New here, feels like confessional :-(

blackangeluk

Hi there

Well, I have decided to sit down and bite the bullet and face reality!

I have spent the last 5 hours sorting out my finances, filing and shredding and have finally faced up to the fact I owe £24,354.26!! I have cut up all my credit cards, just leaving the joint maestro card, wrote a list of my debts and bought a cash book to write down my expenditure.

I kind of feel sick at the reality of it all, but I am fed up of re-mortgaging and then getting in this situation again and again and I now need to live to my means. The shameful thing is between myself and my Husband we earn a considerable amount of money and we shouldn't owe this amount, but we have quite simply lived beyond our means.

I have never felt such determination to do this before, but I think I have realised at 32 I need to put my debts behind me and set my children a better example when it comes to money. What settled it was when I opened the post today and was faced with "Credit Card Cheques" from MBNA with the proud logan of don't wait buy it now! That is exactly what I've been doing, not waiting and now the time's to change.

I thought by posting here it would give me the willpower to save and change my ways.

Here's hoping :rolleyes:

wee_student_saver

I'm currently doing the same as you and it it's scaring me how it stacks up but hopefully I can get through it.

Best of luck!

blackangeluk

Thanks for your reply. Now sat up drinking a cup of tea with a headache as I think it has finally sunk in. I feel a little depressed and upset but I now know I have to do something about it.

Hopefully I will feel better and more empowered in the morning?

Good luck with your list - my theory is as well, everything seems worse at night!

Canny_Geordie

:grouphug: Well done for facing the truth! I am sure that you will find loads of support from all of the other DFW's.

The hardest part has been done.

Good luck.

Sagaris

I agree - it's not until the lightbulb comes on that you can do anything to help yourself!
Well done, keep posting and you will get lots of support, I've only been posting for a few weeks but there are some really nice helpful knowledgeable people around here, they have helped me more than they will ever know.
And I'm dealing with my debts too!

hypno06

Hi there and welcome to the boards. I hope you managed to get a reasonable night's sleep last night.

First thing is, congratulate yourself on having your lightbulb moment. It is a big step to face things, and most of us feel some sickness or depressive feelings when we do so. But the worst is now over.

Have a look at southernscouser's sticky at the top of these threads which will give advice for newbies. If you can, prepare a statement of affairs. If you want to, you can post it on here for everyone to have a look at. No one will judge but you will get loads of ideas for cutting back. Some may be obvious, but some may not be so obvious.

Have a look as well at the snowball calculator on https://www.whatsthecost.com put in all your debt details and it will give you that all important debt free date. It will also act as a motivator to chuck an extra few quid at the debts each month as it will show you how much interest you can save by doing this and how much it will bring forward your debt free date.

Presumably you are on top of the minimum payments etc on the cards and loans? Is everything on a low interest rate? If not, and if your credit is still good, how about applying for low life of balance transfer cards which you can then move the debt to. Only do this, however, if you then close down the original high interest accounts. Don't want you having another shopping spree!

Anyway, you have made the first step. Keep on going, and keep posting. We are a friendly bunch here. honest!

blackangeluk

Hi, I was so worried about posting on here and it being judgmental but how wrong I was. Thank you so much for the posts. I have a huge list of our income and outgoings and I will be brave enough to post this later today (eek!) I am on top of the minimum payments for everything but I know I have to pay more to get rid of this weight around my neck. We have two interest free credit cards but they expire in September and I am concerned I will be refused a further credit card on 0% as I have maxed these (although they are now completely cut up!)

We do earn good money but about £500 is deducted every month for nursery fees, these will decrease by £120 in September to £380 and then my youngest starts School next Sept so there is light at the end of the tunnel I suppose?

This morning however I realised MOT was up on the car and we have recently switched from NPower to British Gas and it appears we now owe Npower £300 :eek: but as is life I suppose.

I will go and look at the threads and sites I have been referred to, although I must admit I am anxious when I see when my debts will really be paid off.

I stuggled sleeping but I feel so much more organised and not quite as scared as I have been as lately.

I will return, thank you

jo1972

Morning and welcome :hello:

Well done on having your lightbulb moment, I only had mine 2 weeks ago and you've got much further than me so far!! I don't even know what half of my debts are at the moment, they've gone from whoever I owed the money to to in the first place and down the line through various collection agencies and 'solicitors' and now I have no idea where they begun!!

