Help needed in my concerted effort to get debt free!

Dumbledore55

Another difficult month because I had to scrimp to pay off my Post Office credit card that was about to charge interest. I may have to reduce payments to the others for a couple of months to recover - also car insurance paid and car serviced. Car tax due this month........why do they all come at once?

However, its really encouraging to see the percentage I've paid off my debts and that is helping me to remain focused on my ultimate goal to be debt free.


CREDIT CARDS

Post Office - paid off and sent back

Ulster Bank - £1882 - £57 per month – 0% until 13th August 07 – 18.4% after

Morgan Stanley - £6723 - £135 per month – 0% until 21st Dec 07 – 16.9% after

TOTAL £8,605 (61.7% of total debt paid)

(Est Interest until debt paid off - £42.82, actual interest paid so far - £0, BT Fees £100)

Estimated Debt Free Date – March 2008

Emergencies/Sales Fund …............£0 – used to pay off CC before interest needed paying
Boots Vouchers (Cashback sites)…………….£117
Argos Vouchers (Cashback sites)……………£5
Tesco Vouchers…………………………….........£66
Nectar Points ……………………………….......…10157
Tesco Points…………………………….......……..1828
Airmiles…………………………………...........…….1184

Looking much healthier! :j

Dumbledore55

I wonder if anyone can advise me about re-mortgaging, the current fixed deal on my mortgage ends 1st August 2007. The monthly payment will go up nearly £200 if I don't change it. I'm currently with Northern Roack and they've offered me 5.29% fixed for 2 years but the fees are extortionate Product fee £1995 and Mortgage Review Fee of £295.

I need a flexible mortgage because hopefully by the end of August I'll have sold the house I'm renting out (sale going through now) and I'll need to pay that lump sum off the mortgage on the house I'm living in because the mortgage is HUGE!!

I've tried researching mortgage but all the different offers make my head spin....help...what's the best type of mortgage to get, low fees but flexible?

bandraoi

Try the mortgage board for advice there I'd say.

oh and congratulations on being below £10K!!!

Dumbledore55

June Update

CREDIT CARDS

Ulster Bank - £1826 - £55 per month – 0% until 13th August 07 – 18.4% after

Morgan Stanley - £6580 - £132 per month – 0% until 21st Dec 07 – 16.9% after

TOTAL £8,406 (62.6% of total debt paid)

(Est Interest until debt paid off - £25.98, actual interest paid so far - £0, BT Fees £100)

Estimated Debt Free Date – April 2008

Emergencies/Sales Fund …………………….£72.40
Boots Vouchers (Cashback sites)…………….£127
Argos Vouchers (Cashback sites)……………£5
Tesco Vouchers……………………………...£95
Nectar Points …………………………………11497
Tesco Points…………………………………..1268
Airmiles……………………………………….153 (spent on hotel for weekend break)

Not as much paid off my debt as usual but I have been on holiday this month so the good news is that my debt hasn't increased and I had some quality time with my son without feeling guilty.

All is still going to plan and I will make up the extra payment next month when I have some extra money coming in.

Sea78

Hey Dumbledore - you're doing fabulously

Did you find what you needed to with the mortgage? I went through London & County, (recommended by martin ) and found them to be great.

Sea xx

tsharp

How do you get to such an exact percentage for the amount you owe, ie 62.6%? I'd love to work mine out, despite the fact that it's a set monthly loan repayment, so it doesn't really work like that, but all the same...

Dumbledore55

Yes thanks Sea78 - I went through a private broker and I've got a deal lined up to start in August. Just need to check the market again in the next couple of weeks to make sure I don't miss out on any new offers.

Either way it will be fees free saving me £2K and the monthly payment will be a lot less than Northern Rock wanted.

Dumbledore55

tsharp wrote: »

How do you get to such an exact percentage for the amount you owe, ie 62.6%? I'd love to work mine out, despite the fact that it's a set monthly loan repayment, so it doesn't really work like that, but all the same...

I just work out what percentage of the £22500 I originally started off with I've already paid off. As my credit cards are all 0%, I don't worry about the interest and so far I've managed to avoid paying any interest.

If my plans work out, I should be able to pay the whole of the outstanding balance on the Ulster card before the interest kicks in - August.

I use the Snowballing site to monitor my payments and that tells mne the estimated interest if I continue to pay the same amount off per month.

Dumbledore55

Sorry for the long posting but its been a 'tricky' month!

