The big year when the weight will be off my shoulders!

fluffy123

Hello all, hope you are well.

I'm a 30 year old male and I count myself lucky in someways that my debt is at a semi-managable level but I've made some tough sacrifices to get to this point (selling my car being one)....but I can finally see some light at the end of the tunnel!

My debt as it stands is at £6,560 and I'm currently touching around £1,400 overdrawn on the last day of every month before I am paid. Thankfully though, I'm only charged a flat rate of £10 every month for being overdrawn and I've factored that into my budget.

I currently pay £275 per month towards my loan and any remainder from my wages every month (very little to be fair) absorbs the overdraft. However, as I said, last year I sold my car and £3,550 is in an ISA which is set to mature in May after it's first year. I expect to claim around £120 extra to go towards the overdraft there.

Therefore, I have calculated that by October/November of 2012, my payments off the loan will have reached a level whereby the remainder of my loan is the total of my ISA and therefore, I can pay off my loan and be free of that.

I don't have a pension and as I'm planning rent a flat with my girlfriend this summer, so saving for a house on my side would be nice. An extra £275 per month will come in nicely to do this...of course, it'll also allow to tackle the overdraft fairly quickly too (around 4 months if all funds are allocated to it).

So that's where I stand at the moment, I'm prudent and have to be cautious around friend's birthday nights out etc....it'll be nice to be sensible but not have to worry so much with the extra cash I will have every month.

Wish me luck and hopefully we'll all get what we want in the end! :j

fluffy123

Been having a look around these diaries, it gets very busy around here doesn't it?! ;D

fluffy123

Bit miffed to hear that Santander are putting up their overdraft charges by double the amount from March....it just seems a greater hurdle to battle every month.

Debating whether to invest in a virgin money credit card to pay off my overdraft before the big charges hit in as they offer 0% for 16 months which it'll be easily paid within that time (other than a 4% fee). As my overdraft is only £1400, that stands at around £56 to pay in fees.

However, I already have two credit cards (one active and I use regularly and pay off every month and one which I use, but no longer do)....worried about how it might affect my credit file.