I’m taking control of my life, now.

boxofpaws

Cumbria_lass wrote: »

Hi Paws,

How did you kill the neighbours hanging basket ? Made me smile .

As for your questions above , I am no expert on these matters.

If it was me I would want to get rid of the car loan and the pcp payment if I could.

They left my husband in charge of watering them! They went away last Saturday and on Tuesday I asked him when he had watered them. To which he replied "but it's been raining". Actual face palm.

The good news is that they have revived! I did take the worst one down and put it in intensive care and dead headed it and it's come back to life. So they've now given me back the one I bought them, so I can watch it slowly die in our garden.

Eager_Elephant wrote: »

Are all your debts on your credit file? I know sometimes that car loans are not so in terms of debts on the credit file you might not appear to owe as much.

What interest rate are your cards? Just wondering how much interest you would end up paying if you put the PCP loan on the cards and took 6 months or so to pay it off.

I agree with not remortgaging to pay off debt, what if that extra bit added to the mortgage ended in disaster. At least when debt is on credit cards you can always default and go on reduced payments but you cant with a mortgage. Plus having a couple of credit cards gives you clear targets to aim for like clearing CC1 or 2 rather than paying off mortgage and not paying as much because eventually it will all be paid off at the end of the term anyway.

All the credit cards are 0%. Loans - The PCP one might not show on our credit file but that needs settling before we remortgage in any case. The other one is a normal personal loan with a low interest rate (3% I think, somehow Halifax throw low interest loan offerings at the husband). So the car loan is actually the most interest. There are no early redemption or overpayment penalties either.

You're right, I think I would be more motivated to pay off credit card than mortgage debt.

JoJoC wrote: »

I wish I had advice to give you but alas, i am no expert on money matters (obviously, or I wouldn't be in my situation!). One thing i would say is that I'd stay well clear of consolodating everything into your mortgage - that seems like a really dangerous move and will change your debt from unsecured (credit card) to secured (mortgage) meaning if you can't pay it, you can lose your house.

Also, on credit cards there's always the chance of getting these onto 0% which would be a better rate than any mortgage could ever offer you. You might not be able to right now but the more you clear off your debt, the more chance you might have of getting a 0% card and hammering the debt down further.

Sorry I can't offer any more wisdom than that - i find myself regularly in the clueless camp or not being sure what financial move to make but I'm sure someone else will come along with a bit more knowledge.

All the best.

All the credit cards are 0%, and we get balance transfer offers through all the time on existing cards that have available balances. I know you shouldn't rely on them but there is no reason to think that would stop. Having just cleared MBNA with a BT, I am 99% confident that they will offer us another transfer deal, which we could use for cash (to settle the PCP!)

I know we're in a really fortunate position that we have a lot of choices of how to handle the debt. It would be a different story if the husband was facing redundancy so I am grateful we are so lucky.

Thank you guys for the responses, really helpful.

Paws

System

Re the hanging basket : sounds like something I would do, green fingered I am not.

I think anything that you can do at 0% is better than paying interest . Would agree though about not putting it on your mortgage. Once the debt has gone and you realise how much less you can survive on , you can overpay your mortgage .

boxofpaws

Good things since I last posted :j

• Taken control of my diet a little. Been back to slimming world twice. I am not veyr overweight but I was fitter and healthier this time last year and want to get back to that. Hardly any drinking in the last 2 weeks
• Went to the seaside last night, and not only resisted fish and chips on both money and health ground (drover home and cooked dinner at 10pm), we aso only spent £1.80 (the shrapnel in my purse) on the 2p machines. Had a lovely walk round the park and down the front instead.
• My hair is feeling better from giving it a bit of a rest.
• Have been exercising regularly. 3 weights sessions this week and I have quite enjoyed them.
• Have been seeking a new weights deck for ages. They are about £150 new and about £60-70 2nd hand. Managed to pick one up after months of searching on ebay and gumtree for £20. Its a bit scabby but will do the job. If I make full use of it, I could upgrade it to a prettier one next year.
• Am down to 9st 11 today.
• My job is actually going really well now. At moments it gets stressful but i feel like I can handle that now. Also, it encourages felxible working, so I feel like my work/lie balance is improving.
• The husband has had a total of 7 overtime shifts in the last few weeks now, which is aoround £1000.
• Husband has cleaned my car, inside and out.
• Balance transfer all gone through. Final payment of £42 to MBNA will clear that account. Then I can use it to settle to PCP loan.
• I'm feeling really happy. Not sure what thats all about, maybe I feel like things are going our way for one reason or another. Lets make the most of it.