July Update

CREDIT CARDS

Ulster Bank - £1772 - £52 per month – 0% until 13th August 07 – 18.4% after

Morgan Stanley - £6171 - £125 per month – 0% until 21st Dec 07 – 16.9% after

TOTAL £7943 (64.7% of total debt paid)

(Est Interest until debt paid off - £20.78, actual interest paid so far - £0, BT Fees £100)

Estimated Debt Free Date – April 2008

Emergencies/Sales Fund …………………….£0 (spent on car tax)
Boots Vouchers (Cashback sites)…………….£157
Argos Vouchers (Cashback sites)……………£5
Tesco Vouchers……………………………...£53.50 (spent on RAC membership)
Nectar Points …………………………………11847
Tesco Points…………………………………..2666
[FONT=&quot]Airmiles……………………………………….190[/FONT][FONT=&quot]

So where do I start with the June - it began with me having to spend my savings on the car tax. But I was extremely hopeful that it was going to be a good month because my daughter had finally found a buyer for her house and that meant I could sell her my old house (long story about how I had 2 houses but believe me it doesn't mean I'm rich - just got a lot of debt!).

My nervousness was getting my tenants out for completion date. How wrong I was to worry about that!

First I get a message from my solicitor to say that my daughter's buyers want to complete as early as possible - 8th June. I therefore chivvy along the tenants and when they eventually find a new place to rent, let them go asap. (Forgot to say I'm doing all this from Croatia where I'd gone for a holiday). Tenants leave 5th June - hunky dory I think.

Next message (6th June) - the buyers aren't ready for 8th (first time buyers I should add) - can we make it 15th. A bit of a pain for my daughter cancelling everything for the move but she does so. Then, her buyers disappear off the face of the earth and stop communicating with their own solicitor, the estate agent and their financial advisor. 15th comes and goes with no contact - cancel the move all over again.

I'm away on a course the next week so I tell my daughter that I'll wait until I return on the friday but if the buyers haven't been found by then I'll have to sell it. Felt like a complete b**ch, but house needed to go by November to prevent Capital Gains Tax, didn't want to put another tenant in because a 6 month contract would take them past 1st November and every week it was empty was costing me £150!!

Monday 18th - the buyers mortgage advisor finally speaks to them. They're struggling to find the deposit, they do want the house but are waiting for an 'insurance payout' which is due Weds or Friday. I didn't really believe them but as I was still away, I said we'd go with the flow and see what happened. Meanwhile my poor daughter can't book the van to move, sort out change of address, or even book a day off work because we don't have much confidence in the buyers.

Weds 20th - no contact from the buyers.

Friday 22nd - lunchtime, we finally hear that the buyers have got the deposit because their 'VAT rebate' has arrived. Solicitors then came into their own by insisting they exchange contracts immediately and that they should agree to a completion date suitable to my daughter. Exchange takes place - 2 hours later my daughter gets a call saying that her buyers would like to complete immediately because 'they'd like all weekend to move their things in'. I don't know how she was so polite, 2pm on a Friday, she's at work and no van booked etc - she politely declined and agreed a completion date of Monday 25th so she could have the weekend to move her things.

Monday 25th - completion - yay! My money should be on the way to me to pay straight off the huge mortgage I have on the house I live in and make a nice dent in the credit card balances! Simple.............no.........the Abbey need to change the final amount owed due to the change in completion date. Said they'd fax it to the solicitors - doesn't arrive. Guarantees to do it the next day..........fails!

Wednesday 27th - the money finally lands in my bank account by tea time. That's stress I could have done without - the cold sore arrived Thursday 28th!!

However, one lump sum straight off the mortgage and in July I will use the remainder to make some big dents in the credit card balances. I'm not paying it all off because I didn't want all the equity from my old house going on credit card debts and also I still have a 0% deal until December so the money is better off with me than with them. I can now remortgage this house as my 2 year deal ends on 1st August and all being well I will be officially debt free by my birthday in December.
:beer:
Hopefully my August update will sound a lot less like I live in a soap opera. I'd forgotten how stressful all this house buying and selling can be, think I'll live here forever!







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Sea78

Fantastic going! What a stressful time though for you and your daughter - grrrr at those incompetant buyers. I would have been tempted to tell them where to go, but just not possible I guess.

Will your next challenge be to clear the mortgage? I bet that won't take you long, given how fast you're going with the CC debt!

Sea xxx