What to do...

Pepperoni

Hi,

By the end of May I intend to have paid off my loan (Car) which is at around 8% APR.

I would then like to tackle our Credit Card (Honeymoon / Wedding), which is at 0% APR until October. At the moment I am mostly just paying the minimum monthly payments.

However, I am due to go on Maternity Leave in June. The first 3 months of this will be full pay, and I had intended to save some of it to spread over the remaining 6 months to 'balance' it all. However, now I'm thinking that I'd like to just chuck whatever I can (I'm thinking around £1000 - £1250 per month) at the Credit Card.

My reasoning is that we will be debt free :j, plus we won't have to pay a 3% charge to transfer the debt elsewhere!

I'll obviously plan / make sure that whatever we would be left with monthly would be enough to cover everything. But given that we will already be adapting to a drop in salary (£700 per month over 9 months) am I being stupid? Should we focus on getting through Maternity Leave, then focus on the debt? I think I see the income drop as permanent, as thats money that might end up going on nursery fee's etc anyway....

asparagus1968

hi,

think it would be lovely to start your family life debt free!
I see you have savings alongside your debt payments so that's brilliant.

maybe the good old SOA could help? Based on what your new circumstances would be?

If possible I'd definitely try the pay off soon, then you will have less worries about expenses that will arrive as a family, you may want to reduce hours / extend maternity leave / take more holiday etc.

good luck and congratulations:T

Pepperoni

Thanks!

I can certainly do SOA but....

1. I'll need to do two - to show the first 3 months of maternity (full pay) then the remaining 6 on statutory pay - as obviously my income will change!

2. My husband doesn't necessarily share my keenness to clear the debt. His attitude is more lets just pay the minimum amounts rather than go without.... so there are going to be things in there that people are going to disagree with I think!

3. I'm not putting away for car repairs etc. I know it goes against what a lot of people think on here, but I would rather put that money into the debt, then focus on saving for all those funds once its clear.