Bad Things since I last posted :exclamati

• The barbecue has run out of gas. I promised my friends barbecued chicken tonight.
• In addition to the superfluous spends this month, we have paid out recently annual insurances on both cars and the house, plus paid for my car's annual service, so the coffers are actually empty. Nothing left in the EF.

Thank the heavens it is payday on Monday


To do today - the husband is on o/t so have the house to myself
Clear out the cupboard in the front bedroom thats giving me nightmares
Clean out 2 little drawers in the dining room with paperwork in them
Tidy up front and back flower beds.
Sort out hanging baskets. (without killing them)
Get on top of washing and ironing.
Do a weights workout - arms and legs
Do 2 rounds of tabata
Get gas for the barbecue.
Prepare dinner for friends
Buy any extra wine/food we need.
Clean out 1 kitchen cupboard.

System

Wow what a list I hope you get it all done.

There is always some social on your thread , a bit like me I couldn't cut that out completely!
My car insurance, mot and service are due this month , my parents are treating me to the mot and service , just the insurance to do.

Glad you sorted the PCP .
Enjoy the barbecued chicken .

boxofpaws

Cumbria_lass wrote: »

Re the hanging basket : sounds like something I would do, green fingered I am not.

I think anything that you can do at 0% is better than paying interest . Would agree though about not putting it on your mortgage. Once the debt has gone and you realise how much less you can survive on , you can overpay your mortgage .

I think I have mentally formulated a plan now, using all the advice on here. You're right, it would be pure madness to put it onto the mortgage.:eek:

Cumbria_lass wrote: »

Wow what a list I hope you get it all done.

There is always some social on your thread , a bit like me I couldn't cut that out completely!
My car insurance, mot and service are due this month , my parents are treating me to the mot and service , just the insurance to do.

Glad you sorted the PCP .
Enjoy the barbecued chicken .

A bit worse for wear this morning. Currently snuggled up in bed with my iPad, feeling a bit sorry for myself. At least I wasn't sick into a hedge.


Clear out the cupboard in the front bedroom thats giving me nightmares - not done, cleaned out living room cupboard instead. Which was astonishing
Clean out 2 little drawers in the dining room with paperwork in them - done
Tidy up front and back flower beds. - Done, but might do a bit more gardening later
Sort out hanging baskets. (without killing them) - done
Get on top of washing and ironing. Mostly done
Do a weights workout - arms and legs - did half, ran out of time
Do 2 rounds of tabata - not done
Get gas for the barbecue. - done
Prepare dinner for friends - done
Buy any extra wine/food we need.- done
Clean out 1 kitchen cupboard.- not done but thoroughly cleaned house,washed cupboard doors in kitchen, vacced, dusted, mopped

Happy Sunday everyone!

System

Nearly spat my tea out at "at least I wasn't sick in the hedge "!

How have things progressed with hubby's job ? Keep forgetting to ask.

Hope you are feeling less dodgy .

JoJoC

I loved your positive update the other day BoP - sounds like things are on the up and it's nice to see things ticking along nicely.

Well done for not being sick in a hedge

Glad hubby is getting overtime - mine is much the same and working almost all the time but it's good for the old bank balance and may as well take it while it's on offer. It isn't always available.

Hope you manage to get through your list while feeling a bit under the weather

EssexHebridean

Got to love the sort of night out after which not being sick into a hedge becomes an achievement! :T:T:rotfl::rotfl::D Love it!

It sounds like you've already realised that even contemplating turning unsecured debt into secured by adding it to the mortgage is madness in its purest form so well done for saving me that lecture!

In your shoes I would:
- Work out the monthly amount you need to set aside to pay the balloon on the PCP and get that saved from now.
- Leave the loan to trickle along for the time being - it's accounted for and you're just paying it so don't worry too much about that one for now - it's affordable and some.
- Pay the minimum plus anything else you can scrounge together on the cards until the PCP has gone, then revert to throwing everything spare at the cards with the addition of the PCP money which you will no longer be paying out from January.
- As soon as cards are cleared get shot of the loan, and then split your monthly surplus 50/50 between either OP'ing the mortgage if you deal allows, or saving towards a lump sum to clear the mortgage, and 50% inter a bolstered EF plus a "new car fund" as obviously you won't be wanting to take loans or finance to buy cars from now on, will you...! :cool:

I know logic might say that if you can continue to bounce the cards on 0% deals then paying the loan off should be priority ahead of those, but I tend towards the feeling that getting the cards gone is probably playing safer, and I suspect that it might look better when remortgage time comes along as well to have less numerous debts, if that makes sense?

