Time to stop spinning all these plates

AntoMac

milasavesmoney,

Thanks for your support. Yes I do have other savings and a few thousand pounds worth of shares. Also this year's ISAs will be instant access so I can get to money if we really need it. Last year they were fixed for a year with no access allowed but with interest rates so low I'm not bothering with locking them in for another year or two.
I paid the rest of the loan off today. Got a settlement figure over the phone and sent off an online payment tonight. First time for a long, long time that I haven't had a personal loan - That's one less debt to worry about. :j

Kitten868

Yay! That's fantastic! 1 creditor down and more in 0%. Was there any left over for mbna? X

tunnelandlight

Hi AM,


Well done! I think you're doing all the right things. You know where you are with your finances, you've minimised the interest and everything you pay is going to count towards your capital repayment - not just pay interest. You've inspired me to move a balance onto MBNA as there was no fee and I'd rather pay 4.9% than 19.9...


So thank you. Keep your chin up as you watch that amount owed figure take a dive! X

AntoMac

Thanks both,

It's a long old game this debt clearing so its's great that we can support each other. I have a cousin (very intelligent man) who got further and further into debt and buried his head. He used to refer to himself as spinning too many plates before eventually dropping and smashing them. It got me thinking. These things don't just sort themselves out.

Kitten, yes there is some left to throw a bit more at MBNA. You're very good at reminding me what I need to do, rather than what I want to do. In my head I want the comfort of adding the rest to my savings but I know that clearing the more expensive debt is the way forward. I'll put some towards MBNA and some to savings.

Loving this morning's 1940 BBC2 film escapism and looking forward to taking an old boy I know down to the local coffee morning in a bit where he can hold court.

Have a nice Saturday you good people.

AntoMac

Sunday night and thoughts turning to work tomorrow

I have decided that these credit cards aren't going to pay themselves off (as Jim Royle might say) so now that the ISAs are instant access I'm going to withdraw enough to pay off the 4.9% balance on the MBNA.

I hate reducing savings but as I can't earn 4.9% on my savings (other than TSB 5%) it seems kind of a sensible thing to do.

That will at least take the total credit card balances below £20K. Can't believe I let it get this bad. I was so obsessed with trying to overpay the mortgage I let all these balance transfers build up and before I knew it I was in this tangled mess.

tunnelandlight

That's a really sensible idea. I can understand the pain of the savings going down to do it, though.. But there's no fault in your logic about the interest..


Hope you are sleeping a bit better now? Please don't waste energy being frustrated about what's happened. You ARE dealing with it and you can not change what happened. Overall you've saved interest and therefore money and your debt now starts with 1, not 2.:T


XX

milasavesmoney

Hi again. Were you able to complete your SOA? Have you seen places you could cut back to have more income for overpayments? If you'd like to post your SOA, we could take a look and make suggestions.

And as tunneland is spot on in saying .... debt now begins with a 1!!!!!!

Kitten868

As it stands it's better to be a debtor than a saver at the moment in terms of interest. It's an undeniable fact. I think even if you're on a 0% deal I would consider paying it down. It sounds as if you have enough savings to cover yourself. How much do you feel that you need to have in savings? £1000? Three months bills? Establish what you feel comfortable with and then use the rest to reduce your balances.
This is not forever. You are going to learn to manage your finances through this process and then overpay your mortgage at a rate you can afford.
You are doing fantastically well already xx

AntoMac

I really appreciate all your supportive comments - Thankyou.

The strange thing is, I have done my SoA (and lost nearly all of it when I tried to save it ) and according to the SoA we should be very comfortable and have lots to throw at the Credit Cards. I need to have a good hard look at where money is leaking away.

I will have another go at SoA and try not to lose my changes next time.
I am pleased that the M&S figure is 'Only' 5150 and not the c6000 I thought, although it does show me not keeping a proper eye on things. I will get it set up to view online as soon as I can.

We could pretty much clear the lot from savings but I see that as life savings disappearing so want to try and sort it through proper planning and not letting the balances sneak up.

It was always my ambition to tell my parents I was mortgage free. Had it down to £15k once but now over £70k after moving house. Dad died 14 years ago so slightly missed that target!

tunnelandlight

Hi A&M,


How are things? SoAs are tricky things aren't they? Mine was a bit of a guesstimate because if all that I thought I wasn't spending, I really wasn't spending the debt would be non existent and my savings plentiful!! I'm using a spending app for a month or so and faithfully recording everything - a somewhat depressing but necessary task and then I can see where it is going. And then think what to do about the reality....


Best of luck plugging those pesky leaks!


XX