One Day I Will .... get debts below £8500 (Debt Diary)

elantan

just wanted to say thank you very much for your advice i will be following it

onedayiwill

Time to update. Spent a small fortune this weekend (£55) enjoying myself - it was budgeted but it feels extravagent when I am trying so hard to get out of debt! Don't want to go into too much detail but the weekend was spent with good friends, in a beautiful place, doing something we enjoy doing.

I have a plan formulating in my head about what to do with my debts...

1. Sort out the PPI issue with my Virgin loan. I will be sending a letter tomorrow. There is a possible good outcome (a "refund" of some sort ... lower repayments, shorter term etc) and no bad outcome - they can only say no and nothing changes.
2. My loan is at 9.9%, my M&S CC is at 3.9% LOB for balance transfers made until September, my egg card has nothing on it and I am coming up for an anniversary deal in June .... 0% for 5 months. I don't think M&S allow me to balance transfer a loan, but Egg do. So....
3. In June, ask for an early settlement figure for my loan, and transfer the balance to my Egg card for 0% rate. Then before September transfer the Egg balance to my M&S card to get all my debt in one place at 3.9% APR.

Sounds good right?

Only two problems ... my egg card doesn't currently have a big enough credit limit to swallow my loan (available credit £3500), my M&S card doesn't currently have a big enough credit limit to swallow my loan (available credit £2500). Estimated settlement figure for my loan come June ... £6000.

Hmmmm....

onedayiwill

An update...

I sent off a letter to Virgin Money re: my PPI. It's not quite the same as the one earlier on the thread, I'll copy and paste it here if I am at all successful. No point in posting letters here which don't work! LOL. I am not holding out much hope, but think it's worth a try.

Having re-read all the small print on my loan -interesting stuff - I find it is not worth even considering moving the loan onto my Egg @ 0% or M&S @ 3.9% as I would still have to pay Virgin, in my settlement figure, all the interest I would have paid by sticking with them until the end. So I will just leave that where it is.

Sold a couple of items today at work already (and it is only 10 am!) netting myself a handsome £21 for my piggy bank. The piggy bank gets emptied into my bank account at the end of the month.

I phone T-mobile to see if I could reduce the amount I pay for my mobile. I didn't think I would get anywhere since I have only been on this contract for a few months (why o why didn't I have my LBM earlier?!?!?). And I was right, but they gave me a reminder that I can reduce to lower tariff once I have been with them for 6 months. Which is May. So come May I will be doing that.

I think that's all for now.

onedayiwill

I'm bored today. Nothing happening in my DFW world. OK, I brought lunch to work (last nights leftovers .. yum yum ) and will not be spending any money today.

But I have no phone calls to make. No letters to write. No money to deposit to bank. Nothing currently selling at work. One item selling on ebay but it doesn't end for another week.

So I'm just ... waiting. And it's boring. I want to do SOMETHING related to reducing my debt today but there is nothing I can think off. I am waiting for...

...smile to get back to me re bank charges
...virgin to get back to me re PPI
...my last two DDs of the month to come out of my bank account so that I can total up my debt and see how it has gone done since a month ago
...payment from a couple of ebay items to reach me
...the end of the month so I can deposit the money from my piggy bank into my bank account (I think there's about £80 in there, but I'm not sure)
...my new gas bill - should be really small as finally supplied them with a meter reading

I'm sure theres other stuff as well. But Yawwwwwwwwwwn!! I don't like waiting.

Seaxwyn

Why wait for the end of the month to bank your piggy contents? Don't banks calculate interest by the day? Save a few pence by banking it early.

onedayiwill

It's kind of a ceremonial thing - waiting until the end of the month to count my piggy bank money (this is cash that I get from selling things to co-workers or ... whatever). But maybe you are right Sea, perhaps this month I should save myself some pennies and save myself some waiting - count up tonight and pay in tomorrow. At least then I will be DOING SOMETHING DFW

onedayiwill

Well, I counted up my piggy bank money to pay into my bank account tomorrow. £95!!!!! :T I can hardly believe it. Where did all this money come from?!?! There was a wee bit extra also (in small change) which I left in it so that I still have something to empty at the end of the month.

I'm looking forward to tomorrow. Paying money into the bank is becoming a regular occurance and guess what?? I enjoy the high I get from it far more than the guilt I get from spending money I don't have ...

slowlyfading

That's great, every little helps I also love not spending money, its addictive!
Nicola x

tigzem

Excellent news.... it all adds up really quickly. I put loose change into a pot too, and pay it in every few months, normally it goes into my DD's account though! My Mum also puts in to it also so sadly I can't claim it for myself!! lol

onedayiwill

Well, well, well.

The last two DDs of the month came out of my bank account today.

And my overdraft is now only £528.84!!! I am stunned.

That is less than half of what it was this time last month!!!!

It means that when payday comes at the end of the month my bank account will be in the black!! For the first time in YEARS!! OK, it may be only temporary until the payments start going out the next day... but I'm VERY HAPPY!!!

Not a lot "active" happening in my DFW world today, but seeing that bank balance has surely made me one very happy bunny