BB's Debt Free Efforts

bathgatebuyer

2005 / 6 was a turbulent time in which I was out of work for 7 months, and paid for just about everything with credit cards. I had to give up work to care for a member of my family who was terminally ill, and got sod all financial assistance from anywhere. So, my mortgage was paid by plastic, as was my car loan (needed to run to and from hospitals), food, heating, etc.......

I have been in steady employment now for 16 months and have managed to clear immediate arrears on things like my mortgage, council tax, pay off my car (after 3 years which felt like a lifetime!) and have decided that it really is now time to get rid of the remaining debts.

Since returning to work and feeling the resurgence in my feelings of relative normality, more than one bank has fell victim to my reclaiming! So far, I've reclaimed:

£3.8K - Halifax current account
£2K - Nationwide current account
£2K - MBNA credit cards (3 different ones!)
£500 - Halifax Visa
£200 - Royal Bank Mortgage Exit fee

I've also moved my mortgage to a repayment, which without changing the outstanding term of my mortgage still means that I'll own this place when I'm 45. So, quite happy and comfortable on the mortgage front.

However, there are still some debts I need to deal with. I still have:

• £1K on my Halifax Visa - although I've claimed just under £2K back from them in PPI payments as the policy was inadequate at the time I took out the card (I hadn't been in employment long enough to qualify under their redundancy cover - something which cost me considerably in later years);
• £2.5K on a Sainsburys Visa - I've submitted a reclaim for £600 worth of charges on this over the past 5 years;
• £2K on an RBoS Visa - with which I'm waiting to apply to the Sheriff Court over £500 of charges;
• £900 outstanding on a Cahoot loan which was taken out nearly 4 years ago and has been the biggest financial mistake of my life - can't believe that in 4 months it will have gone and I won't have to see that name appearing as a direct debit on my account anymore!

So, how will I tackle it? As you can see, the whole bank charges reclaiming has been a godsend to me. Without it, I really couldn't have foreseen a way out of the hole I was in. Not only was it financial good news at a time I desperately needed it, the self-esteem boost knowing that thes ebanks could not terrorise me anymore and phone hour after hour looking for money. What a relief :T

Clearly, there is still more work to do, but I do believe that I'm getting there. I start a new job in a fortnight which saves me £120 a month in travel costs, which pays £100 a month more than I get at the moment, and which offers a non-contributory pension (although I'm getting used to losing £100 a month or so in pension payment at the moment so will probably make some payments anyway). The extra £200 a month that I take home will be added to the £250 a month I put towards tackling my debts, and I can really see an end to this.

I've also become increasingly savvy about saving money on outgoings. I still love my mobile phone, but my new tariff is fantastic and gives me unlimited texts (which is useful given the amount I used to spend on phoning), I have stopped spending money extravagantly on things like books, CDs and DVDs. I now treat myself to DVDs only when my reward vouchers by doing online surveys with valuedopinions is enough for a movie. I'm also trying hard to remember to take in lunches to work everyday - aided by my new food warmer from Aldi bought earlier this week for £4! And the same with shopping for clothes - if it's not Primark or second hand, I'm not interested! Every pay day, I go to the street in Edinburgh where the charity shops are gathered armed with £20 and free reign to spend it. It's my treat to myself for working 70 hour weeks and is a game to see how far I can make £20 stretch. Gawd, that sounds quite dull written down!

Anyway, has anyone got any thoughts on how I deal with the remaining debts I have? Should I focus on the Sainsburys Visa and it's outstanding balance as the biggest card I have? Or should I spread payments to each of the remaining cards I have?

Would welcome any advice on this - a problem shared and all that. 2 years ago, thinking about my debts was terrifying. I couldn't sleep, and my hands were permanently shaking at the thought of the phone ringing or the mail arriving. Now I'm seriously and confidently talking about 'when I'm debt free'. What a difference a year and a half makes!

HairyHandofDartmoor

Well you could pay off the debt with the highest interest rate to save you the most money, or for a quick morale boost you could pay off the smallest debt as this may be quicker.

You have made great progress. It must have been really tough looking after your sick relative and then having all those money problems. You must be a very strong person to have come through all of this and remain so cheerful, so I am confident that you will pay off your remaining debt!

madmoney_2

take a look at the snowball calculator on https://www.whatsthecost.com i find it really motivatiing to see my dfd go down when ive made an extra payment hth xxx

bathgatebuyer

Well that didn't last long! My professional membership fees came off my account to the tune of £605 two days go - no warning as to when it would happen and after I sent off the direct debit mandate in February for quarterly payments. I sent a letter a few weeks back saying, "These haven't been leaving my account..........." so they've taken the full lot in one sum leaving my mortgage unpaid the following day. Great That brings as inevitable £38 fee from Natwest for missing the payment, as well as a fee to be paid to my mortgage company.

I'll just have to make two mortgage payments this month and deal with the consequences next month too :mad: Fortunately in two weeks time I start a new job and can look forward to a slightly bigger pay each month on a set date each month (as opposed to every 4 weeks which is a nightmare to keep track of everything!) which makes monitoring money in and out so much easier.

Rather than sulk over this, I've decided to do something productive:

1 - Write to Natwest and ask them to take back the £38 fee given the circumstances (I've had the account about 7 months and amazingly haven't been charged a penny in fees!);
2 - Write to my FSO to chase up my complaint about the Nationwide closing my account in retaliation for successfully reclaiming fees in Dec 06 - they've had the complaint now for about 15 weeks;
3 - Write to the Royal Bank rejecting their offer to settle my VISA charges reclaim fee at £180 while I originally claimed £600;
4 - Write to the Halifax over their 'we still haven't been able to respond more fully' to my letter about being mis-sold PPI on a Halifax credit card.......

I think that will do for now! At least it will make me feel productive!

Oh, should also have added that in the past 3 days, I've spent nothing, zip, nadda, zilch, a bit fat nothing..............imagine, I have at last discovered that it is not obligatory to spend cash every day of the week!

bathgatebuyer

Well well well, new job starts tomorrow and I can't wait! Have to say that I wished I taken time off between the two as going from working and travelling 65 - 70 hrs a week down to 37 will probably be a little bit of a shock to the system! It wil allow me a chance to get down the gym more often - I used to go 6 times a week and did spinning, boxing and circuits with my friends, but have been unable to largely to the commute I've recently been doing. Well, no more! I'll be back among my friends (whom I've seen only a few times this year) doing something that I love doing.

Financially, the overlap between the two jobs means that I'll be getting earning two wages for the next fortnight and not having any travelling outgoings (as I'm a cyclist from now on!). Will save £30 per week in travel costs, but will be taxed twice which isn't so good. That will bring a little bit of spare cash, and some breathing space too which is nice.

Managed to make a payment to my Sainsburys Credit Card of £200 which is way beyond the minimum payment, and have put £200 onto my Council Tax account (again, way over what my monthly sum should be).

Thanks to this website, I now know of Quidco, and should get a cheque for £37 in December (probably more by the time it comes around), I joined readitswapit after also seeing it mentioned on here, and have managed to arrange swaps for two books from the back of my hall cupboard which are being exchanged for two I stopped myself from buying last week.

Feeling positive after tackling the circumstances which led to me being in debt, as well as now seeing a way of beating the debt too.

And whisper it, this money saving malarkey is actually more fun than spending money on a shopping spree!

tealady

If I were you I would throw as much as I could to the debt with the highest APR and make the minimum payments to the rest. My attitude is why should those fat cat bankers have my hard earned cash. Have you thought about ebaying, selling on Amazon or using Quidco or greasypalm for cash back?