What brought on your LBM?

chocaholic110

Wanting another baby and realising that (a) I couldn't afford to go on maternity leave and (b) if we ever wanted a bigger house to keep a baby in we'd better get on with getting rid of some debt or we wouldn't get a mortgage.
Almost one year later things are looking much brighter!

cat4772

This is going to be long so... are you sitting comfortably?

Started work at 16, 15% of salary straight to a savings account, 10% to cover poll tax, 10% board and the rest I could spend - wahey! By 17 I'd got an overdraft:mad:, was living away from home, typical tearaway but with a job, ougoings etc. At 18, BF and I started renting, saving money to get married etc. Fast forward a year or two and we had a nice house with nice things, but no money (or credit:D)! He cheated, I moved out and was back home. Then I started spending. Over the next two years, I racked up about £3k in debt (ODs etc). Worst thing was going with the new BF to buy christmas pressies and asking shop assistant to put £26 on one card, £28 on another, etc until I'd paid the bill! This was two days after pay day. I had sod all to live on (I didn't touch beans on toast for two years after that), but paid everything off over the next year, started a savings account,

Got married in 1998 at 25(very cheap hole in corner weddding £300) and started saving. Bought a house in 2000 and was determined that would be my only debt. Remortgaged in 2002 to a 10yr fixed rate deal (5%) to pay mortgage of quicker. Hubby on the other hand was a different story; he maxed his credit cards, took out loans that wouldn't even get rid of one debt let alone any others (I paid them off twice and threatened that if he ever did it again he'd have two options: Stay and sort it out or we split up). We still maintained separate accounts! My visa was often at the £200-£350 mark, but for three months each year would be cleared and not used!

Fast forward to March/April 2007, I was clearing out the cellar and other dungeon-y places and found a loan approval with welcome finance for £2500. Also found his bank statement (£500 OD), visa (£3800-maxed), mastercard (£1000-maxed), phone bills (£500 +£700). I owed £300 on my visa.

As I'd already looked at this site for things like insurance I thought I'd come back and start reading. In five hours I'd gotten down and dirty with legal counsel about divorce and finance and prepared a draft SOA (based on what I'd found so far); neither option was pretty. When he came home he was reminded about the options. I gave him two hours (I went out) to think about it and he'd either be there when I got home or not! I explained the consquences of each option and left him to it. He stayed, we found out exactly what his debt stood at (that took two months) and now we're starting the work of paying everything off with the help of this site:T!

stokegal

hypno06 wrote: »

Receiving my inheritance from my Dad's estate, using it to reduce the debt when I am sure he intended it for something much more fun, and realising that if I stuffed up now, not only would OH and I be working for nothing, but also my Dad would have worked for nothing, and I was determined that I would clear the debt, and make him proud for not wasting the opportunity that I was sadly presented with.

That's really inspirational hypno06 and I'm sure that your dad is very proud of you for realising this. My mum has just been put into the same situation and has paid off all of her debts with what her husband left to her. I have now vowed to my mum to do the same and enjoy life as it's really too short to be paying off debts forever.

LookingAhead

One Autumnal night in 2005 I sat with papers around me after downloading some stuff from another money site about credit cards. The words replace the word credit with debt jumped out at me. I did what they said. And I nearly choked.

I sat and worked out how much I owed, almost giving up as I was so mortified, then sat and let the realisation sink in. I was really heading up the creek and my paddle was slowly drifting away from me.

I found this site, read Moozie's "Too Scared To Work Out What I Owe" and joined immediately - to encourage her really. But I stayed a while (sorry about that) and whilst I have fallen off the wagon in spectacular style a couple of times, I have learned so much and my attitude has changed...and I'm getting there!

betti911

It was having to say my debts out loud to my mortgage adviser who also worked in my firm. It was like laying myself bare. Also because of my debts my parents had to go guarantor of my mortgage so had to tell them the full extent of my situation which was horrible.

red74

One lunchtime I'd gone out 'window shopping', got back an hour later realising I had just spent over £100 on nothing - couple of DVDs, bit of makeup, a top, some cheap earrings etc. I couldn have vomited on the spot. I'd had a credit card that gave reward points and my intention was to spend entirely on the card then pay it off each month. But I'd never bothered keeping track of what I was spending and very quickly it became more than I was getting paid (without having to pay off the previous months spend!). A couple of 0% deals later and I had money on cards all over the place.

After that lunchtime I gave myself a budget and started recording every penny I spent, and the debt started to come down. Then my boyfriend was diagnosed with cancer in 2004 and my resolve went out the window for a while (much longer than could be justified). The second LBM was at the beginning of 2006 when I wrote down all my cc balances again and realised I was nearly £10k in debt. So back to sticking to the budget and writing down every penny again, as well as keeping a running tally of all my debts. Everything went onto LOB low interest.

Touch wood my boyfriend is still in the clear, and I should be debt free in the next 3 months!