Dan's desperate dash towards solvency

enthusiasticsaver

I would definitely use the savings to clear some of the interest charging debt. You have a good disposable income and say you are living within budget now. Usually as the debts decrease the 0% offers are more readily available. The debt was £55k two years ago and if you have been putting £1700 a month towards it that presumably has made inroads into clearing the debt? An soa might be a good start to see where you are at now.

Your dad is right and being blunt I think prioritising the debt over savings is a better option. I am also concerned you may not have restarted your pension contributions as I think initially you were going to cancel or suspend these?

worriedDan

Yes I do need to do an updated SOA. We started our debt repayments in March/April 2017. The 55K was actually inaccurate and in reality it was more like 65K. I had forgotten to include some of the debts in my wifes name. At the point I was in a fog, We also had the 6k 'blip last summer plus a couple of tricky months where we weren't able to pay the full £1700.

in 22 months we have reduced the debt by around 21K giving us an approximate debt figure of 44K now. Feel quite proud that we have been able to reduce a fair chunk of debt BUT I also know that we can do so much better.

Scott-Weiland

Thats a big chunk cleared off your debts well done Dan

kindofagilr

Dan you are doing so so well, you have done amazingly so to get them down over £20k already.

I don't think you need to increase your wages at all, just keep on plugging and you will get there.

The interest does suck, you know I've had issues with that as well, it will get better

Well done for all you have done so far, and I am so happy to see you are going on a nice holiday this year that will be fabulous xx

enthusiasticsaver

£21k reduction over 2 years is great. Almost a third gone. I think the priority is to reduce or eliminate the interest as you say £400+ a month is a lot. So long as you have an emergency savings pot of £1000 I would put the rest to clear the interest charging debts. Hopefully as the debt gets lower either you or your wife can get some 0% deals.

Moneywhizz

You have a very healthy income coming in and the amount you are paying each month will reduce the debt fairly quickly. Doing a new Soa that covers all your expenses and setting and sticking to your budget will help you to see how much you can realistically pay to the debt while still allowing you to have a comfortable life. You can then look at which debts you need to pay off as quickly as possible because of the interest rate. It might be worth using some of your savings to pay off then with the highest interest. If you don't feel comfortable with less in savings you can always use replace them with them by paying the amount you were paying to this company, back into your savings. You are doing great reducing your debt while maintaining a good lifestyle and looking after your mental health. Good luck.

Suffolk_lass

Well done Dan, £21k over two year is brilliant. I only suggested the possibility of consolidation as a possible way of reducing the stress and number of things you are paying out on, and the possibility of ditching a high interest account in favour of a lower rate. You do have to be very disciplined and I would never add it to my mortgage as secured debt but like you, I have used it in the past. Your outlook has really changed since you started on here and you know there is plenty of encouragement and support for you here.

Not sure if you have tried the tools but I know of one or two people who went for a 0% BT and then rang them up and asked if the credit limit could be increased to take on another card. It could offer an option to overcome that increase in interest rate (and asking is free!).

kindofagilr

Also, have you tried out YNAB? it is really really helping me, there is a tutorial video someone made which is fab and you get 2 months free trial with it, I will find the link xx

remote_control

Hi Dan,

How's it going?