I can't let it go on.......! Loubie's debt diary.

loubie_lou

Hello fellow MSE'ers

I'm a long time lurker but post now and again. I'd just like to say that this site has helped me in more ways than one but its my motivation that has let me down. I'm announcing that this is my third, YES THIRD lightbulb moment!!!

I feel absolutely ashamed to say my debt has tripled in the last three years. :eek: I don't want to say what the figure is but i know that i have to start dealing with it now rather than later. I have lots of plans that i need to start saving for!!

I'm going to start a debt diary because i've read others and it seems to be keeping them motivated. I hope no one minds reading yet another one!

Thanks for reading and i'd appreciate some motivating comments...!

Loubie

plumduff-2

Dont be ashamed of the mess you are in...

So its "hello my names loubie_lou and im a debtor... I owe £X"

Come on - say it out loud... Get it off your chest... Then how abouts giving us your income and expenditure figures for us to look over...?

loubie_lou

You're right plum. No one knows me on this site so here goes!

My name is loubie, i'm a debtor and i owe £16k. Christ that sounds bad when it all started by me taking out a £5k loan 3 years ago to pay off my uni overdraft and other bits and bobs!

Income:

£900

Expenditure:

£228 rent
£40 Council Tax
£5 TV Lincence
£7.50 Phone rental and Internet

The above are split in half with my flat mate.

Debts:

Cahoot Flexible Loan £8500 payment £200 14.9% APR !!!!! :eek:
Egg Loan £2800 payment £150 14.9% APR
Egg Card £2350 i try to pay £50 per month 9.9% APR
Overdraft £2700. trying to think of a way to get rid of this. APR about 10%

I also try to save £50 for car costs and for other expenses such as hair cuts and days/nights out.

This SOA is only rough so I think I have about £170 to spend on food, petral and entertainment. I'll update it when i know exact figures!

Thanks for reading (again)

Loubie

ZTD

loubie_lou wrote:

Cahoot Flexible Loan £8500 payment £200 14.9% APR !!!!! :eek:
Egg Loan £2800 payment £150 14.9% APR
Egg Card £2350 i try to pay £50 per month 9.9% APR
Overdraft £2700. trying to think of a way to get rid of this. APR about 10%

To be frank - don't worry about the overdraft until you've got rid of the Cahoot loan. Just minimum payments to everything except the the Cahoot loan.

Is the Egg loan flexible - allowing overpayments?

lynsayjane

loubie don't be harsh on yourself, we all suffer lapses in motivation, but now you've got a diary we'll all be chasing you more regularly.

if you don't already keep a spending diary and post daily on moozie's thread. she's the spending mommy and puts (me!) peopl eon the naughty step when they misbehave! really tho it does help to give yourself a budget for spends and posting on here means that you have more guilt for buying luxury things!

keep your head up high and keep on chipping away, you'll get there in the end
xx

EnglishBrainIrishHeart

Lou, about 3 years ago I hit my high point of debt of £28k. My wife had just lost her job (She was the high earner), we then found out she was pregnant and I as am in the military and typically we were about to move from one side of the country to the other. It was then it dawned that we had been spending too much, not saving enough, so we had to bite the bullet - cut back and budget. But we did realise one thing, we were paying far too much interest on our loans and credit cards - as you most certainly are. I would say that in order for you to tackle this as painlessly as possible, you need to get all that debt that is on High interest onto low interest.

Typically for a £16k debt you could get a loan with an APR of 6.5-8% and then pay about £300 per month over 5 years - much less than what you are currently paying. By the fact that Cahoot are charging you 14.9% on a loan of £8.5K means 2 things:

1. Cahoot are blatently robbing you of your hard earned cash, or
2. You have had problems paying off debt in the past.

If it is the first, get an early payment quote and move that debt right away, if it is the second you may struggle to get the rates down - but it will not be impossible. I have an Egg Loan for £15k and it currently charges 7.66% and I can overpay in chunks or increase my monthly payments (which I have).

Your Egg loan is so small that you are not on the Typical rate. I hate the words Debt Consolidation but that is exatly what it is - only you have to be cute with who you go with in order to get the lowest interest rate possible. Either Get the credit card onto a zero% instead of your current one Capital One will allow Zero% on balance transfers for upto 14-16 months I think not to be sneezd at or wrap it up in your loan amount.

If you are really stuck - see if you can lend from your parents or even ask them to apply for a loan in their name - thus gaining the best rate you possibly can - must remeber to pay them the monthly payment though!

It is a slow process, and in some cases painful, but it will work out in the end as long as you stick to the debt payments. I am now down to my last £7k of debt, and am aiming for a Debt Free Day on 31 Oct 2007 (3 1/2 years after my light bulb moment) - whoo hoo! I am still paying myself the same wages that I did 3 years ago despite the fact that I have since been promoted and taken a sizeable wage increase. If you can get yoyurself a better paid job or a promotion then this will help you clear that debt.

I hope this helps

beanielou

Well done on starting your debt diary
Look forward to reading your updates!

nevadagirl

Lots of luck Loubie, you can do it!

Looking forward to keeping up with your diary.

CFC

Come on girl, go for it Loubie!

Bit of pain for long term gain...you can do it. You're doing the hardest part right now, smelling the coffee and deciding Things Must Change!

Sound advice from Englishbrain...how does it look to you, Loubie?

loubie_lou

Yes I completely agree with EnglishBrain....Thanks

A bit of history first, I covered a few debts last year with what I thought what would be a good deal. The cahoot flexible loan at 8.9%. Then two months later went to 9.9 then at the back end of last year a whopping 14.9%!!!!!! It's costing me nearly £100 a month in interest alone and if i carry on at this rate i'll never pay it off!!

My egg loan is at 14.9% too but that is for loans of £4999 or less. I think i may ask for a "top up" to cover my cahoot loan because i simply cannot afford it. I don't see it as debt consolidation really because i'll be getting rid of one loan and the apr will go down to 7.9%. As EnglishBrain also points out the egg loan is also flexible.

I registered with credit expert yesterday and my credit rating seems fine. I have never missed a payment on anything the only thing i need to do is put myself on the electoral register which should show very soon.

Some of you who may remember me posting last year about me temping in jobs which i hated! The good news is I have had a perm job since just before xmas which is more stability.

So things should be looking ok. I just need to close old credit accounts so the temptation isn't there for me to spend again!

Cheers

L xx

r.mac_2

hi loubie lou,

just read your post and wondered a few things. Are you sure that your expenditue is right? for example, you don't have anything in your figures for gas or electric, food etc. Nor do you say how much your monthly repayments are.

Why not do a full SOA and we can make some suggestions on areas which you might be able to save on and throw that money towards your debt.

Its great that you've posted your own diary and hopefully it will keep you focused (think i may have to copy you at some point!)

Good luck!!!