Second Light bulb moment

Red_Alert

Please tell me I am not alone in doing this...

2010 i had debts nearly 150% of my annual salary. I couldn't keep up so went onto a debt management plan. Finished that in December last year with my last default due to drop of my credit file on 31/01/2017. Needless to say that is a big day I am very much looking forward to.

However, in the last three years I have basically sleepwalked into £7,000 of credit card debt. :mad:

I have never really noticed it or thought about it too much as payments have never been late, direct debits for everything and honestly not really been an issue paying everything. I can justify nearly all the spending on there as most was genuinely unavoidable (funeral costs for my dad, car deposit for my mum) when I had no other option.

Despite that it still feels like i have let my 2010 self down. So many sleepless nights of worry promising myself I would change and here I am again. Thankfully all my current repayments are affordable and am paying out less each month than when i was on the DMP.

As ~£3500 of that is on a 39% apr Capital One card is it safe to say I should look to shift that on to 0% asap?

Thanks for reading, I needed to vent.

dieselv2

I think most of us have been in that same situation and I had to fully max 3 credit cards to spread funeral costs

I posted my situation here and there are very supportive people here who will assist and motivate you.

enthusiasticsaver

Yes, you should move that debt if you are able to as 39% interest is ridiculous. It is very easy for people who have had money management problems in the past to get back into that situation. When I was a debt counsellor I advised people to get rid of their credit cards altogether and focus on saving for things instead to remove the temptation. Some people do learn new spending habits but some just seem to think once the debt is a manageable level they can relax and go back to their old ways.

I think you should ditch the credit cards altogether beyond moving that 39% one on to a 0% if your credit record is ok now.

enjoyyourshoes

You possibly need to take a grip of your finances.

Not knowing where you are financially every day is the route cause of the problem.

Reconcile bank account daily including ALL spends (inc CC etc), also ensure all DD/SO debt with at start of each month and an amount you need to accrue for all none monthly expenditures (instances, holidays, birthdays, etc) and this gets shifted to another account to accumulate interest till the payments is due.

Don't sleepwalk, get a grip