Fox's Debt Free Diary

FoxFace

Small update. Took out a new loan yesterday, to repay the overdraft and the old loan. My credit score has increased massively since I took out the loan and I was offered a really good interest rate, so I grabbed it

I know people aren't keen on consolidation, but it has worked for us in the past... also I notice Martin's e-mail this morning advises people to do exactly this, so more than happy with the decision to be honest

The new repayment interest only equates to 10m of the interest I was paying on the old loan and overdraft fees and there is no way we would have cleared either in that time, so saving more money this way too!

Just need to nip to the bank today to close the old credit card account (which has been sat unused since I paid it off a while back) and overdraft, as they won't let you do it online and I don't use the phone.

Updated sig, quite happy to see how much it has decreased already and with another big payment due this week off the 0% card, things are going pretty well

FoxFace

Overdraft and old CC cancelled

Kind of scary to have no buffer on the account, but by my forecast we really don't need it and shouldn't rely on it anyway... We've just lived in overdraft for about the last decade, so it's really odd not to have one... it's great though and with all the recent changes, we will have a cash contingency fund behind us soon enough

Hiddenidenity

Well done Amazing progress! Especially cancelling the OD and CC x

jackieblack

Definitely a good idea to plan ahead (the dreaded 'C' word is banned in my house until November). I put a set amount aside every month to cover all gifts, for that and birthdays.

And school holidays, as you say it's best to be prepared but there are lots of free things you can do, and you live in a fab part of the country for getting outdoors

FoxFace

Hiddenidenity wrote: »

Well done Amazing progress! Especially cancelling the OD and CC x

Thanks Got up this morning and saw "Overdraft facility £0" and had a little panic... it's just so weird! But I am currently reminding myself there is no difference between having £x in the bank, to having £x left of your planned overdraft, except the direction in which the interest is paid, I suppose ... I'm sure I'll stop worrying about it soon enough. It's a total shift in mindset though, I can see why people struggle to get rid of the available credit once it's paid off... it feels like a safety net of sorts... anyway, pleased that it's gone

jackieblack wrote: »

Definitely a good idea to plan ahead (the dreaded 'C' word is banned in my house until November). I put a set amount aside every month to cover all gifts, for that and birthdays.

And school holidays, as you say it's best to be prepared but there are lots of free things you can do, and you live in a fab part of the country for getting outdoors

Thankfully I LOVE the outdoors! We all have adequate walking gear so hopefully will be scooting off up the Lakes quite a bit! Lots of castles and museums about too, which the kids love, so feeling pretty positive about that

As for the C word... other than opening a savings pot, I am not particularly open to discussion about it... but it's nice to know I won't have to panic about the last minute cost this year

FoxFace

1st dd payment of £250 gone from the 0% card... really nice to see the balance decrease by the full amount of the payment!

Sig updated, can't believe nearly £1000 has gone already! Wanting to get an extra £91 gone, to get the balance under £10k... so close!

Hiddenidenity

You'll be into the 9's before you know it Well done!

Have a lovely day x

FoxFace

Hiddenidenity wrote: »

You'll be into the 9's before you know it Well done!

Have a lovely day x

Sorry for the extended absence... Life has been crazy and I'm at that part of the journey where it's just keeping an eye on things and making the regular payments

I can assure you that all is going well and I haven't fallen off the wagon... Current remaining debt is £9119.66p... that's a reduction so far of £1900.35p... :j

honestly I haven't been checking all too closely, but when I realised how much we have paid off earlier today I was absolutely speechless (in a good way obviously)

FoxFace

Wow I haven't been here for a LONG time!

I was just working on the last couple of things. We started at £11,020.01p and currently stand at £7282.99p.

We have had a few ups and downs the last 18 months so I am quite happy with this. Looking at what is left (a 0% card, one loan and a Tax Credits repayment) we will be completely debt free by November 2020

FoxFace

Couple of little setbacks the last two months, but still heading downwards and current balance is £6493.07p.

Paying these debts has become just part of our outgoings and I think at this point we are used to it... Ideally I would like to try to bring some extra cash in to clear it a bit quicker, but we only have two debts now, a loan and a 0% card... the latter should be paid off by the start of 2020