I've got myself into a MASSIVE debt in 9 months...

Fletchasketch

Hey Weebit, how's it all going?

weebit

Hi all,

It's been a while since I posted in here, so time for an update.

Things are going well, debt is coming down, but not as quick as I had hoped. I'm beginning to think that perhaps my predictions were a bit too ambitious. My debt currently stands at £42,927.71, plus I have £700ish in my bank ready to pay to a card - just waiting till month end before I pay it to one.

In addition, in recent months I've fully paid off 3 cards, and been given numerous balance transfer deals on my existing cards which means that currently none of my debt is at standard rate! £32,800 is at 0% with the rest at 6.9%. This has really reduced my interest bill down from £342 in January to just £62 this month! And if MBNA offer another 0% deal soon, I can move every single penny to 0% too.

I've revised my estimates based on our past performance and we'll be lucky to hit my December 2018 target of being debt-free. We might be looking around Summer to Christmas 2019 instead, which is a bit disappointing but it's more realistic.

Sarahlovesshoes

I am staggered having read the entire post, nothing has really changed and you are still struggling with your level of debt.

Have you considered going bankrupt?

kimplus8

its sounds like you and wife are in a very difficult situation, post a SOA up and we can see if we can help you trim money somewhere and free up some funds,
If you can cut up the credit cards, you don't want to be tempted to spend any more.

Buffythedebtslayer

I don't know, paying off 8000ish pounds in 9 months isn't so bad, I know even when I was truly bricking re debt I paid off an absolute maximum of 660 but it was more likely to 500/450.

It is a choice isn't it, lifestyle V Debt, for some it becomes all about the debt and for other people they want to keep a balance between lifestyle and paying it back. For me once I realised in order to pay it back I had to stay in a job I hated paying it off became a huge priority. Now I am in a much nicer job and have my debt on 0% it is much less of a priority (although isn't it weird how sitting, reading this (especially your reply LoveHackney!) has made me go quite cold and have serious thoughts about what the heck I am doing!!

Fletchasketch

I have to say I disagree with the posters here, the interest saving alone is a huge win and you're definitely moving in the right direction. Hope you get that 0% offer, it makes a huge difference not paying interest.

PositiveBalance

Hi weebit,

I read your whole diary last night. You are fully responsible for the ridiculously late night I had and the start of my first grey hairs!

Best of luck with everything - you seem to be getting into a groove. Getting most of the debt at 0% is great - if you can get it *all* at 0% it will be amazing as you can then start slashing the debt into tiny pieces. Paying what your minimums used to be off the debt is going to make a difference alone.

Any particular reason you are waiting to make the £700 payment? If not, do it now!

I would also advise cutting up the CCs you have paid off and continue to do so for each one that you pay off in the future. Or cut up nearly all of them and just have one/two with a smallish emergency budget on in case of nuclear war/the apocalypse. That way, you can't be tempted to renege.

Thinking aloud...A lot of your budget seems to be spent on entertainment. Have you tried to arrange, say, one guaranteed night out a week for you both so that you get to have a bit of a social life and balance it with debt-busting? Or setting an entertainment budget? I sometimes find that if I have a budget to do something that I somehow manage to make it happen even if it doesn't seem to be possible.

Not meaning to be a party pooper, but bearing in particular mind that you work contracts in a not-always-stable industry, perhaps it's no bad thing to reflect on how you would manage your debt repayments if you couldn't get a new contract. Unlike some, I do think it's a good idea to have an emergency fund in place given the volatility in your job (and life's little disasters, of course) but perhaps a sobering reality would be to look at the income gap between your wife's basic wages and what you need to live and service all your loans on top each month and aim to drive it down to below that ASAP. That way, you should be in position to keep your heads above water if the worst were to happen. You never know what could be round the corner financially and there are bound to be upheavals in the next few years with Brexit etc. (Although that's not always bad - perhaps you and your wife could have your debt clear and a deposit saved up for a house in time for the next property slump?!)

Best of luck with everything. I hope that YNAB is now firmly your new best friend and possibly becoming an infatuation. :happyhear

Teacher2

weebit wrote: »

Hi all,

It's been a while since I posted in here, so time for an update.

Things are going well, debt is coming down, but not as quick as I had hoped. I'm beginning to think that perhaps my predictions were a bit too ambitious. My debt currently stands at £42,927.71, plus I have £700ish in my bank ready to pay to a card - just waiting till month end before I pay it to one.

In addition, in recent months I've fully paid off 3 cards, and been given numerous balance transfer deals on my existing cards which means that currently none of my debt is at standard rate! £32,800 is at 0% with the rest at 6.9%. This has really reduced my interest bill down from £342 in January to just £62 this month! And if MBNA offer another 0% deal soon, I can move every single penny to 0% too.

