My debt free journey

melysion

As a writer by profession, I shouldn't find a diary too difficult to maintain right? So, just starting out on my debt free journey.

It's just me and the cat in this together. Cats are, of course, free loaders, so can't expect him to help (other than cuddles - he is a huge, 14 year old tom cat who is as soft as butter).

I filled in the stepchange debt remedy yesterday and have been recommended to start a DMP. I have three creditors, Lloyds bank (by far the biggest creditor with a unsecured personal loan of about £14K) and two credit cards - Barclaycard and MBNA. I owe just a little under £20K altogether and I'm told I could be debt free within 4 years and 5 months. Seeing as my personal loan has another 3 years to run anyway, its not as bad as it could be.

I bank with Lloyds at the moment so have already applied for an account elsewhere - the Co-operative as I like their ethics.

I actually had my lightblub moment a while back and had stopped using the credit cards and applying for more credit. I was working though my debts just fine but then I was made redundant and had to take a job with a huge drop in salary (about £10K). I've managed for the last 8 months to keep on top of things though paying for a annual travel card and my council tax with my redundancy money. But, I'll be paying for the CT again in April and my travel card runs out in May. I have been living impossibly frugally and I simply can't make up this extra shortfall.

I hate the thought of a DMP, but it is how it is and that's the end of it. I'm about to contact my creditors and make the token payments. MBNA and Barclaycard I can contact online but I think I'll have to ring Lloyds. Not looking forward to that and I'm worried that they will just reinstate the DD I'm about to delete for the loan (I can afford it this month but it will remove any possibility of an emergency fund) but I don't suppose there's much I can do about that until the DMP is set up and I have a different bank account.

My emotions sway from feeling like I'm a worthless person who is simply not decent compared to everyone else, to feeling angry that my redundancy has resulted in such long term problems. I'm lucky that I've already brought my own home otherwise I know Ill be wrecking any possibility of a mortgage and I've already got used to living with virtually no money as I've been doing so for the last 8 months.

Anyway. I'll be calling Lloyds tomorrow and see what happens.