I will be debt free !!!!!

turkolina

Evening everyone...

Well where do I start.. This has been coming for sooooo long but I thought if I kept burying my head in the sand that when I finally popped up again all debt would be gone.. SHYEAHHH !!!

So had a massive lightbulb moment about a month ago but have had so much to sort out to get to the point where I am not able to deal with everything..

I am married to hubster and have dd1 5 and dd2 2.. Was married for many years (9) and spent what I wanted when I wanted.. holidays numerous times a year.. No children (didn't think I could have them) then due to weight issues had gastric surgery.. Lost 6 stones and bang 2 years and 3 pregnancies.. One sadly was ectopic but I can now say that 2 is my beautiful family and love being a mummy !!

When my DD1 was 18 months old I lost my beautiful mum to cancer and that sent me on a downward spiral of depression.. Have now picked myself up and have sworn that I will never get to that position again never for my little ones.. They need me.. x

So with nappies and feed and holidays and bla bla bla.. I have gotten credit cards maxed out to the limits.. I knew this was happening at the beginning of the year and was just able to pay off the interest I didn't have anything spare to pay extra.. The interest itself was crippling me.. In August just before our holiday I looked into my debts and was shocked at debts of over £30,000... I was paying in the region of £700 a month just in interest.. I finally plucked up the courage to ask my dad if he could lend me half £15,000 on a loan he had to take out which I would pay off monthly on a 5 year term.. This then gave me the manoeuvrability to transfer the rest of my credit cards onto my 4 (or infact 3) Barclaycards onto 0% interest.. So that's what I did.. So have £291 on a loan that is reducing monthly and the other 3 credit cards currently take direct debits which are reducing monthly of around £360 a month..

I currently work and average take home is £1500 a month and hubbie takes home around £1300 with a bonus of £2k in November..

Last year we bought a new car which I took out a HP loan for of £7k and hopefully at the end of this week the car will be sold (just waiting for the tax disc to arrive- stupidly sent for it by post arghhhh) and yesterday I paid off with every penny I could scrimp and save from every area of my life the £6,112 HP Loan).. Have just received the paperwork to confirm I am HP loan free YAYYYYYYYY I have hit the first part of my debt.. I now am desparate to pay off the rest of the £30,000 I owe on cards and loan with my dad.

So what are my plans..My head is constantly buzzing with what can I do to get rid of this debt.. I have a current Flight delay compensation going through.. God willing this will get me £2,000 (dad flew with us and he said I could have his share if I could get them to pay up - yayyyyyyy)... Secondly have 3 very large PPI claims going through on 3 credit cards and a couple of loans.. If these go through they could pay off a very nice part of the credit cards....

Then we have two houses (one is rented and one we live in - was very lucky when we didn't have children to purchase a buy to let property) I have two house lofts worth of thousands of pounds worth of stuff to sell.. Have Just popped a load of stuff on ebay.. Hubbies old iphone is currently going for £150 at auction.. So excited.... Have a chq that needs to be cashed for £80 and that will go onto the credit card too..

My idea is to clear the smallest credit card (they are all 0% and all for same period) and get rid of a direct debit at a time..

Have gone through all my payments at home and reduced all bills to their lowest possible.. Buying our new car hopefully next week with what we will sell our car with cash and wont add a single penny of debt through it either.. The car will reduce our monthly requirements from £80 to £60 for petrol and £70 to £35 for the car itself as it is a £30 per year tax car plus insurance is £200 instead of £300... I think my hubby thinks I have gone completely mental but I deal with all of the finances in the house.. So I will sort this all out xx

I have always been used to piggybanking so put away for all necessary bills each month this means that no bill is ever a shock (well unless its completely unexpected).. Have a contingency packet which I put away £50 a month and want to get that to £1k I also put away monthly for Christmas and holidays.. I know most people say stop holidays but that's not an option for me.. My hubbie isn't English and we go and see family and friends once a year.. If that means taking a bit longer to pay the debt off then I will have to swallow that one.. x:A

