Martin's DFW Book - Lightbulb Moments Please!

DontDoDebtKids

What did it feel like when you had yours?

I was annoyed with myself.

Where were you?

At work checking my internet banking and realising how much money went out every month on MINIMUM PAYMENTS on my MULTIPLE credit cards!

How did it happen?

Gradually! It started when I changed from paying my student credit card off in full every month to just paying back the minimum payments - because, of course, I would pay the rest off by cheque...or not as it turned out.

Then, when I started working, all these lovely credit card companies offered my 0% balance transfers and 0% on purchases, which got me out of trouble for 6m to 9m periods. But then all that happened was that I had more credit cards taking minimum payments.

Stupid really.

CAFCGirl

All I remember was being two weeks into a five week month, having no money in my bank account and no credit on my credit card! And realising that I had actually been living off my credit card for almost 9 months. Standing at a ATM thinking what the f*** am I going to do for food?!

Tried consolidation before finding this site, and feel into the spiral of simply spending on the credit cards once they were clear. If only I hadn't done that.....

Didnt sleep for 36 hours, was sick, shaking, and a nervous wreck, then it dawned on me that I had spent it, and now it was time to start paying it all back.

Its much less fun in reverse!

DontDoDebtKids

CAFCGirl wrote:

Its much less fun in reverse!

So true. And the time it takes seems much longer too.

sallyjo_2

After years of being a modern single mum, with two jobs and two kids and a good income, who 'thought' the only way to live life and fund my kids' childhoods was through credit cards and bank loans and overdrafts, I made an arithmetic mistake and realised I'd overextended myself and couldn't make minimum monthly payments. This was 2004.

I had been surfing the upper limits of my credit limit for years. The banks made a fortune off me in charges, and in enticing me to make bad choices. A cash flow crisis hit that just brought my house of cards tumbling down, and I realised that I had no financial room to manouever! The banks, instead of being there to give me even more money, treated me like a war criminal, and crippled me with charges I couldn't pay. I still juggled and robbed Peter to pay Paul for the whole of that year. I couldn't sleep, I was fraught with worry, the banks harrassed me even at my desk at work! I shared all the possibilities with my teenage children, including losing the house. I was so angry with myself, how could I have let this happen? I blamed myself and I AM to blame, but not entirely. The banks have a lot to answer for.

Through sites like MSE, Motley Fool, Alvin Hall's programmes and reading everything I could, I found the CCCS in January 2005 and they were (and are still) like Harry Potter's Patronus! I realised I needed to go back to basics, to re-orient my relationship with money, and to embrace an old fashioned attitude to debt like my grandparents had, viewing debt as the modern societal and personal cancer that it is. We are still fighting our way out of the debt, using a DMP but things are stable and we are ok!

SunderlandBlackCat

What did it feel like when you had yours?

Ashamed of Myself & Angry at Barclays

Where were you?

Sitting in my local branch of Barclays on 15/10/2004

How did it happen?

I was about to sign on the dotted line for my 3rd consolidation loan at 19.9% APR because thats what they recommended when it occurred to me that none of the things the bank had recommended for me over the previous 3 years had done me any good at all.

I suddenly felt very angry, told the "Personal Banker" I'd changed my mind & went home logged onto the Internet & spent the rest of the night & most of the rest of the weekend googling & guzzling coffe to keep me awake while I read every debt help resource I could find & putting together my own action plan.

charl8888

I had been stuck in a cycle of borrowing and consolidating for several years and beginning to realise that it wasn't working...last october I looked at my Natwest statement online and noticed I'd gone over my overdraft limit, again. I called them and their answer was that they would defer the charges of £75 if I went into my local branch that day to sign a loan agreement that they would fax over. I rushed down there in a panic and they literally showed me where to sign on the dotted line. I surprised them by telling them that I would read the small print first,and it was lucky I did because apart from charging me a higher rate of interest than the current loan I had with them, they had added PPI without even mentioning this to me, making the repayments horrendous over 5 years. I felt angry with the bank who I saw as partly to blame for my situation, and despite their follow ups I declined to sign. I decided to take proper control of my finances myself, and started reading everything I could on this website to help.

How did i feel? Shocked and scared when I wrote it down and added it up. However this gave way to a feeling of empowerment as I realised I had caught it before it got completely out of control, and that I could actually do something about it. I now see it as a huge challenge, one of the biggest in my life and one of the most rewarding too.My first real victory was reclaiming all those bank charges, and now I am taking it a day at a time and doing what I can to save expenditure and earn extra. Watching my debt signature go down is a real incentive, as is the support you get, and try to give, on this site.

Spendi

What did it feel like when you had yours?
Sickening, i cried.

Where were you?
I opened one of my credit card statements and actually looked at the balance and thought, i dont spend on this card, i pay nearly £80 every month, how come i owe that much ??


How did it happen?
I had split up with my partner years before and used the credit card to purchase essential household goods, for me and my then 2 year old. I had spent years just paying back the minimum charges, but for every £80 i paid £76 was interest alone .
It was then it actually hit me how much i owed on two credit cards, and an overdraft. for about 6 months i worried about it as i knew how much debt i was in but i didnt really know what i could do as i didnt have the income to pay anymore, then i found MSE and realised i wasnt alone, there are thousands just like me, all thinking and feeling the same, and all there for support. MSE told me i could take control and more importantly how.

oopalah

I can remember exactly where I was - I was in the kitchen doing the ironing and listening to the Jeremy Vine Show when Martin came on and he was talking about Minimum Payments on Credit Cards. It wasn't so much a lightbulb as a thunderbolt when I realised how long it was going to take me to get out of debt if I continued to make just the minimum payments. I then came to this website, lurked around for about a year and the rest, as they say, is history.

System

What did it feel like when you had yours?
Invigorated. I felt like I had bever felt for many years - hopeful and smiled a smile that was not false, not strained or forced just genunine happiness.
Where were you?
At home on the setee reading DFW
How did it happen?
I had reached the point where I had nowhere else to turn. I was at saturation point. Plus the job I do, I need special vetting which means a severe scrutinisation of your whole life, especially you finances so being in the Royal Navy if I didnt act now and prove that I was being responsible about my debt I faced a real likeliehood of being discharged. What does worry ME though if I wasnt subject to the extra vetting would I have done anything about it?............

Lenny

sanfrancisco

On a flight back from LA in Jan 2004 having just watched England win the Rugby World Cup in Australia. We were in debt before we went, but were absolute fools for going. Never doing things by halves we also travelled all round NZ and California. Having pushed and pushed the debt was now unmanageable. I didn't really feel sick, just very clear headed. I knew what had to be done, and was resolute. The sleepless nights and feeling constantly sick started a few weeks later when the enormity of the task ahead sunk in. After screaming at my OH for about 7 months he had his LBM. Thank God or we would now not be together.

3 years on debt free, saving like crazy and baby due soon. Life without debt is a free life and a wonderful life.