So dizzy, my head is spinning...

Always*trying_2

It's late (midnight), I've just done our monthly banking and as per usual the result is twofold….
1) It makes me feel great that all the bills are paid for the month so I can now TRY not to worry about them (I stil do)
2) It makes me feel depressed about the measly amount we've paid off since the beginning of the year!
So no-win really :mad:

So, I thought I'd put my thoughts down on the forum because although I chat to two of my closest friends about this, and they are also trying to overpay debt, I fear I'm starting to sound like a broken record! Mainly because I'm stuck in this crazy, never ending circle and I don't really know where to begin!

A little about me… I'm a part time working mummy of two lovely little monsters, both at nursery just a few days a week, which costs more than my mortgage! We bought a doer-upper and have been slowly renovating it, and this, along with two maternity leaves has contributed to us running up some debt. We're trying to overpay, but seem to be getting nowhere fast.

I'm pretty handy with crafts, and would love to have a little online handmade gift shop, but time is not on my side - I'm either at work, or with my children, annual leave is swallowed up when they are sent home sick from nursery, or on DIY days. I literally spend all day every day thinking about how to get out of this pickle.

Looking forward, plan is to extend the living area of our house, and to one day get married and have another little one. Affording everything is an impossible task.
The only way to do all this, is to re-mortgage to get our hands on some of the equity in our house. But in order to get that we have to pay a £9.5k loan off which defaulted in 2014, and then wait for the credit rating to build back up again.

So that's where my little debt free diary comes in… to help me keep on track… to bounce ideas around… to get all the craziness out of my head so that I can have fun days with my babies again, instead of stressing out all day, and day dreaming all they ways in which we'll resolve this.

Time to turn my daydreams into a reality….

[Deleted User]

Good luck on your journey x

chevalier

Hi there
here is a link to the SOA calculator. If you want to post it on here then click the format for MSE button before copying and pasting.

http://www.stoozing.com/calculator/soa.php

Even if you don't want to post it here, then filling it in might give you a clue as to where you can cut back, or what you are not properly budgeting for
good luck
chev

Bobarella

Good luck with it all.

Always*trying_2

Thank you all. Typically I've only just got back on because I have ALREADY forgotten my password!
I'm already poor this month after buying a few sale xmas pressies. And it's 19 days until payday!
I'm off to the challenge boards to get some inspiration. Tomorrow I'll pluck up the courage to update my signature!

Bobarella

Keep going!!

chevalier

don't forget to have a go at the SOA that can be a real eye opener
chev

Always*trying_2

Hi Chev,

I just did the SOA and Snowball and it's coming up 59 months, so October 2021!

Although in principle it works fine, i.e. paying off the highest interest ones first, I can't really tailor it to my needs, so I'll have to take it with a pinch of salt.

It makes more sense to me to pay off my loan first, because it's on a payment arrangement with a collection place, and although it's interest free, it's the thing that is stopping us re-mortgaging and taking money out of our house to extend (we have about £100k equity)

My trouble is, it is having a negative effect on my credit rating (shows as Account is 'default' - credit agreement has ended). I need to find out whether the credit rating will start to improve as soon as it shows as 'settled' or if it will stay as negative for the whole 6 years I've heard it would be on there for. Really that will make the decision for me!

I'm off to search for some answers but thank you for taking the time to comment

MrsTinks

Always*trying wrote: »

My trouble is, it is having a negative effect on my credit rating (shows as Account is 'default' - credit agreement has ended). I need to find out whether the credit rating will start to improve as soon as it shows as 'settled' or if it will stay as negative for the whole 6 years I've heard it would be on there for. Really that will make the decision for me!

I'm off to search for some answers but thank you for taking the time to comment

To answer your question - the default will sadly remain on your file for 6 years after the default date - do make sure though that the default day is correct and NOT say 6 months after your actual default date. Don't want it on there longer than it should be after all!

Would there be a difference to your credit worthiness once it's settled (it will show as defaulted but settled) - yes - however if it's enough to help with your remortgage is honestly a question you need to speak to your independent mortgage adviser about. These days they are more concerned about affordability which may be a bigger issue to you at the moment?

Also - quit getting hung up on credit rating scores - they're not used by lenders, they're an indication only. I've had things refused before now with a score of 999 out of 999... each lender has a criteria, which they rarely disclose, so as this is concerning a mortgage I would speak to someone who can run the actual figures for you.

Nursery - have you considered a child minder instead? Sorry but round here nurseries are nutso expensive and frankly I didn't like the feel of ANY of them. I found an amazing child minder and my daughter has been there since she was 6 months - she's now 7 She's obviously only there before and after school these days but they do so much cool stuff in the holidays and she's kind of part of the family LOL
Oh and it works out way cheaper for me... and it's not usually world ending stuff if I run late, unlike a lot of nurseries

Anyway - some bits to think about

Always*trying_2

Hi Mrs Tinks,
Thank you for taking the time to read and respond. Friendly, helpful bunch on here

We spoke with the mortgage advisor back in March and they said we failed an internal credit check but that they couldn't tell us why, and we could try again in 6 months. Sadly our mortgage is with the company the original loan was with so I'm assuming it must have been that. They did say to get our experian credit report and work on any other factors in the mean time. These were things like large amount of available credit (although not in use) so we cancelled a couple of unused credit cards. There was also a mobile phone late payment within the last 6 months, so he said it could have been that. Basically we've done all we can, and identified what we need to do moving forwards.

We are fine with our mortgage - it's very manageable, and only on 2.29% fixed for a further year so if we need to wait the 6 years it's fine really - it just means we put our extension back. Not the end of the world.

You make a very good point about the date of the default. I'm pretty sure it should have been put on before it was. And I've also seen horror stories about lenders passing the debt on at the original loan amount, not what the debt actually was when passed over. Im going to pull all the paperwork out and check this is all correct. Frustrating as I was unpaid for 5 weeks following my first maternity leave (not through choice) and thats why I missed a payment in the first place

A childminder would possibly be cheaper, however they love their nursery and I don't think they cope with a change to childminder - also I love that the eldest has build some really lovely friendships and I feel like it would really affect their development moving them now. We do the childcare voucher scheme, and one gets 11 hours a week free and is starting school next year so we'll be saving some money that way, providing I can keep my hours just change the working pattern. It still works out £94 a day for the day that is not covered by the free hours! (£47 each) Crazy money lol :rotfl: