Alan's Debt Free Diary

Alan_Brown

Hi,

I stumbled across the MSE forum following a google link about solar panels and then discovered this board. I got into debt mostly by buying solar panels for my home with some credit card debts as well.

It was a bit a of a mad purchase buying the solar, but with the government reducing the tariffs I had to dive in quickly and hope for the best. I now need to pay off the loan quickly so that my impulse purchase doesn't come back and bite me in the bum in a few months

I have about £9k in debts (I'll tot up the credit cards and loans later for a more accurate figure) and I'm really out of my comfort zone with that much debt.

My aim is to try and pay off the credit card first and then start on the solar loan. Having this diary will help me track the debt reducing (hopefully!!) and motivate me to get rid of it quicker.

Wish me luck!

Alan_Brown

i checked my December statement and my debt is currently £9825. Some of this is work related so once they pay me, I'll pay it off the balance.

Aim: £9825
January: £0
Remainder: £9825

Alan_Brown

Pay day today, so I have reduced my card by £1670. Some that is expenses, which makes it hard to calculate what is my debt and what isn't.

I have a few extra outgoings this month, mostly connected with the solar panels I had installed. Once I know how much the final bill is I should be able to pay more off the card.

Aim: £9825
January: £1670
Remainder: £8155.75

Alan_Brown

A bit more cash paid off the card.

Aim: £9825
January: £1786
Remainder: £8039

ShiftThisDebt

Hi Alan,

Good to see you're getting your debt sorted.

What are the APR's on your loan and credit cards?

Would a balance transfer to a 0% credit card be possible?

Also, what is the size of each individual debt?

And finally, doing a SOA might be a good idea to see where your could cut back on your expenditure in order to pay the debt of more quickly. Good luck in your mission to geet this paid off!

Alan_Brown

Hi, the debt is on an interest free card. It's confusing because I use the same card for my expenses as I work away on company business a lot. The card built up because I kept dipping into the expenses when I received them instead of paying them straight onto the card, I'm not doing that anymore.

I did have some savings that would have paid off the card but I spent them on solar panels. I have no savings at all to fall back on and that worries me.

The amount I owe on the card is difficult to work out because of the expenses, so I will update with the monthly balance on the card. If that goes down, then I know I'm on the right track. I may start using a new card for expenses if I continue to be confused, but I get a lot of cash back on this one and want to stick with it if I can.

Alan_Brown

I've updated the debt total in my original posts with the figures from my monthly statement. It's worse than I thought.

ShiftThisDebt

Perhaps it's worth getting a 0% balance transfer and transfer your debt onto it and don't spend on it at all but just pay balance off, but keep the other credit card just for work expenses and make sure you pay it off in full each month.

It'll make it much clearer for you to understand your personal debt.

Alan_Brown

ShiftThisDebt wrote: »

Perhaps it's worth getting a 0% balance transfer and transfer your debt onto it and don't spend on it at all but just pay balance off, but keep the other credit card just for work expenses and make sure you pay it off in full each month.

It'll make it much clearer for you to understand your personal debt.

I have considered that, but then I'd have to pay a balance transfer fee. I'm currently pondering using a new credit card for work related expenses that gives a better cashback than my Santander 123. After a month or so, the work expenses will have all been accounted for and paid off on the old card and I'll be able to see the wood for the trees.

ShiftThisDebt

Alan_Brown wrote: »

I have considered that, but then I'd have to pay a balance transfer fee. I'm currently pondering using a new credit card for work related expenses that gives a better cashback than my Santander 123. After a month or so, the work expenses will have all been accounted for and paid off on the old card and I'll be able to see the wood for the trees.

Not necessarily. I've just balance transfered onto 2 new credit cards for my wife (BoS and Lloyds) and neither of them had a fee and they are 0% for 32 months.

Having said that, if the balance will be paid off soon in terms of work expenses then maybe you could wait to see.

Alan_Brown

My latest credit card statement is in:

Previous Balance: £9825.54
Payment received: £5826.20
New Transactions: £3570.00
New Balance: £7569.34

This is great because the problem I had was that my New Transactions were always slightly (sometimes not so slightly) more than my Payments Received, which got me into the mess I'm slowly digging myself out of!

I've tried my best to limit my personal spending on the card this month, so most of the £3570.00 new transactions this month are company expenses.

Onward and downward.