Small Steps Out Of Massive Debt!

GeorgianaCavendish

another_casualty said:

You are doing amazingly well 😼👍
Your Mbna situation is very similar to what mine was . Mbna was my first and longest  credit card I ever had . I was so delighted to get rid in the end . It won't be that far away when you can put that all behind you .
keep going ...

Thank you AC  - it must have been amazing to get rid of MBNA! I can't wait

astrocytic_kitten said:

You sound so much more relaxed and in control - glad you’re seeing the joy in having pots too!

The pots are brilliant! It is such a great way to allocate my budget for the month and having to move money out of a pot helps me with prioritising my discretionary spending. I'm toying with the idea of making Monzo my main bank account because then it seems that you can allocate money straight to pots, but I'm wavering on that. enthusiasticsaver said:

It will be great to be finally rid of the MBNA card.  You have plenty of time then to repay the Virgin.  Good news on the bonus. 

 Hopefully the deposit pot will soon start to increase rapidly once the MBNA is paid off.  Is it maximum £4k a year you can put in? I think I would just stick with paying £200 a month to Virgin as that will clear it by March 22 and direct any spare to the LISA. 

That's right, it's £4000 a year maximum in the LISA. We both have one so that's £8000 between us, and anything extra we save next tax year we'll put in a savings account. If we haven't bought by April 2022 then we can transfer another £4000 each to the LISA for the bonus in that tax year. I'm planning to keep the Virgin repayments around the £200 mark and prioritise deposit saving first.

The_Moo

I just compared your start debt total and the current total - wow you have done brilliantly!
I'm a long-time lurker and love your diary. It actually cheers me up to read it.  So excited to hear what you do next on your journey X

GeorgianaCavendish

The_Moo said:

I just compared your start debt total and the current total - wow you have done brilliantly!
I'm a long-time lurker and love your diary. It actually cheers me up to read it.  So excited to hear what you do next on your journey X

Thank you so much! That is so lovely of you to say, and I'm really glad that my diary cheers you up I've got a long way to go with goals (like house buying), but I am at the stage of my journey where I can look back and celebrate how far I've come too. I never thought I'd get here! xx

GeorgianaCavendish

Bonus has been applied to the LISA, a bit quicker than I was expecting! 

£28 received from Prolific and TopCashBack which has gone into one of my savings pots, now back to plodding on for the rest of the month 

GeorgianaCavendish

Is there a way that I can calculate the impact that the taxable benefits received from my employer will have on my 20/21 tax code? I added my husband to my medical insurance policy during this tax year and I know that will have an impact but not sure how to calculate. I'm expecting that I will have underpaid this tax year but want to try to get ahead of the shortfall so it isn't a nasty surprise when my tax code adjusts. 

astrocytic_kitten

Do you have a HMRC personal tax account? I think you can use that to notify them of changes like this so the tax is adjusted mid-year. My work is generally on top of tax and does some kind of monthly accounting for BIK that means we don’t get the P11D any more.... to be honest I don’t understand it but it works. I’ve never used the personal tax account, but I’ve got a family member who uses it regularly and apparently changes take effect quickly.

The salary calculator website also has a taxable benefits tab, if you know the value of the benefits you can use that to see how it will impact take home pay.  

GeorgianaCavendish

Thank you @astrocytic_kitten that is really helpful! I do have a log in for the Government Gateway, so I will check if I can make the update there - I'll need to confirm the premium first but that should be easy enough to do. 
I've just tried the salary calculator and that looks good, not as big a change as I was expecting! 

GeorgianaCavendish

I logged in to Government Gateway to see if I could sort it out but it is not possible to change the amount of a taxable benefit (you can delete one, or add a new one though) so I will have to phone them to update it. A job for next week! 

Other financial admin has been closing credit cards with a zero balance, I want to tidy up my credit file now with a view to how it will look to potential lenders next year. I can’t wait to be rid of MBNA! 

I had another couple of surveys so have transferred about £10 over to a savings pot. 

Naomim

I've kept open an MBNA card ad they always offer me 0% deals and I still need them! 🤣

GeorgianaCavendish

Naomim said:

I've kept open an MBNA card ad they always offer me 0% deals and I still need them! 🤣

My current 0% is the only one I've had from them (I think!) I did have a useful 6.7% at the beginning of my diary though, so I am grateful for that.
Managed to update my tax info over the weekend and had a new tax code this morning so that has all gone through ok. Not much else on my financial to-do list, just keeping on with the grind!