Suffolk_lass

Hello Paws, I'm just back from our holiday and have just caught up on your diary. My two penny-worth is similar to EssexHebridean but slightly different.

In your shoes, I would reduce the repayments on your 0% credit cards to a round figure, just above the minimum payment - so maybe £100 per month where the minimum payment is £77.60 (for example). If you contact them, they will change your payment to a fixed amount, if you ask, as long as it exceeds the minimum.

Then save all the extra to make that final car payment in December. I would also round that £161 up to £200 per month, so that residual capital payment is also coming down as you go.

Then I would look at the dates your 0% deals expire and where you are with that car loan, with a view to a bit of consolidation at a suitable point. That might mean amalgamating two or more credit card balances or it might mean taking the residue of the car loan into a cash advance 0% deal.

Only when those two interest-paying accounts are 0-ised, would I start paying the credit cards down. I would not put everything into them all, spreading across all four. I would systematically hit them one at a time, based on the dates the deals expire, obviously attacking the shortest duration first.

I would not use all my available money on this, as I think you need some incentives. So in addition:

I would also look to "Tilly-tidy" your bank balance to a round figure every couple of days, putting that money in a savings account to build that emergency fund (I do mine to the nearest £50 at the moment, but I don't have the holiday credit card until next month)

And I would round up that mortgage payment to the next hundred with a standing instruction to the provider to overpay the capital repayment, not advance pay the interest (some are sneaky).

There you go, more like a pound's worth! - BTW I thought I was going to have to chip in over the secured vs unsecured loan issue from Italy (!). That is a complete no-no. Martin is very clear in his guidance that you do not do this.

Also, when you do look to remortgage, you want an account that lets you overpay without penalty, if possible, or overpay up to 10% of your balance per annum without penalty. By then you will be almost ready to start hammering it!

boxofpaws

Cumbria_lass wrote: »

Nearly spat my tea out at "at least I wasn't sick in the hedge "!

How have things progressed with hubby's job ? Keep forgetting to ask.

Hope you are feeling less dodgy .

Thank you for asking Cumbria Lass, things seem to be improving with his job. He definitely wont be made redundant and now its looking more and more likely that his hours might not be reduced. We'll see. He's getting loads of overtime which is a huge help. I keep telling him he doesnt need to do it, but I dont mean it and am secretly delighted he is flogging himself.

JoJoC wrote: »

I loved your positive update the other day BoP - sounds like things are on the up and it's nice to see things ticking along nicely.

Well done for not being sick in a hedge

Glad hubby is getting overtime - mine is much the same and working almost all the time but it's good for the old bank balance and may as well take it while it's on offer. It isn't always available.

Hope you manage to get through your list while feeling a bit under the weather

Thank you. Of course I have done exactly the same thing this weekend.

EssexHebridean wrote: »

Got to love the sort of night out after which not being sick into a hedge becomes an achievement! :T:T:rotfl::rotfl::D Love it!

It sounds like you've already realised that even contemplating turning unsecured debt into secured by adding it to the mortgage is madness in its purest form so well done for saving me that lecture!

In your shoes I would:
- Work out the monthly amount you need to set aside to pay the balloon on the PCP and get that saved from now.
- Leave the loan to trickle along for the time being - it's accounted for and you're just paying it so don't worry too much about that one for now - it's affordable and some.
- Pay the minimum plus anything else you can scrounge together on the cards until the PCP has gone, then revert to throwing everything spare at the cards with the addition of the PCP money which you will no longer be paying out from January.
- As soon as cards are cleared get shot of the loan, and then split your monthly surplus 50/50 between either OP'ing the mortgage if you deal allows, or saving towards a lump sum to clear the mortgage, and 50% inter a bolstered EF plus a "new car fund" as obviously you won't be wanting to take loans or finance to buy cars from now on, will you...! :cool:

I know logic might say that if you can continue to bounce the cards on 0% deals then paying the loan off should be priority ahead of those, but I tend towards the feeling that getting the cards gone is probably playing safer, and I suspect that it might look better when remortgage time comes along as well to have less numerous debts, if that makes sense?

Thank you Essex Hebridian, all good advice. However, what you are not banking on is how LAZY i am and how easily I spend money. What would actually happen would be that I would put my cc payments down to minimums, then save the money for the PCP payment, and then SPEND the money on a holiday and then put the PCP on a credit card.


Well, it might not be that extreme, but I know in the past when I have tried to save money to pay off debts later, I just havent, hence being in debt for so blooming long.