I'm in debt!

in_debt_4

Hi all,
I've been visiting this site for inspiration/ideas for about 6 months. Now having decided to confront my problems head on. I've owned up to my problems to my family as i wrongly thought they would be disappointed in me for getting into such difficulty. But instead I've received nothing but support from all around me (the only disappointment was that i kept it quiet so long).

So no longer am i sitting in the shadows seeking inspiration. I'm proud to be dealing with my debt.

Debt at its peak was £860 O/D, Student loan £1400, Credit Card £9000 and Loan £5000 all an average. My total debt was approximately £16000.

I was unable to get any 0% balance transfers or for that matter any low interest rate loans, so my debt just started spiralling out of my control. 18 months like that finally started to get me down and upon advice from a close friend, i sought help from my dad.
Now i know that a lot of people in this situation don't get that luxury. I researched loans, credit cards etc etc through this site - became a complete financial nerd! yet after hours of consultation with my dad, he agreed to help, but most importantly to me, refused to pay off any off my debt for me (not that i want him to, nor would i have asked). He got me a loan through northern rock and cleared all my debts with that loan and I started those bank loan payments (to him) in february and at the start of August 07 will have paid £4250 towards my debt.

I'll keep the information up as and when i can. I aim to be debt free, by my 31st birthday (July 08). Fingers crossed!!

My DFW plan is as follows: -

Carry on paying £300 into my ISA that i opened this FY, currently at £1800
ICICI savings acount, When i reach the £3000 limit in the ISA, pay monthly payment here instead of ISA, then when new FY starts, transfer all money saved with ICICI into ISA and start again.

All the while i am paying £350 p/m to my dad for the loan and sanity saving help he gave.

I will always be very grateful to my very supportive family and to everyone here who posts their very valuable lessons and ideas on this forum. Reading them gave me the courage to sort my life out.

I'm sure i'm not the only person out there who has been infected in a good way by this website.

Any questions you all might have will be answered honestly!! Thats if you wish to know anything.

Sorry my first post is so long!!

hypno06

Hello and welcome to DFW!

Keep posting here - the support you get from the boards can really help you on the good days, and the bad. Your debt to your dad financially will be repaid before you know it, but the best repayment you can make to him is not to get yourself in that situation again, so the lessons learnt along the way are far more valuable.

Good luck on your journey to becoming debt free.

HairyHandofDartmoor

Hi. What a wise dad! I think that you sound pretty switched on about money now and I doubt that you will run up more debts in the future.

taxi73

Hi and welcome what a wonderful dad you have.The best thing you can do now is follow a budget so you don't get in debt again.and of course keep visiting these boards

anniestar

Welcome and good luck.

in_debt_4

Thanks to all who've replied to my original post. As the advert does state the future is bright and i can actually see a light at the end of the tunnel, with it being turned on by my brilliant dad!! He knows who he is! The only reason that i know what to do with my sometimes hard-earned cash is due to Martin Lewis for setting up this website and to the people who regularly visit and post their own pearls of wisdom and free, helpful and much needed and sought after advice.

Cheers again and if anything does change for the better or worse i'll let everyone know. For example, I'm going on a short 6 day holiday next sunday to Ascension Island (on the equator, 10km x 8km island) £200 all in - flights, accommodation, hire car, food and drink!!

This is my first holiday in nearly 4 years so thanks to the RAF because if i wasn't in this holiday would cost around £2000!