totally shell shocked and feeling sick

jan875

today I plucked the courage to add up out total debts. I thought it was around 35K..... It was 48K made up of mostly 0% cards a small loan. I am totally horrified, ashamed and shaken to the core.

I am so angry that we allowed this to happen. It was avoidable and is purely down the greed and not being prepared to wait and save for things. I need to do something about it straight away.

On the plus side, we have around £1600 that we can throw at our debts.

48K on credit cards!! Never heard of such a high amount and yet it belongs to me!

HelleBelle

You're in the right place!

It's the first step - I only got the courage to add up mine and get the figures on paper about 7 weeks ago. Now I enjoy seeing that figure come down each month.

You'll get there x

RuthnJasper

jan875 wrote: »

today I plucked the courage to add up out total debts. I thought it was around 35K..... It was 48K made up of mostly 0% cards a small loan. I am totally horrified, ashamed and shaken to the core.

I am so angry that we allowed this to happen. It was avoidable and is purely down the greed and not being prepared to wait and save for things. I need to do something about it straight away.

On the plus side, we have around £1600 that we can throw at our debts.

48K on credit cards!! Never heard of such a high amount and yet it belongs to me!

Welcome to MSE Jan.
It sounds grim, I know, but there IS a way out of this and you have taken the first step towards freedom from debt. You won't always feel like this.
There are lots of really nice, supportive people here who can advise and stick up for you.


It might also be helpful to contact Stepchange; a charity which helps people in these situations - they can help you come up with a realistic and affordable repayment plan and assist with dealing with your creditors. They are free, non-judgemental and very supportive. You can find them here - http://www.stepchange.org/.


All the best Jan - you can get there!

jan875

Thank you for the replies. I have already spoken to Stepchange. I was aware of them from lurking on this site. They took me through our income and expenditure and it appears that we can afford to meet our payments - I actually already knew this as we always pay on time etc.

It's the amount that is getting to me at the moment. 48K is truly shocking. It represents 68% of our gross income!! I haven't spoken to husband yet.......

MoneyMission2015

jan875 wrote: »

today I plucked the courage to add up out total debts. I thought it was around 35K..... It was 48K made up of mostly 0% cards a small loan. I am totally horrified, ashamed and shaken to the core.

I am so angry that we allowed this to happen. It was avoidable and is purely down the greed and not being prepared to wait and save for things. I need to do something about it straight away.

On the plus side, we have around £1600 that we can throw at our debts.

48K on credit cards!! Never heard of such a high amount and yet it belongs to me!

I've been on these forums for a few years now (only signed up last year though) and I have seen higher figures than that, so don't get down about the amount. I've seen figures in excess of £50k, £70k and I seem to recall a figure of £90k+ but not sure if that was on here or just something I read somewhere else. The high figures I've seen also didn't have as much spare money to put towards the debts, so you're in a really good position.


The first thing most people on here advise you to do is to complete an SOA and post it on here to see if there is anywhere you can cut back.


If you really have got £1600 per month to spare, keep a spending diary to see where it has been going. Also it would be a good idea to save up a little emergency fund, because what you don't want to do is start getting those debt amounts down but then find you have a huge car bill or broken washing machine and end up having to pay on the credit cards again because you've got no savings to cover it.


Good luck


Sorry, edited to say that our posts crossed so apologies that some of what I have said might have been covered already.

ReadingTim

Suggest you hammer the debt as hard and as soon as you can - when those 0% deals come to an end, you might find balance transfers increasingly difficult with £48k outstanding, and then the interest is really going to hurt.

Congrats for spotting the problem early(-ish) on - some don't realise until they can't get another 0% deal and then the repayments get a bit uncomfortable...

jan875

We have about 12 months before the 0% rates expire.

My husband still thinks that we owe around 35K and I cannot bring myself to tell him that it is 13K more. He is stresser and I can't deal with his reaction at the moment. All of my energy needs to go into sorting out this mess!! Of course, if he asks then I will be upfront. He knows that we are in a lot of debt so he is not totally in the dark. I know that some will disagree but I think it's the best way, at least for now.

Still feeling sick of the 48K total!

jan875

MoneyMission2015 wrote: »

I've been on these forums for a few years now (only signed up last year though) and I have seen higher figures than that, so don't get down about the amount. I've seen figures in excess of £50k, £70k and I seem to recall a figure of £90k+ but not sure if that was on here or just something I read somewhere else. The high figures I've seen also didn't have as much spare money to put towards the debts, so you're in a really good position.


The first thing most people on here advise you to do is to complete an SOA and post it on here to see if there is anywhere you can cut back.


If you really have got £1600 per month to spare, keep a spending diary to see where it has been going. Also it would be a good idea to save up a little emergency fund, because what you don't want to do is start getting those debt amounts down but then find you have a huge car bill or broken washing machine and end up having to pay on the credit cards again because you've got no savings to cover it.


Good luck


Sorry, edited to say that our posts crossed so apologies that some of what I have said might have been covered already.

Will do SOA over next few days.

MERFE

He knows about the debt, so long as he is on board with the tackling it then I don't see why you need to disclose all the figures. My husband is rubbish and never knows the figures, he just has no interest in it but he knows we have debt and are paying it off and we are not getting anymore credit for anything.

Firewalker

Jan, this is how it usually works. I walked in a haze for couple of weeks and didn't sleep for at least one when we were where you are at the moment. And I know this may not make you feel better about your debt but ours was £100,000 and all on credit cards (not even 0%). What will make you feel better is that we paid it off - all of it - in three years. Now, please take several deep breaths, adopt 'I'll be okay' as your new mantra and calm down. When you've calmed down, start working out your plan to tackle your debt. Good luck, thinking of you and will be around if you need any help - after all, I did learn a lot about how to pay off debt and do it fast .

National_Debtline

Hi Jan


Well done on facing the issue head on - easier said than done. Knowing the size of the debt will at least allow you to properly measure the progress you make from now on. Check out the snowball calculators (plenty of relevant links within this site) to help determine how to pay your balances down as efficiently as possible, and see what scope for savings your SOA yields. Even if it feels like a long haul, you are already further along the road than was the case 24 hours ago.


Oh, and at the risk of stating the obvious, cancel/cut up the cards if you've not already done so, so that you can focus exclusively on reducing the balances now...


Good luck


Dennis
@natdebtline