Indebted Dunce's quest to be debt free

harding1985

Fantastic progress ID!! also a fantastic read so far... may it continue in 2013!

castortroy28

Hi there,

As a fellow recovering gambler... I thought I would pop in and say hello too.

I would say have lost the 6 figure sum over the last few years and although am pretty much over it now i gamble so little now but i do feel empty sometimes.

congrats on your journey... i used to have lots of credit cards as well. one thing i will say is please dont go the payday loan route.

it will not be good.

the other thing that i was going ask on here is that... i had a lot of defaults on my file.. mainly due to payday loans and some cc.but they are all settled now and my balance is very good with no debts pretty much. if i try to apply for a mortgage will i be turned down? bearing in mind that my credit rating is 600ish.

Indebted.Dunce

Hi all,

Sorry been away for a while, how is everyone doing?

Jam - my break was good, thanks. Getting back to work is proving to be really difficult, I am already behind. How was your break? Did you enjoy your ski trip?

You are absolutely right the loan is an issue and one or two of the credit cards will become an issue once the promotional rate ends. The plan is indeed to ensure that these are paid off first but I am not quite sure how as I don't have a lot of slack from this month. I have to start repaying one of the family loans.

Harding - thanks! I am certainly hoping that the progress may continue this year!

Castortroy - thank you for stopping by. Well done on the recovery and getting your gambling under control, just beware of the pitfalls which I am sure you don't need me to tell you about. Emptiness is understandable, I think the road to recovery is a long and sometimes bumpy one. We just need to persevere and make sure that we hold on tight with the seat belts firmly fastened when the road gets too bumpy.


I know what you mean about PDL, luckily I have avoided them and will stay well clear of them.

As for your question about defaults, the credit file will have taken some hammering particularly if there are multiple defaults. My understanding is that settled defaults are better, but only marginally better, than unsettled ones. The repairing process is a slow one and sometimes can take up to six years.

In the current climate you not only need a hefty deposit but also a very good (spotless) credit history to have any chance of a mortgage. In your case unless the defaults are more than 6 years old, I think it may be very difficult to get 1. a mortgage and 2. if you do get a mortgage then at a decent rate. The guys in the mortgage section might be able to help you better.

No debts is excellent, just make sure you have some credit available to you which you are using and paying off (preferably in full on a monthly basis as soon as the statement has been generated) so that you are building "good credit history" - there is a wealth of information in the credit cards section of the forum.

Final piece of advice I can give you is that you need to stop paying for the experian/equifax number as it is generally worthless since they do not take all the factors that lenders consider like your income etc in to consideration. Additionally, every lender has their own lending criteria. Therefore, stop wasting money on the number. Keep an eye on your credit file which you can get for free through noddle (this is provided by callcredit which is the smallest of the 3 credit rating agencies) or by getting your statutory credit report for £2 from either experian/equifax. This (http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/loans/credit-rating-credit-score) has a lot more information.

castortroy28

Hiya..

Thanks for all the advice. I am pretty much there with all the debts. I have my student loan to pay off which will go in about a years time and one credit card which will be paid off byt the end of February.

I am just worried that because of all the defaults i had previously with payday loans and some on the other things that I will find it very hard to get a mortgage.

I guess I will have to wait for a bit. I mean from my point of view now I think I will be able to get a deposit within two years which is great obviously but I kinda dont want to wait 6 years before I can get a mortage as I dont like paying rent to people.

I am going to use the credit card thing like you said. probably just use it once a month for food shopping and then change the payment to pay off the balance in full when the statement comes.

apart from that I guess thats the best we can do. yes i know the pitfalls unfortunately. Although i do gamble a little bit still, its only maybe 20 quid a week so manageable. I dont go out really apart from to the cinema and the occasional dinner with a friend but thats it really. Its been a huge change but i think a good one. Although i hate watching my pennes so much I know that its for the better.

Have you worked out which debts to pay first?

Indebted.Dunce

Hey Castortroy,

Glad to pass on any hints/tips that I can.

When did you default on the agreements? When was the last one? and have the defaults been satisfied?

I guess so long as you know the pitfalls and set yourself strict limits then I suppose you should be fine. I know for me it is all or nothing, I don't think I will ever be in a position where I can safely gamble on a social basis - it is all or nothing.

In an ideal world I would prefer to overpay the loan as it is the most expensive but my debt repayment needs reworking as a couple of the 0% are expiring sooner than I had originally anticipated and I need to start repaying one of the family loans.

Additionally, Jan has been extremely expensive with the season ticket renewal; expensive dental works; my shoes; and 6 year old suit giving up on me, therefore net debt has gone up slightly. I will find out the true cost at the end of the month.

stacey2193

Read your diary with interest, keep up the good work, best wishes S

Indebted.Dunce

Thanks Stacey.

Trying to take it a day at a time and hopefully this time next year I will have more than halved my debt!

castortroy28

hiya... the last default was in September I believe. I was in arrears with a loan and then settled the amount in full.

I think that after a year then it will be better but am not sure at the moment. the good thing is that most of my debt has been paid.

I also have recieved money from my ppi claims which is really good too.. I havent used that to pay off my remaining credit card as I am not too sure I am going to be in a job for that much longer so would need that to live off I believe.

commuting is ridiculous my train journeys have gone up as well as other things.....

Obviously I mind that travel has gone up but we all knew about it.

What I hate more than anything else is that people are being sneaky about increases... for example in my canteen at work i normally buy a hot water for 20p to make my cup of tea. we do have a vending machine but the water isnt that hot. it went up by 5p and then on top of that they changed the cups to cheaper cups only for hot water! PLUS they didnt tell anyone.... thats a 25% increase!

the second thing is that when i went around mooching for january sales. I didnt actually buy anything I saw that there were a lot of stands saying upto 60% off. I go to the rail of clothes and when I actually check the price of the item its not 60% off more like 15% and there were no items in the store or on that rack that were 60% off.

I asked the shop assistant who said to me yes its not 60% off but upto.. I asked her then why didnt they put 15% off if that is the actual discount. she said it wasnt store policy... but then i told her that well people would buy the clothes because they believe its 60% off the original price when it isnt.. GRRR.....

they wont be getting any money off me thats for sure.

lastly..... sad to hear HMV go, mainly for all the people who have lost their jobs but as a retailer they werent that competitive. Whats the chances though there wont be any cheap stock just like when comet went bust and what happens to all the vouchers....

sigh...

right rant over! hope everyone has a great week! indebteddunce, um NHS dentist? or did you go through that already?

Indebted.Dunce

Hey Castortroy,

Things will certainly ease up a bit after a year, though I am not sure if it will ease up enough for a mortgage.

I am sorry to hear about your job and it is a sensible idea to keep the PPI money aside to cover priority expenses.

We all knew about travel but it doesn't make it any less painful! London travel is nothing short of day light robbery.

I also empathise with you about work canteen operators putting up costs, we seemed to be having a hike every other month! They may think it is "only 5p" but that is anywhere between 5 - 30%, I haven't had my salary increased for yonks!!

Don't get me started on sales, it is an absolute joke! The same "sales items" are more expensive after the discount than they were at full price 12-18 months!

Yes, the demise of HMV is really regrettable. Hopefully someone will come to their rescue and keep the people on.

The dental appointment was on NHS but subsequent appointments have been with an orthodontist and those have been / will be on a private basis. My condition is not seem as a priority on the NHS despite cracking / chipping teeth all the time, so I either self fund it or end up in a situation where I have no teeth/a mouth full of fillings. Therefore, I have had no choice but to go down the private route.

Indebted.Dunce

If the next two weeks go well then I will hopefully have paid off £1,200 this month! I really can't wait to get under the £30k mark which should happen at the end of March!

Once I am under £30k, I will need to be paying off £10k every 7 months to hit my target of being debt free on 01/01/2015! In some ways this is really achievable but in other ways I have no idea how I am going to do it since I have not factored in the following major expenses:

1. Subscriptions - as this is paid in a lump sum, all the amount is thrown at expensive interest bearing debts rather than setting aside monthly amounts in an account which pays no interest (or pittance);
2. Driving lessons - this is becoming really urgent;
3. Subsequent car costs;
4. Dental surgery - the orthodontist reckons that I may need surgery to correct my bite and that there is very limited NHS funding (a 7 - 10 year wait), so may have to pay for it privately;
5. Holiday - I know it will seem like a luxury that I can ill afford but sooner or later I am going to need a break otherwise I will go absolutely crazy, or worse might slip up; and
6. Any rental/housing cost increases.

The only expenses I can potentially defer are surgery costs and maybe the holiday, so we will see how it goes! Why did I have to be so stupid?!