I think that once you've (and I've) posted our SOA's and people can break it down and see where the faults lie I think knowing about our debts will no longer be scary or depressing, it seems that most people on here have caught the DFW bug and will do ANYTHING to save a couple of pennies :rotfl: lets hope we catch that bug!!!

Good luck!

Jo.x

boo2905

:hello: Hello and welcome :hello:

Your definetly in the right place and look at it this way, there is still so many people out there who haven't yet faced up to their debt. Your halfway there by admitting the problem.

There's loads of ideas that come up on here - one in particular that I heard about was when you feel the urge to buy something, don't buy it if it's not neccessary and use the money that it would have cost to pay towards one of your debts - even if it's only £1.99, you'd be suprised how quickly the debt goes down.

Post your SOA on here and people will pop in and tell you where your going wrong and what you can cut back on.

If you start to feel like it's never ending pour out your heart on here and people will help - believe me it works.

Good Luck and keep us up to date on how your going.

S

blackangeluk

Ok here goes - have actually took the day off work today to sort everything out and be positive.

Mortgage 1120.20
Avon 3.10 - Accident & Death Policy
TV Licence 11.37
Triangle Moorside 34.00 - Gym Membership (I know - cancel it!)
Denplan 24.08
Royal Sunalliance 14.99 - Pet Insurance
Childrens Mutual 20.00 - Childrens Saving Plan
United Utilities 33.86 - Water Bill
Direct Line Ins 17.18 - Cat Insurance
2nd Charge 535.90
Adminicle Ltd 29.23 - Loan Protection Cover
Norwich Union 14.30 - Income Protection
Norwich Union 36.79 - Life Insurance
Northern Rock 308.36
Gas & Electricity 80.00
Halifax Insurance 46.20 - House Insurance
Orange 50.00
Churchill Insurance 23.20 - Car Insurance
Friends Provident 14.18 - Sickness Benefit
Unum 22.42 - Mortgage Protection
Phone Calls 17.01
Norwich Union 20.91 -
T-Mobile 30.00
Sky Digital 34.00
Lottery 8.00
BT Line Rental 20.16
Friends Provident 60.96 - Accident & Sickness Benefit
Council Tax 142.00
Train Fare 60.00

Total Outgoings - £2832.40
Total Income - £4009.12
Total left - £1176.72

My debts are:-

Mortgage and 2nd charge = £229,000
Loans with Northern Rock = £21000

CC1 - £3205.90
CC2 - £1929.33
CC3 - £5850.04
CC4 - £6974.16
CC5 - £1200.00
OD1 - £ 459.13
OD2 - £ 399.32
Catalogue - £30.66
Next - £447.11

These cost about £400 a month in min. payments. How depressing is that!!!!

Have worked out if I can afford to pay an extra £40 per month on the credit cards I can become debt free in about 70 months or less. I am hopefully due approx £1400 from bank charges and £400 from another business me and a friend have set up and with that I intend to repay in full one of the credit cards. We are also having a mortgage break in July and I will use that to reduce CC4 by £1,000.

Feel more sick but hey ho, my fault. I now need to work out a weekly budget, can anyone help? We have two children and three pets which I have to fund also.

Any advice welcome!

boo2905

Hi

I can't give you a massive amount of advice as I don't know much about interest rates etc

But - a couple of things that i've seen from your SOA

1) You've got Friends Provident Sickness Benefit and Friends Provident Accident and Sickness Benefit - is there a reason you need two lots of Sickness Benefit

2) You have Avon Accident and Death benefit and Friends Provident Sickness and Accident benefit = 2 different accident benefits.

3) You have Pet Insurance and Cat Insurance - are these not insuring the same pet twice?

4) £8.00 on the lottery - try taking this down to £1 if your intent on playing the lottery - that would be £28 a month towards a debt.

5) a lot of people will say to clear the loan payment protection as it is costing a small fortune and you may never need it. You have to question if it is really worth it and if you can afford not to have it for a bit then start it again when you are a bit better off. (It might be me being a bit thick but whats the difference between this and income insurance? Surely Income insurance would pay for the loan if anything happened?

6) What is the Norwich Union payment for?

7) Why are there payments to both Orange and TMobile?

You also need to work out and write down for everyone the APR of each of your debts and the minimum payments to each one. Also you need to acknowledge that you will pay extra money out for birthdays, food, clothes etc.

I may be wrong on some of the suggestions but hey. Hope some of it helps