Have a fantastic stock of food in the house got a fab base of stuff and do not buy anything buy one get one free if I don't need it.. I only buy what is necessary.. Just toilet trained my daughter so that's no nappies needed nor as many wipes (would I have done it already if I wasn't looking at my pennies.. hmmmmm probably not)
:mad:
Once this debt is paid off I am starting on the mortgages.. House 1 is ours and has a mortgage of £142,000 is currently on a 6.4 rate fixed until January.. Will be looking to change that for a much better one and the money will go to the debt then the mortgage itself too.. House number 2 is self funding.. Never touch the money in that account unless its for that house or to pay for stuff.. I have now got a standing order set up to overpay that repayment mortgage by £600 a month.. I want to be mortgage free by 52 MAX !!!!!

So that is a bit about me.. I hope anyone who wants to tag along and listen to my ramblings you are more than welcome.. Any ideas will be sooo glad to hear them too...

Turks xx:A

turkolina

Wow that feels so good writing it down.. That is it.. I am on my way now.. wooo hoooo beep beep !!

turkolina

Oooo forgot to say am kicking my weight into touch as well.. Have a good few stones to loose and will be using my Wii Fit with various fitness programmes every day whilst the little ones are at school... This time next year I am praying life will be very different..

Turks xx

Mrs_Cheshire

Hi Turks, well done for writing it all down and for dealing with it!
We have just been having meeting with an advisor from Caps about dealing with our debt. We have been struggling for a while now but finally bitten the bullet and spoken to someone. This months going to be especially tight as we've got to move all the direct debits to a new bank account and don't have the back up of the overdraft. Will be following and will let you know how we're getting on

turkolina

Hello Mrs Cheshire and thanks for passing by... Yes doesn't it feel better once you start to deal with it.. Its one of my worst traits leave something till tomorrow but never again !!

I agree this month is tight.. Im just glad I have my xmas fund already sorted from the monthly payments I put away.. Otherwise I would be in real dire straights apart from that there is nothing to play with ... for a long time !! xxx

beanielou

Wishing you well on your journey

National_Debtline

Hello there.

Welcome to MSE. This post gives you a brief overview of some of your potential options. Much of the text is generic, and I apologies for that, but it gives you a really good introduction within a few minutes reading.

If you would like the long (and very useful!) version, you can download our information pack here:
http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/england_wales/debt_advice.php#4

We also have scores of fact sheets on the website too. It's all free, by the way

Here's the post, let me know your thoughts.

The first thing to do is to make yourself aware of all of your debts. Compile a comprehensive list and work out how much you owe in total. One of the key reasons for doing this is to ensure you choose the most appropriate route forward that meets your needs.

The next step is arguably the most important of all. You should complete an accurate financial statement. Some call this a personal budget, some an income & expenditure form. Before you consider what you might be able to offer your creditors you should ensure that you have enough money to meet your essential outgoings such as housing costs, bills, housekeeping and travelling costs. You can see an example financial statement on our website: http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/england_wales/pdf/personal-budget-sheet/your-personal-budget-sheet.pdf

The financial statement needs to be realistic, it’s important to ensure you have enough money to live on until you next get paid. The aim is that you will never need to borrow again. The figures do need to be reasonable, creditors may reject a budget if some of your outgoings are too high. There are general guideline figures, some of which you can see on page 18 of our self-help pack: http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/england_wales/pdf/self-help-pack/step-2-working-out-your-personal-budget.pdf

The aim of the budget is to help you calculate how much money you have left once you have accounted for your essential outgoings. The money you have left is called your ‘surplus’. This is the amount you can then offer to your creditors.
We have a very useful online advice tool called My Money Steps. It can help you create you financial statement and can also provide you with tailored advice about the best options for you. Please take a look: http://www.mymoneysteps.org

We place debts into two general categories, priority and non-priority. In essence priority debts are those that if you do not pay would cause you to lose something. Typically they have an effect your property, liberty or utilities if not paid. Priority debts include mortgage/secured loan arrears, rent arrears, council tax arrears, gas/electricity arrears, hire-purchase arrears or any court fines. If you have priority debts it is vital to get arrangements in place with these before you look at making arrangements with credit debts such as loans, credit cards, overdrafts, payday loans and catalogues.

