My plan, for what it's worth

LeeU

I have managed to get rid of all my credit card debt and my overdraft (around £32k in total), I'm now lwft with the following:
My car - £22k remaining - £476 per month
Wife's car - £13k remaining - £328 per month
Bank loan that I used to kill the credit cards off - £4757 remaining - £428 per month
I am currently overpaying on the loan by £50 per month, this should get it finished in around 10 months.
After that I will then overpay on both cars by an extra £200 per month as I can't find anything in the T&Cs that limit the overpayment by that amount.
Once those are done, so I think that'll be about 2.5 to 3 years, that will fall nicely with the plan for my mortgage being paid in less than 10 years as in the MF section.

That's the plan, I'll update the thread as I can, to use a line out of a recent song (cheesy I know but truthful) - It's been a long road from where we began.
I can see the end of the tunnel, granted it's pin hole at the minute but getting bigger every month.

ratrace

Sell both cars and buy some cheap ones that will wipe out around £30k fast

[Deleted User]

^^^ as above, you obviously can't afford expensive cars, you could both have a decent car each for around 5k each instead of 35k
but well done so far.!

LeeU

In real terms, the cars cost me around £350 per month as my car allowance cover the rest, I can manage that ok.

My plan was more along the lines of I've done that hard part not I'm coming to the end of a long journey.

Ilona

If you have everything under control and you just want to record your progress, there is a Debt Free Diary board which might suit you better.

Ilona

lynz68

You haven't got rid off your credit card debt you have just moved it to a loan. That's fine as long as you can comfortably afford it but don't delude yourself that you have gotten rid of it.

I hope you have cut the credit cards up though as its all to easy to build that debt up again.

Having a plan is great sticking to it is the problem .... Been there done that

enthusiasticsaver

Debt consolidation does not work. Speak to the many people who have tried it in the past and just built it all back up again. You have not cleared the credit card debt - you have just moved it so you have not done the hard bit. The hard bit is sticking to the budget whilst paying £1282 monthly towards debt.

However if you had £32k on the loan initially and now only have £4757 remaining then this is a great reduction. Are you now living without having to use credit cards and overdrafts?

LeeU

I started out with around £32k of debt, my wife and I had different cars at that point. I took out the loan and cut up the cards before I had even paid them off, the cars listed above are recentish additions, I spend a lot of time driving and can cover a few thousand miles in a week so I bought something I really liked.


I know debt consolidation does not always work but, in my case it did, the initial shock of not being in the position I was in prior to taking out the loan was huge, and I do mean shock, it highlighted how much I was actually paying out each month just to cover the cards, overdraft, etc.

I did make the mistake of running the overdraft up again but no where near as much, that's now gone completely.


It's taken me 5 years to get to this point, and that's been the hard part.


Believe me, it took a long while for me to decide to change my car, I had paid out quite a lot and it was getting older even though it was in overall good condition plus the company car policy states the car must be less that 5 years old, mine was 9.

As I said in a previous post, my car allowance means I'm not paying the full amount, only around £350.

I have NO credit cards, NO overdraft, just loan, 2 car payments and the mortgage.