My journey to a debt free life

Onebrokelady

Humdinger1 said:

@Onebrokelady not sure how you feel about this, but I've seen many posters going to self administered debt plans as it's normally easier to do full and final settlements than when going via a charity or even paid org.  They are normally a low % of the amount outstanding.   You work so hard, are so brave and didn't end up here because of decisions you made that I think it's justified esp bearing in mind how much interest you'll have paid, and if the debts have been sold on, how little they'll have cost to buy; the original creditor will already have written it off.  Apologies if you don't like the idea of this; I wouldn't suggest this to many people but do really think it's justified in your case.  Love your diary Humdinger x 

Awww Humdinger that's so kind of you to say. I do like the idea of a self administered plan but I'm not sure I would be up to the task. I'm terribly disorganised  and forget to keep an eye on things which is why I handed the whole sorry mess over to SC in the first place.
I did notice when looking though that all my debts are now with the PRA group, one of them was definitely with Westcott before so they have passed it on again. I will think about this suggestion seriously and maybe put my big girl pants on and go for it 😀

Onebrokelady

Right enough feeling sorry for myself things could be a lot worse. I could not have come to my senses and still be wracking up debt like a mad thing but I did come to my senses and have sorted the problem to the best of my ability at this moment in time. I will keep reviewing the situation to see if I can do anything different as time goes on
Today I saw my first payslip for my reduced hours and I have to say without DDs money things will be tight. I have until May to decide if I can stay on these hours so I don't need to rush into a decision yet. 
I have crunched the numbers and  I will have enough to cover all my outgoings and have a small amount left for savings each month. It will possibly mean I have to give up riding or at least cut down to once a month. I was going every other week but that is £60 a month  and I can't justify it. I'm ok for the moment because I have £250 of Christmas money that im under strict instructions to use only for riding. I plan to ask for riding vouchers for birthdays and Christmas so that will bump it up.
I hope I'm not coming across as selfish to want to carry on riding but it's a passion I've had my whole life and I was so happy to be able to take it up again, it helps with my mental health and my Fibro symptoms. I am thinking of trying to find a rescue I could help out at because I don't actually even have to ride I just love being around horses. The stables I go to are also a centre for the RDA so I will look into volunteering for that. I am used to working with people with disabilities so it wouldn't be too much of a stretch for me, I would just have to make sure I had Wednesdays off because that's when it's on 😊

Onebrokelady

Also mulling over the benefits of possibly making overpayments to my mortgage seeing as I'm allowed and it's the only debt I have that is charging me interest. I'm not very savvy about mortgages,I just pay it and forget about it every month,would making overpayments reduce the term I would be paying it off for?what are the benefits of overpaying on your mortgage?I see people on here who pay off little amounts when they have spare cash, does that really make a difference?  My lovely mum quite often gives me lump sums of money a few times a year ( even though I begged her not to ) I have used these in the past to add to my emergency fund but I could pay them off the mortgage seeing as it's money that isn't expected or accounted for, would that be worth doing

Onebrokelady

Can't remember if I posted that today was a NSD . Next month I really must count how many I have done. I recorded them all this month but didn't count them up so without looking back I don't know how many I've had 🙄

foxgloves

Morning OBL, 
I did start to look at mortgage overpayments, but then life took over with some difficult events, meaning I was suddenly in a position to pay the remaining years off in full. The benefits to making overpayments is that it can significantly reduce the interest paid. See if you can find a mortgage overpayment calculator online, into which you can input your outstanding amount, interest rate & term & have a play around with figures. It may be that you decide it isn't worth it & to concentrate on your SC debt. But if it is more complicated to overpay that, then there are likely to be benefits to making sure that mortgage is defo a goner before you retire. I know a lot of people are working for longer these days - Mr F has a team member who is almost 70, but I know you have days where your health isn't so good, so working for an extra 2 or 3 years may be your worst nightmare. I think it is always worth having a look at how things might be tweaked running up to retirement. 
F x

enthusiasticsaver

Onebrokelady said:

