totally shell shocked and feeling sick

Teacher2

Firewalker wrote: »

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 .

£100,000 in three years? How on earth did you do that? I am sure your advice would be invaluable to others.

chevalier

So you seem to have a very large surplus. Yet you have spent that and more if you have this debt. So my suggestion is that you ask your creditors to set your payment dates to just after your pay days. Then a few days after all the bills have gone out I would suggest you set up a direct debit to go to another account (ISA or whatever) for say half of the surplus, and then you will have your emergency fund in no time.

Good luck
chev

mumtoomany

Teacher2 and anyone else who is interested, check out Firewalker's home page, The Money Principle. There you can find out how he/she debtbusted. Interesting read. M2m.

BEAT_THE_DEBT

Hi no debt is beyond management as Martin says determination and some sacrifice along with being organised will soon bring it down,it will become a way if life. Good luck x

lazer-zxr

Hi Jan,
Something that I found very helpful and is very popular on here, is having a signature on the bottom of your posts here MSE, which highlights shows how much you're getting paid off. It's very rewarding and motivating to update the debt repayment on your signature.

jan875

Jon_B wrote: »

This isn't meant to be harsh, but I simply do not believe that is a true SOA. If it is, I cannot understand how you are in the position you are in.

Hi, I know it seems odd but it is true! Our income has increased dramatically in the last 2 years by about £1000 per month. Instead of being sensible we allowed ourselves to become carried away booking holidays, weekends away and generally spending like there was no tomorrow. I make no excuses for this and feel deeply ashamed now, but this is the reason that we are in this situation. We were already in a similar amount of debt before we started earning more but we have just let it stagnate.

We always seem to paying off a holiday or some other big expense. We also still spend too much on everyday items, shopping etc. All of this is now changing as I simply cannot carry on like this. Work is stressful at the moment and I would love to look for a job elsewhere, however at the moment I can't contemplate moving from a secure job when I have such a high debt level. I really do feel trapped by it all.

Tyrone_Black

Absolutely agree with the idea of hammering it now while it's at 0%. Clearly you're not going to clear £48k before those periods expire so getting as much of it as possible shifted to another 0% offer will help.

Side note: lenders really are terrible. We all know they lend too much (I think my limits added together are in excess of £17k) but £48k is absolutely obscene. None of us are blameless here but how can offering up that amount of unsecured credit be justified?

FetaBrie

No words of advice, just to say I know how you feel....

dangerpowers

Hi Jan, I know exactly how you feel.


5 years ago I began paying back 38k of credit card debt after speaking with Stepchange, they are fantastic. My final payment (£675) is next month and I couldn't have got there without Stepchange.


Advice: pay as much as you possibly can to shorten the length of the debt repayment. My debt was due to finish at the end of 2017 but gradually increasing my payments over time means its been paid off 18 months early.