I've revised my estimates based on our past performance and we'll be lucky to hit my December 2018 target of being debt-free. We might be looking around Summer to Christmas 2019 instead, which is a bit disappointing but it's more realistic.

Congrats on paying off three cards. That's an achievment. It's also really sensible to get the rest of the debt on 0% cards. It goes without saying that you are now paying off the debt with the money you would have spent on interest when the cards were charging it?

Paying off £42K by 2019 would be 'awesome' as the kids say. Go for it.

weebit

Sarahlovesshoes wrote: »

I am staggered having read the entire post, nothing has really changed and you are still struggling with your level of debt.

Have you considered going bankrupt?

Nope - I'm determined to pay back every penny the proper way, then once it's all gone, I plan to buy a house so going bankrupt isn't an option.

kimplus8 wrote: »

its sounds like you and wife are in a very difficult situation, post a SOA up and we can see if we can help you trim money somewhere and free up some funds,
If you can cut up the credit cards, you don't want to be tempted to spend any more.

No need to post my SOA... done that ages ago and am now using YNAB so i know where all my money goes. There are still some extravagances in there (e.g. Sky TV, take-aways, days out etc) but it's all budgeted for. The bottom line is my debt is falling (apx £8000 since the start of the year) so I'm happy.

PositiveBalance wrote: »

I read your whole diary last night. You are fully responsible for the ridiculously late night I had and the start of my first grey hairs!

Sorry, but I'm not taking the blame for yours or my wife's grey hairs, lol!

PositiveBalance wrote: »

I would also advise cutting up the CCs you have paid off and continue to do so for each one that you pay off in the future. Or cut up nearly all of them and just have one/two with a smallish emergency budget on in case of nuclear war/the apocalypse. That way, you can't be tempted to renege.

Done this. The only cards left open are ones which are likely to offer balance transfer deals. All others are closed. In fact, I've just this week reduced the overdraft on one of my current accounts from £2500 to just £100 (for use as an emergency buffer only).

PositiveBalance wrote: »

Thinking aloud...A lot of your budget seems to be spent on entertainment. Have you tried to arrange, say, one guaranteed night out a week for you both so that you get to have a bit of a social life and balance it with debt-busting? Or setting an entertainment budget? I sometimes find that if I have a budget to do something that I somehow manage to make it happen even if it doesn't seem to be possible.

we do have an entertainment budget bu we tend to go out only once or twice a month. Most our entertainment is done at home.

PositiveBalance wrote: »

Not meaning to be a party pooper, but bearing in particular mind that you work contracts in a not-always-stable industry, perhaps it's no bad thing to reflect on how you would manage your debt repayments if you couldn't get a new contract. Unlike some, I do think it's a good idea to have an emergency fund in place given the volatility in your job (and life's little disasters, of course) but perhaps a sobering reality would be to look at the income gap between your wife's basic wages and what you need to live and service all your loans on top each month and aim to drive it down to below that ASAP. That way, you should be in position to keep your heads above water if the worst were to happen. You never know what could be round the corner financially and there are bound to be upheavals in the next few years with Brexit etc. (Although that's not always bad - perhaps you and your wife could have your debt clear and a deposit saved up for a house in time for the next property slump?!)

This is something I have thought about and planned for. I have a £1000 emergency fund saved up should I need it - it's reserved specifically for any time when I may not have a job and need to pay the bills. Thankfully I've not had the need to use it yet. In fact, there seems to be a shortage of people in my job role in the TV industry and I've not been out of work for a long time. I've been with my current company for almost a year now, and I'm currently contracted until Christmas this year, with the chance to extend into next year also.

Teacher2 wrote: »

Congrats on paying off three cards. That's an achievment. It's also really sensible to get the rest of the debt on 0% cards. It goes without saying that you are now paying off the debt with the money you would have spent on interest when the cards were charging it?

Paying off £42K by 2019 would be 'awesome' as the kids say. Go for it.

Thanks. As I hoped, MBNA did offer us a 0% balance transfer deal, so now every single penny I owe is currently at 0%, with the first deal expiring on 1st June. You may have seem my other thread in the main forum asking people's opinions on if I should continue making payments to the cards, or save the money in a high-interest account until end of May. You'll be please to know that I've made a compromise decision. With savings rates so low at the moment, I don't see the point in saving everything at the cost of not paying off my cards, so I'm only going to save £2000 in a TSB plus account earning 5%, any anything above this will go straight onto the credit cards.

Fletchasketch

Amazing progress, congrats! Having had a mssive clear out recently, I can highly recommend Ziffit for getting rid of any books/cds/DVD's you might have lying around and then ebay for the rest. If you're not already on Topcashback.co.uk then this is great for getting money back on any necessary spends.