am a bit down. Yesterday I spent £85 on the treatment and £24 on that ridiculous business lunch. But today I returned a cream to Selfridges that I got ages ago and never used and they refunded me so thats £40 extra"!! yay

And today was a NSD too.

Anyway, I now got to the bottom of the balance transfer, but they only let me transfer £300 - I dont understand. They said its because I am an employee and the preferential balance transfer rate only allows me to do that.. oh well I will do whatever I can. this is much better than nothing, isnt it? And now I will have to pay much less interest than before.