Just knocked £800 quid off my debt!!

Dithering_Dad

Hi Guys,

I'm a newbie and just getting to grips with my debt. I've finally had the courage to try and sort out my finances and the first step was to actually write down what my total credit card debt is and stick it on my signature.

I normally just quickly log on to the card website and pay the minimum, plus whatever extra I could afford and get the heck outta there. Major denial.

The AMEX website is pretty confusing doesn't seem to want to tell you your total debt (I wonder if that is deliberate?) so I worked it out and slapped it onto my Sig.

Just been on again and noticed that my arithmatic was so poor that I managed to add it up wrong.

If paying off the rest of my debt is that easy, I'll soon be debt & mortage free and owning my own tropical island!!

p.s. decided to concentrate on paying the AMEX off first - teach them to have such a confusing website!! :mad:

angchris

well done and keep up the good work! throw every spare penny at them to get em gone as the longer they hang around the more they cost you!

hbl_2

Congrats, you'll be debt free in no time.

webitha

hya anc congrats to your good news

why dont you post your SOA (see southernscousers sticky at the top of this borad) to see if we can pick through and save you even more

Skint_Catt

Seconded webitha. Post your SOA and we can see where some extra cash can be found!

Catt xx

Dithering_Dad

Good idea - I'll make a start with it tonight. Cheers guys.

(I can tell you now though that I bet my horrific mortgage payments will need to be looked at!)

Also need to look at my Student Loan stuff - I always seem to forget that one..

Bargain_Rzl

Dithering_Dad wrote:

The AMEX website is pretty confusing doesn't seem to want to tell you your total debt (I wonder if that is deliberate?) so I worked it out and slapped it onto my Sig.

Just been on again and noticed that my arithmatic was so poor that I managed to add it up wrong.

I agree that the AMEX website is confusing. What I do is, I have all my accounts (mortgage, Current Account, Visa card, AMEX, Savings) logged with Egg Money Manager, which IIRC you don't have to actually bank with Egg to get - and I get my overall Amex total on my accounts portfolio in Egg Money Manager!

no_debts_no_more

...but I'm the type who pays off their CC bill in full every month, and I tend to drip the amount onto the card to pay it off over a few weeks instead of paying off a couple of hundred in one go. Just the way I like to do it.

So being able to see the last statement total, and how much of that I've paid off, side-by-side works for me. Go into the "see more" bit under how much has been paid out this month and I know what next months statement will be.

I find just showing the current running total on my other cards less clear, as it's not obvious how much I still need to pay to clear last months balance. I have to go and find the balance from the last statement, and work out how much I've already paid, as again, using online banking I prefer to pay a bit off each week.

And you can pay it off by Switch, which seems to reduce the time your money spends in limbo compared to a DD or online banking payment to other cards.

Dithering_Dad

There are advantages with the Amex website. I also like the "This Period" view as you can see exactly what you need to pay (and what you have paid) for the month so that you don't get hit with charges. It's actually not too bad really (calmed down now after my embarrasing basic maths error) as long as you remember to subtract your payments!

The 800 quid I missed was my company finally paying some expenses - why I have to carry them by paying for work-related travel and claiming back on my credit card, I don't know.

Also remembered some more debt I have on a DFS sofa that I will soon have to start paying for. It's surprising what bugs you find when you start moving rocks about. Should I stick my head back in the sand again, I'm sure I was happier living in debt ignorance

Dithering_Dad

webitha wrote:

hya anc congrats to your good news

why dont you post your SOA (see southernscousers sticky at the top of this borad) to see if we can pick through and save you even more

Here's My SOA:

Wife Mobile Phone £28.58
Endowment £66.12
Mortgage £1,035.33
Water rates £25.98
Wife Stakeholder £15.60
Pet Insurance £20.39
House & Contents Ins £17.96
Savings £100.00
TV License £11.37
Home Phone £40.70
Life Insurance (joint) £34.43
Gas £49.00
Electricity £15.00
Council Tax £155.00
Daughter Comic £2.99
Wife Life insurance £12.37
Total £1630.82

Wife Housekeeping £1200.00
Total Outgoings £2830.82

Income Me £2152.38
Income Wife £384.36
Daughter Care £249.00
Child Benefit £116.60
Total Income £2902.34

Things I've already noticed/decided on:

I'm cutting my losses on the endowment, saving 66.12 a month. I'll pay the 10k currently in the endowment onto the mortgage, reducing the balance.

I've found a much cheaper mortgage rate that will cover the additional repayment amount that was (supposedly) covered by the endowment. Even with the additonal endowment amount it's still less than I'm paying now.

If I get rid of my endowment I need to cover the life assurance it provides. Also found something cheaper (from this site) to cover the additonal, for cheaper than I'm paying currently on our joint and my wife's life assurance.

Amazing how if you actually sit down and start really looking at your finances you can soon see what changes you need, but naturally I'm going to be happier if anyone can suggest further savings....

sured

no expert, but,

wife housekeeping 1200

phew how much!