£6k on cards - what to do in future

andyfromotley

The only potential downside is a lack of discipline.

Some people set off with a plan just like yours, however the savings used to offset this debt somehow seem to dwindle over time. Emergencies, holidays, cars etc etc

The debt seems rot creep up little by little until BAM!! all of a sudden its doubled.....!!!!!!!!

If you add in a redundancy, or illness etc etc it can bite you the !!!! Of course if you don't do this then it is risk free.

BTW you may want to look at better savings accounts for your money? TSB 5% and Santander 123 3% offer much better rates than instant access isa's.

redux

ViolaLass wrote: »

Is that such a big deal? Just overpay as if it were a 25-year mortgage, subject to penalties, and problem solved.

And when a certain amount of the mortgage has been paid off, and the cards, negotiate a new mortgage with hopefully a better interest rate due to a by then lower loan to value ratio.

Tyrone_Black

All true and I'd concede that I've been there before. But this time I'm earning a lot more and am putting the money where I can't get to it It's all very achievable this time whereas before my lower wages meant any of the things you've mentioned would knock me off track. I can afford holidays on top of paying it back now.

I'll look into those current accounts. Problem is that I've only just switched to First Direct and need that for the regular saver account. Hopefully Lloyds TSB allows you to just shove money in as opposed to needing your salary to be in there?

Tyrone_Black

For an update: Managed to cut my spending well so far this month. Much less spent on travel and food than usual and opened a Santander account to start getting some interest. The potential PPI refund now won't be dealt with until 8 September, which is annoying because I think my case is solid. Also found out I'm getting a bonus of a few hundred at work in November, but haven't done my usual thing of spending it before it even arrives. Things are going well!

cakeforbrains

Well done Tyrone!

I have to say, as a long-term-debtor-now-debt-free I couldn't trust myself to stooze.

Tyrone_Black

Part of me does want to just throw the money straight at the debt because knowing that I owe so much does still play on my mind even though I know I could pay half of it off tomorrow if I wanted to, but if I can make the banks pay off some of my debt for me that's what I'm going to do!

Tyrone_Black

Change of plan: Santander upping their fees on the credit card will barely affect me at all (£1/month) but I've decided on principle to pay it off and close it instead of earning a pretty minimal amount of interest on the money I've got saved to pay it. Seeing my bank balance shrink by £1,700 in one go is really going to hurt.

Otherwise still doing fine in putting money away to pay the bigger one off. Just kicking myself that I didn't do the right thing a lot earlier.