Small Steps Out Of Massive Debt!

GeorgianaCavendish

Hiddenidenity wrote: »

Have a lovely day x

Thank you Hidden! x

GeorgianaCavendish

I resolved the TopCashBack payout lag issue. Well, I say I resolved it, I emailed them for help and then it mysteriously started working again :cool:

I mentioned upthread that I've been listening to The 5 Second Rule because one of my friends has been raving about it for weeks. I'm really, really enjoying it - I had my first 54321 GO! morning and feel as though I've achieved so much so early in the day. Worth a read/listen (but don't pay the full price for the audiobook, its something like £18 at the moment ... I'm sure it will go down in price!)

GeorgianaCavendish

OK, time to rip the band aid off and face up to the revised debt totals.

Total debt (excluding Student Loan) is £30,203.40

HSBC Personal Loan : £10,225.95
Interest rate 8.9%, 26 payments left

Credit Card Balances

MBNA £3301.93
£3057.6 @ 6.9% (rate ends July 2019)
£244.33 @ 27.9% :eek:

Barclaycard £9961.04
£6163.94 @ 6.9% (until paid off)
£3797.10 @ 18.6 :eek:

Lloyds £3489.16
Interest rate 0%, promo rate ends September 2019

Tesco 1 £897.50 Balance Transfer
Interest rate 0%, promo rate ends September 2019

Tesco 2 £2327.82 Lack of Emergency Fund
Interest rate 0%, promo rate ends September 2019



The £244.33 on 27.9% on MBNA was a mistake as the wrong card was used for a bill. This is an old-Georgiana mistake and I'm still kicking myself 6 weeks after the fact. Obviously the first priority for repayment. If I'm able to transfer this elsewhere with no transfer fee then I will do so, but for the time being I will focus on making overpayments to MBNA to get rid of this.

£3797.10 at 18.6% on Barclaycard are my course fees & exam entry fees. Rather annoyingly, all the good work I did over the summer of shifting debt to 0% cards meant that I couldn't get another 0% deal. But I suppose that 18.6% is better than 34.9% and again, I will look to transfer this if I qualify for another balance transfer rate. I will get a reimbursement of course related fees if I pass the exams but earliest for this is September 2018.

I've divided up the Tesco debt into two sections, the smaller amount (£897.50) is from a balance transfer, the larger amount (£2327.82) is down to the lack of an emergency fund.
My husband has said that he will help me with some of the second debt, but specifics have not yet been discussed. Something for the weekend perhaps!

After all of that, I decided that it was better to have a new 1% figure otherwise I will get confused.

My new 1% figure is £302.03

First goal, get my debt total under £30,000 ASAP! Repaying the highest tranche of MBNA debt would do that ...

redofromstart

Nightmare on the MBNA thing - but easily done. Will they let you pay the high APR off first? I know on mine I had to clear the 0% before we could pay any newer stuff off.

HairyHandofDartmoor

They usually make you pay off all of the 0% before you pay off the interest amount :mad:, I've been there and done that :mad: l hate credit cards so very very much :mad::mad::mad:.

I love your name Georgiana, especially the origin of it . Good luck with your debt busti ng.

GeorgianaCavendish

redofromstart wrote: »

Nightmare on the MBNA thing - but easily done. Will they let you pay the high APR off first? I know on mine I had to clear the 0% before we could pay any newer stuff off.

I know, I can't believe I did it after so many months of being so careful! Luckily for me, they will allow me to repay the highest rate first (Seems unusually generous/favourable from MBNA but I'm not going to question it!)

GeorgianaCavendish

HairyHandofDartmoor wrote: »

They usually make you pay off all of the 0% before you pay off the interest amount :mad:, I've been there and done that :mad: l hate credit cards so very very much :mad::mad::mad:.

I love your name Georgiana, especially the origin of it . Good luck with your debt busti ng.

Thank you HHD! Love your username too and congratulations on becoming debt free! :T

HairyHandofDartmoor

Thanks it feels great. It's been a long time coming

117pauline

Brave of you to list all the debts in detail but very wise. Now you know exactly which debt to focus on first.

However........ not such a good idea to keep getting annoyed with yourself over paying with the wrong card. It's easily done and I bet most of us have done it in the past. BUT you noticed quickly and will get it sorted. I hope you can destroy or freeze the card to prevent using it. I have removed my card details from all the website I use -the very fact I have to enter all the details again is a good demotivator.

What are your plans for the next seven weeks. It is always an ultra speedy time without trying to debt bust as well. Did you manage to cut down the present list?

I hope you have recovered from the stitches etc. And I hope you have some good things planned for the weekend.

Take care
Pauline

GeorgianaCavendish

117pauline wrote: »

Brave of you to list all the debts in detail but very wise. Now you know exactly which debt to focus on first.

However........ not such a good idea to keep getting annoyed with yourself over paying with the wrong card. It's easily done and I bet most of us have done it in the past. BUT you noticed quickly and will get it sorted. I hope you can destroy or freeze the card to prevent using it. I have removed my card details from all the website I use -the very fact I have to enter all the details again is a good demotivator.

What are your plans for the next seven weeks. It is always an ultra speedy time without trying to debt bust as well. Did you manage to cut down the present list?

I hope you have recovered from the stitches etc. And I hope you have some good things planned for the weekend.

Take care
Pauline

Thank you Pauline I need a kick up the bum sometimes because I do dwell on things like the wrong card, and I could put that energy to better use with debt-busting! I'm going to destroy the card to prevent this happening again, and actually will do that with some of the others too!

The stitches are out and the cuts have sort of healed over, but the skin around it them is very dry and tight which sometimes irritates me more than the bandages! I seem to be getting less sympathy without the bandages too

The present list has been slashed We've still got 2 couples, 2 adults and 7 kids on the list, but have agreed on a maximum budget of £25 per couple/person. Between the 2 of us that's £137.50 each on presents. I need to do some sums for cards and postage though, so I think a more realistic Christmas budget is £150 from each of us.
I also need to work out the entertainment, travel & food budget and remember to include a bit of wiggle room for things like unexpected taxi rides when one of us misses the last train after an office party. I would prefer not to incur those kind of expenses at all, but much better to allocate and not need it than the other way around.

I can't believe there are only 7 weeks to go :eek: My top debt busting priorities are to keep tight control over the food budget by meal planning and bulk cooking, and to shop around for a new contents insurance provider (renewal in January). My top life priority is my course work, I've got a workshop tomorrow which includes some soft skills like study planning so I'll have the opportunity to discuss my plans with a tutor to see if they are achievable. And I'm going to a friend's house for fireworks on Sunday, really looking forward to our traditional bonfire night baked potato and sausages

Have a lovely weekend too!