7 years...

jayrho

First time poster, but I've been browsing these forums ever since came to face up the fact that we were in some serious debt.

A few weeks before our wedding, we actually sat down and looked at what had built up, something we knew was happening but didn't want to face up to it.

We lost our (part buy part rent) flat shortly after due to the recession and not being able to pay the mortgage plus bills, and walked away with a neat £44K worth of debt to our names.

As many of those posting know, it's just a horrible realisation, so we started our married life off in serious debt and went through some very, very difficult times. During that time we had 3 children (already had 1), ridiculous looking back when you have that much debt, but you just make do.

We used the route of the CAB to help arrange repayment schemes with our debtors, it took a while and all accounts/cards faulted, but we became very good at budgeting, it changed the way we manage money, eat, buy our clothes and live our lives completely.

There were times were we had no money for things such as food, we used to do car boots, just for food money, we had very little in terms of possessions - second hand sofa's, 1 TV - nothing as expansive as laptops, gaming stations, mobile phones, dishwashers, we took it seriously, and I am very pleased to say last month we made our final payment and are now completely debt free.

In that time, my wife has completed a law degree and set up her own business - she has become very successful, I continue to work in my line of work and received several promotions, so financially, we are now very secure and we finally had our first ever family holiday last year - a very surreal experience, allowing ourselves to spend money that we've never had before on something like this. But we felt it was important to take our 3 boys on a family holiday - we had a wonderful time (only camping to france)!

I always looked upon the clearance of that debt as something we would celebrate and feel relief, but the reality is, it's left us feeling somewhat empty - completely unexpected emotion, that I find myself wondering what to do now.. we are simply putting that money away every month now, but that feeling of empty remains and I guess it will until we find something to fill the void - we are working through decorating our house, which should keep me busy for a while.

The only thing that remains, is those defaults on my credit report, I've got the lowest score you can get I suppose, and have many defaults, but is there a way that these can be removed or cleared?
All accounts are satisfied and I've not missed an agreed payment in the last 7 years, but going through all the information, I now have to wait another 7 years for these to remove, which would mean I'd struggle to ever get a mortgage again at a decent rate (plus I'll be well into my 40's then too!).

I'm not sure if anyone can relate to that empty feeling, instead of joy - it suprised me somewhat, but I also imagine that having a huge weight lifted from your shoulders, rather than joy, it's more relief, alongside the worry of not ever allowing it to happen again!

chevalier

I would suggest that it is shock in a way. YOu have been on the treadmill for so long that you can now finally look up and see the end of the road. Thing is you have been living such a way for so long, that it will take you a while to come to terms with NOT having to worry.

Ref the defaults I 'think' that they disappear 6 years from when the default HAPPENED NOT from when you become debt free. Others more knowledgeable will come along to confirm.

You now have the fun of what to do with the money. You can make up for lost time by saving this money as efficiently as possible. Ie is your savings rate better than the rate you are being charged for the mortgage? If not then after saving 6 months wages in ISA's for each of you, overpay the mortgage.

If after having done the above you still have money left (ie some mortgage companies only let you overpay by 10% of the mortgage value each year), then you could save for a big deposit for the next house, so that you will get a good rate because you have a big deposit, and thus a low loan to value ratio.

Good luck, and well done with completing your debt free journey. Now the journey to money security begins.
chev