What a mess...

stvn1

stvn1 wrote: »

So here's who I owe money to at my lbm:

Lowell £ 829.31
Lowell £1348.19
SLL £ 960.00
ACI £1386.60
Moorcroft £ 690.47
CRS £ 773.12
Moorcroft £ 719.48
Rob Way £2191.00
Barclays £1039.00
Cabot £1327.32

Total £11264.49

Most of this is owed to debt collection companies, I've been in complete denial.

My priority bills are up to date and after they are paid I have £500 a month free. I aim to allocate £200 a month plus whatever extra I can come up with. Does that seem reasonable?

I haven't updated this in a while but I'm still plugging away. My current total owed in £6304.16. I completely cleared one of the Moorcroft debts (£690.47) yesterday which feels great. My target is to owe under £5000 by the end of April and I'm well on track.

stvn1

Here's what I currently owe compared to when I started this in October 2017:

Lowell £ 829.31 : £373.75
Lowell £1348.19 : £787.72
SLL £ 960.00 : £624.00
ACI £1386.60 : £0.00
Moorcroft £ 690.47 : £0.00
CRS £ 773.12 : £541.15
Moorcroft £ 719.48 : £709.48
Rob Way £2191.00 : £1300.08
Barclays £1039.00 : £1039.00
Cabot £1327.32 : £928.98

stvn1

Finally, I have a response from Robinson Way. They've offered a full and final settlement of £675.00 payable over 3 months. That's a reduction of £1516.37. I couldn't quite believe it but called and spoke to them, the arrangement is in place.

That's me down to £5674.08 owed.

enthusiasticsaver

Excellent news. Keep this up and you could be debt free by the end of this year. I think £200 out of a disposable income of £500 is sensible. Presumably you have food, ftuel, entertainment to pay out of the remaining £300?

When you get the chance I would also start to get in the savings habit. Insurance's are cheaper if paid annually. You won't be tempted to put emergency bills on a credit card if you have savings.

stvn1

enthusiasticsaver wrote: »

Excellent news. Keep this up and you could be debt free by the end of this year. I think £200 out of a disposable income of £500 is sensible. Presumably you have food, ftuel, entertainment to pay out of the remaining £300?

When you get the chance I would also start to get in the savings habit. Insurance's are cheaper if paid annually. You won't be tempted to put emergency bills on a credit card if you have savings.

Thanks. This was my single biggest debt so I’m excited about being free from it. I paid the first £225 installment this morning as I had £450 in my account and it’s less than a week until payday.

I know I need to start saving and I do intend to but for now my focus is firmly on getting rid of this debt.

LiveLifeFull

Just wanted to pop in and say you've done amazingly well! If I paid my debt off as quickly as you, I would be loving life!!

esc268

Hi, just read through the thread and congrats! I noticed a lot of negotiations on debts with credit companies and I was just wondering if this is possible to do with banks to reduce overdraft debts? I have 1000 overdraft which I have reduced from 2250 over the past few months and just wondering if there's any way to negotiate reducing this kind of debt?

stvn1

LiveLifeFull wrote: »

Just wanted to pop in and say you've done amazingly well! If I paid my debt off as quickly as you, I would be loving life!!

Thank you. I'm still impatient! :doh:

esc268 wrote: »

Hi, just read through the thread and congrats! I noticed a lot of negotiations on debts with credit companies and I was just wondering if this is possible to do with banks to reduce overdraft debts? I have 1000 overdraft which I have reduced from 2250 over the past few months and just wondering if there's any way to negotiate reducing this kind of debt?

It's got to be worth a go. In my case I had some defaults so it was worth negotiating as a partial settlement won't really put me in a worse position. I did manage to get Capital One to reduce the interest rate on my CC though. Give them a call and have a chat with them. If you're in financial difficulty make sure you emphasise this and I found that the words "financial hardship" worked wonders. Good luck!

stvn1

Just made a small additional payment to Robinson Way to bring the total owed to them to £399. According to my spreadsheet my total amount owed in now £5396.08. I had set a target of the end of April to owe less than £5000, I'm moving that forward to the end of March! I need to find a few extra pounds to make that happen though. Time for another clear out I think.

stvn1

I've sold a few bits and pieces after a garage clearout and have paid the money to Rob Way. I now owe them £325. That puts me well ahead of the agreed payment schedule. Still have some things on Gumtree so I'm hopeful that I'll get a few ££ more over the next few days.

Payday tomorrow, I need to resist the urge to throw money at Rob Way to clear the debt and remember that a month is a long time of you have no money. Once my bills are paid I'll assess what I can afford to pay them.