About to be struggling really badly

Mach4

Hi Bogus

Figures taken from your signature.


debt apr annual interest
5502 0.18 990.36
6303 0.18 1134.54
6124 0.17 1041.08
8517 0.3 2555.1
715 0.26 185.9

Total 5906.98

See figures above you are currently paying almost £6k in interest a year , £500 per month. Trying to bring this down should be a priority. I know it may seem impossible but there are a ways.

The quickest way to bring this expense down is via a refinance.
Have you tried applying for any credit cards recently. If not its definitely worth a go unless your credit rating is shot?

If that doesn't work is a remortgage a possibility? There is absolutely no sense paying interest on money at 20% plus if you can get it on mortgage rates at circa 3%. Is lending money off family a possibilility?

ghostmadlittlemiss

Mach4 wrote: »

Hi Bogus

Figures taken from your signature.


debt apr annual interest
5502 0.18 990.36
6303 0.18 1134.54
6124 0.17 1041.08
8517 0.3 2555.1
715 0.26 185.9

Total 5906.98

See figures above you are currently paying almost £6k in interest a year , £500 per month. Trying to bring this down should be a priority. I know it may seem impossible but there are a ways.

The quickest way to bring this expense down is via a refinance.
Have you tried applying for any credit cards recently. If not its definitely worth a go unless your credit rating is shot?

If that doesn't work is a remortgage a possibility? There is absolutely no sense paying interest on money at 20% plus if you can get it on mortgage rates at circa 3%. Is lending money off family a possibilility?

And then it's tied to the house and ends up costing more, even though the interest rates are lower, as it's repaid over a longer length of time. I definitely wouldn't take that advice if I were you.
Kayleigh

Mach4

ghostmadlittlemiss wrote: »

And then it's tied to the house and ends up costing more, even though the interest rates are lower, as it's repaid over a longer length of time. I definitely wouldn't take that advice if I were you.
Kayleigh

Kayleigh £30,000 borrowed at 3% over 25 years total interest payable £12,680.

If the op manages to pay off in 5.5 years at current rates she'll pay over £16k in interest. This assumes the debt falling at a uniform rate over the term in reality she'll pay more interest than this.

There is also nothing stopping her paying off any prospective mortgage a lot quicker than 25 years and hence pay much less interest. The OP should definitely refinance at lower rates if at all possible as her current interest payments are huge.

bogusdruid

Thanks for the advice - putting some of the debt on the mortgage is out of the question - we upped it to cover the cost of the extension, and therefore need to rebuild the overpayments again. This was all before we knew that work would result in me leaving - I have a new job, so can cover the repayments. I am shocked at the interest, and will try to get a 0% credit card, but tried a couple of years ago, and ended up with a card that I just spent on, after failing to clear the debt by the end of the interest free period. I also managed to rebuild the debt that I'd originally 'paid off' the other cards.

I've done the snowball calculator and am quite frankly disgusted with myself (I keep thinking that we'd be another 20 odd grand nearer paying off our mortgage, or half the extension!). I need to throw as much money as I can towards the higher interest debts first to get them down quickly. Will be taking up some extra work in September hopefully in the form of tutoring.

Staying positive at the moment - the figures are there to keep me focussed - it's probably the first time in years that I've really thought about how much I owe - my light bulb moment I suppose

DCFC79

Just skimmed through the thread, glad to hear things are looking positive. Do you have anything you can ebay to bring some money in ?

fantastiyk

Hi,
I just want to say you are doing great. Glad to hear things are looking up for you re: the job.

Mach4

bogusdruid wrote: »

Thanks for the advice - putting some of the debt on the mortgage is out of the question - we upped it to cover the cost of the extension, and therefore need to rebuild the overpayments again. This was all before we knew that work would result in me leaving - I have a new job, so can cover the repayments. I am shocked at the interest, and will try to get a 0% credit card, but tried a couple of years ago, and ended up with a card that I just spent on, after failing to clear the debt by the end of the interest free period. I also managed to rebuild the debt that I'd originally 'paid off' the other cards.

I've done the snowball calculator and am quite frankly disgusted with myself (I keep thinking that we'd be another 20 odd grand nearer paying off our mortgage, or half the extension!). I need to throw as much money as I can towards the higher interest debts first to get them down quickly. Will be taking up some extra work in September hopefully in the form of tutoring.

Staying positive at the moment - the figures are there to keep me focussed - it's probably the first time in years that I've really thought about how much I owe - my light bulb moment I suppose

No point worrying about the past. Just crack on with it and sort it out.

Please dont make any overpayments on the mortgage till the ccs are paid off! If you do get some acceptances for 0% ers just transfer the full credit limit onto them immediately and reduce your credit limit on the card you transfer from no temptation then.

Good luck!

bogusdruid

As it's the start of another month, money is disappearing out of my bank account rapidly. Luckily, having had the payout from work, meant that I could dump some money into said account and pay for a few things without incurring overdraft charges (I hope!) Anyway, it did mean that the car got a service and mot and for the first time in a long time, it cost the price that was quoted. I have to say though, I will never take it back to the main dealers again - I was disgusted at their quote, nearly twice as much as I paid. Just got to work out how to switch off the message from the car saying a service is due!

Had to spend some money on furniture this week. Mainly to cope with the mess that my two kids can make - means that my plans for a new desk will have to wait, but at least their junk isn't being stored on the floor.

Spent the last week really thinking about the snowball figures and have transferred some of my 'next' debt to a lower interest credit card - aim is to pay the next off quickly and then throw that extra money at the highest interest card. Not totally sure if this was a good idea but will mean that interest payments are less I think. Will redo a snowball after all the paper bills come through

asparagus1968

good to see your update. congrats on new job.
looks like you now have a plan in place,just wanted to share a tip i use re.water-

fill a litre plastic bottle and place it in your toilet cistern,this displaces the water so you use less each flush.
your water company will also supply a water hippo( which does the same thing!) and a thingy to put on your tap and a shower head which uses less water too,every penny counts!
have you cut up the cards yet? its a brill feeling-you feel free of them even if you are paying them off.
furniture,well,you shouldn't be buying any! but if you have to-have you thought of charity warehouses/auction rooms/freecycle etc?
keep on with your plan,enjoy the summer hols!

bogusdruid

:mad:This is what happens when you take your eye off the ball for a second. Just got a credit card bill saying they hadn't been paid this month, only to find that the day I deposited £2000 into my bank account is the same day that the bank recalled the direct debit as it took my account £11 over it's limit. I'm fuming!:mad:

A cheapish two week holiday (courtesy of visiting family) and being in the sticks for most of it meant that on the odd occasion we hit a town (i.e. the one day) it was already too late as the dd must have been done at silly o'clock in the morning.

Oh well, breathe, again - they can wait and take out the whole amount from my account when the next date comes round.

On the plus side, start my new job in September but the money saving has to continue. Off to do another snowball calculator now as this has thrown all my previous data out