Lunars Debt Free Journy!!!

chocaholic110

I had an Egg loan until last yearand I think the interest was added monthly - the balance always went down slightly less than the payments anyway. It was also quite good as I could increase the direct debit and repay it faster. be careful if you send an additional payment to them mid-month though - every time I tried that it got the system very confused!!

lunar

I will prob be making my extra payments at the end of the month just before the next pay day, hopefully that shouldnt confuse them too much. I have never included my overdraft in my debt totals, i have no idea why. but it is £870 because i am paying it off I have to re-do my debt totals to include it. its a bit depressing to have to increase the amount but i would have had to do it at some point!

My bank offer a free £250 overdraft, should i keep the limit at £250 or put it to £0. I would love to keep the 250 and know that i wouldnt use it, except for in emergencies, but i just dont know if i can be that disaplined with myself. Maybe i should just keep a £50 buffer.

Ok im off to update my totals.

lunar

DEBT AT LBM AUG 07 £34310 DEBT NOW JAN 08 £29994
LOAN £11000 BC £979 EGG LOAN £9240 MINT £3975 NATWEST £3930 OVERDRAFT £870
Snowball Jan 2012 APRIL 2011
DFW NERD NO.656 LONG HAUL NO.46 OLYMPIC CHALLENGE NO.35 GOING FOR BRONZE £43.00/£1008
Pania's 15K by DEC 2008 challenge £1311.00 £13689 TO GO!

Ok after updating everything i had to pay an extra £20 on my barclay card to keep my total below 30K!!! After getting under that milestone there is no way I was going to go above it again. I have changed Egg over but it wont show the proper loan amount until next month. Also they are not starting to take payments until 1st March.

I will use the month payment break to pay off some of the overdraft, then when my OH's loan comes through i will be able to pay the rest of the overdraft, mint and barclaycard off and get those accounts closed. I will also be able to swap to a current account that doesnt have a charge, im paying £14.50 to barclays every month for the account and i couldnt change it as i couldnt afford to pay off the OD.

My bloomin debt free date has gone back to april 2011 though!!! Im sure i will be able to shave some monthe off that if i work hard at it.

chocaholic110

What used to confuse Egg for mine was receiving the extra payment. I think the computer used to say "Oh, here's a payment from Mrs Chocaholic, that must be the monthly payment, oh now here's the monthly payment, hmm, I've already had that, this next payment musn't exist :whistle: "

Then it just used to disappear into the ether and I would have to make numerous phonecalls to get it credited - so watch out for that - make sure you know exactly what you've paid them and check your account on Egg money until it shows up.

I didn't include my overdraft in my original figures (why do we pretend they don't exist??) then added it half way through last year, which increased my debt by £1000 but at least I knew that was finally it! Even now we are still paying car finance until September (but at 0%) and Student Loans but I haven't ever included them in my debt (that would have been too scary to begin with!!)

lunar

Looking through everyones diaries it seems we all hold something back at the start, and have to face that moment when it is time to add it in. Im lucky not to have student loans, you actually get a bursary when you are a student nurse so i escaped that one.

Thanks fo rthe advice about egg, i will keep a record of everything i pay to them and watch the balance closley. I think that compant have made enough money out of me over the years!

pandapaws

I think that's brilliant news about both loans - ok, they're not 0%, but they're a hell of a lot better than you were paying and it'll save you a fortune in the long run. The fact it's flexible is really good as well.

It might be an idea to keep all your old cards open rather than closing them completely - I'm always getting 0% or low APR life of balance deals through the post for cards that I've kept open but owe nothing on. They probably won't for about 6 months or so, but it's well worth having them. As long as you're not tempted to spend on them, and I'm sure you wouldn't do that or I wouldn't suggest it!

I'd be tempted to keep the overdraft limit at £250 if it's totally free. Try and keep it out of the overdraft, but at least you've got a decent sized buffer in case you need it. You'd be gutted if you reduced it to £50, and a payment you weren't expecting came out for £51 and you got charges £40 or whatever it is!!! At £250, you're not going to go crazy but it's handy to have just in case of emergencies, and for unforseen expenses it's better to use that than a credit card (in my opinion!).

Just need to keep those positive vibes coming for the other business...!

lunar

I never thought of that panda, the egg card has to be closed as that was one of the conditions of the loan and i do think i should close the barclay card as that is the one that i have a rubbish track record with and i think its affecting my credit rating, but i will definatly keep the mint card and hope they offer me a transfer in a few months time. you are prob also right about the overdraft, i think i have learnt me lesson regarding living in the red.

about 2 months ago i signed up to www.anualcreditreport.co.uk to see where i was at, i am paying £4 a month but really wanted to keep a track of things there. my credit rating has gone from 800 which they say is average, to 827 which they state as very good. I just have orange lights for payment history, last late payments were over 6 months ago now and an orange light for my address history. Im not really sure why that is orange, it just have 2 previous addresses listed. I dont really know how to improve on that one.

Im soaking up all the positive vibes for the other thing.

I will tell you something funny, as part of my healthy new year i spent £10 on an adult sized hula-hoop, thinking about how easy it was when i was 7. well can i hell get the bloody thing started, not even close!!! its just a good job i have closed the curtians so people cant see how rediculous i look.

pandapaws

Sounds like a video to post on You-Tube, make sure nobody's secretly filming you hula-ing!

I cleared my Mint balance a few months ago, and they came back to me in Dec offering 6 months 0%, so with a bit of luck they'll do the same with you.

I have very little idea about credit ratings. It sometimes seems that the more money you want to borrow, the easier it is to get it!

Snaggles

Hi Lunar!

Just with regard to the front-loaded interest on loans, even if yours IS one, it still may well be worth getting a settlement figure for early repayment, because you often get a pro-rata refund of the interest (less a month or two as a sort of early repayment penalty).

Sending you an extra helping of positive vibes. xxx

lunar

panda, my OH is at work, the doors are shut and the curtians are shut, so hopefully my identity wont be blown. I will keep my fingets crossed for mint sending me a balance transfer offer through.

Snaggles, i will have a look at that other loan when i am in a position to make extra payments on it. from what you say it may be a good idea for me to save up if it is front loaded and pay the remaining lump sum at the end.

send your sister some positive vibes from me too, hopefully she will be going back soon too.