Credit debts are classed as non-priority debts. Non-priority creditors have limited options available to them when it comes to chasing payment. The main option they have is to ask for the money via telephone calls and letters, this is why they can often bombard you with their demands. As a worst-case scenario the creditors could consider using legal action to recover their money, this really should be used as a last resort. If you have a creditor that is threatening court action or if you receive court papers in the post it is important that you seek further advice straight away.

If you fall behind or miss payments on your debts it can have an effect on your credit score. Any marks on your file would stay on there for six years.
Once your budget is completed, any surplus income would be used to pay these non-priority debts. This figure should be divided up on a pro-rata basis amongst the creditors, this would mean that the people you owe the most to would get the largest share and whoever you owe the least to would get the smallest share.

If your budget sheet shows that you have very little or nothing remaining for your creditors, you should offer each creditor a token payment of £1 each per month.

If your budget sheet shows that you can meet your contractual minimum payments you should continue to do so. If you can overpay you should try and reduce the debt with the highest interest rate first, once that one has been cleared move on to the debt with the second highest interest rate – and so on.
On our website you can find some sample letters which can be used to write to the creditors asking them to accept the new payments and to freeze any interest and to stop any further charges being added. Always include a copy of your personal budget so the creditor can see they are being offered a reasonable amount. It may take a few attempts to get the creditors to agree. It’s recommended that you contact your creditors in writing rather than via the telephone. Here are our sample letters: http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/england_wales/debt_advice.php#6

If you currently hold a bank account with someone you have a credit agreement or overdraft with you stop using it and open an account with a new "safe" bank or building society. Banks have the ability to remove money from current accounts to satisfy any arrears owing on credit agreements, a safe account would stop this from being possible and safeguards the income you receive.

There are various options that can help you deal with your debts, we have written a brief guide to them all here: http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/england_wales/page.php?page=35_options_for_dealing_with_your_debts

The guide outlines the benefits and implications of all options. It is important to research all possible routes forward to help you arrive at an informed decision about the best way for yourself. Do ask as many questions and research as much as you can. Never feel rushed in to making any important decisions.

Best wishes,

David @ NDL.

National_Debtline

* Important! *

You mention that your car is on hire-purchase. If that's the case then it is vital to keep up with the repayments. If you fall behind the vehicle could be repossessed. Check the paperwork, though, because if you discover you have a 'fixed sum loan' the money borrowed is not secured on the car. This means you could reduce the payments without risking a potential repossession. I should add a slight caveat here, in that cars can be taken if you ever encounter a bailiff. That is a very, very long way away. All the help you'll get here is desigend to ensure things never get to that stage.

Here's our HP fact sheet:
http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/england_wales/factsheet.php?page=16_hire_purchase_debt

David

turkolina

Thanks David.... I waffled a bit on my post.. You might not have spotted the bit that said I paid off the HP loan yesterday :O) :O)

Thankfully I am very lucky that to date have not missed a single payment on any of my debts/mortgages etc so hopefully I can overpay and see a dent quite quickly.. So wish I had done this years ago. !!!!!

Am now menu planning. x

National_Debtline

turkolina wrote: »

Thanks David.... I waffled a bit on my post.. You might not have spotted the bit that said I paid off the HP loan yesterday :O) :O)

Thankfully I am very lucky that to date have not missed a single payment on any of my debts/mortgages etc so hopefully I can overpay and see a dent quite quickly.. So wish I had done this years ago. !!!!!

Am now menu planning. x

Indeed I missed that. Sorry!

It's worth having a go at your budget as you'll be able to figure out exactly how much you might have available to pay your debts with. If the amount you're left with (we call it the surplus) can cover all of your minimum payments, the thing to do would be to try and overpay the debt with the highest interest rate first. Once that one is paid move on to the debt with the second highest interest rate - and so on.

Planning is certainly the key to everything

David.

turkolina

Thanks have gone through everything in the last couple of days.... Will throw as much as possible to the cards... Thankfully all 0 % ..