Also mulling over the benefits of possibly making overpayments to my mortgage seeing as I'm allowed and it's the only debt I have that is charging me interest. I'm not very savvy about mortgages,I just pay it and forget about it every month,would making overpayments reduce the term I would be paying it off for?what are the benefits of overpaying on your mortgage?I see people on here who pay off little amounts when they have spare cash, does that really make a difference?  My lovely mum quite often gives me lump sums of money a few times a year ( even though I begged her not to ) I have used these in the past to add to my emergency fund but I could pay them off the mortgage seeing as it's money that isn't expected or accounted for, would that be worth doing

The benefits of paying off the mortgage are obviously saving money on interest as the balance reduces and it reduces the term so it is paid off earlier. Some lenders deal with overpayments differently so you should check to see how yours deals with it and if there are any limits to how much you can overpay. If you are on a fixed deal they sometimes limit the over payments or charge ERC (early repayment charge) so you should double check on that. What rate are you paying? 

Overpayments, even small ones can knock years off a mortgage so in your situation where you are reducing hours and looking to minimise outgoings I would say it is worth doing for the peace of mind and financial benefit of being mortgage free. Imagine having no mortgage to pay and how that would benefit you. 

milann

When we got our mortgage in the early 80’s interest rates were very high. We struggled to pay with 2 little ones but we did it. As the mortgage rates went down we usually kept the payments as they were. A couple of times we didn’t change it  but on the whole we did - not massive amounts but we paid our mortgage off about 10 years earlier than originally planned. Even rounding it up to the next £10 could make a difference. But check with your provider that you won’t incur charges.

Onebrokelady

foxgloves said:

Morning OBL, 
I did start to look at mortgage overpayments, but then life took over with some difficult events, meaning I was suddenly in a position to pay the remaining years off in full. The benefits to making overpayments is that it can significantly reduce the interest paid. See if you can find a mortgage overpayment calculator online, into which you can input your outstanding amount, interest rate & term & have a play around with figures. It may be that you decide it isn't worth it & to concentrate on your SC debt. But if it is more complicated to overpay that, then there are likely to be benefits to making sure that mortgage is defo a goner before you retire. I know a lot of people are working for longer these days - Mr F has a team member who is almost 70, but I know you have days where your health isn't so good, so working for an extra 2 or 3 years may be your worst nightmare. I think it is always worth having a look at how things might be tweaked running up to retirement. 
F x

Definitely don't think I will be capable of working in my job beyond my retirement age. I'm not sure how I'm going to make it to be honest. I need to find all my paperwork and find out if I can make overpayments I think 😊

Onebrokelady

enthusiasticsaver said:

Onebrokelady said:

Also mulling over the benefits of possibly making overpayments to my mortgage seeing as I'm allowed and it's the only debt I have that is charging me interest. I'm not very savvy about mortgages,I just pay it and forget about it every month,would making overpayments reduce the term I would be paying it off for?what are the benefits of overpaying on your mortgage?I see people on here who pay off little amounts when they have spare cash, does that really make a difference?  My lovely mum quite often gives me lump sums of money a few times a year ( even though I begged her not to ) I have used these in the past to add to my emergency fund but I could pay them off the mortgage seeing as it's money that isn't expected or accounted for, would that be worth doing

The benefits of paying off the mortgage are obviously saving money on interest as the balance reduces and it reduces the term so it is paid off earlier. Some lenders deal with overpayments differently so you should check to see how yours deals with it and if there are any limits to how much you can overpay. If you are on a fixed deal they sometimes limit the over payments or charge ERC (early repayment charge) so you should double check on that. What rate are you paying? 

Overpayments, even small ones can knock years off a mortgage so in your situation where you are reducing hours and looking to minimise outgoings I would say it is worth doing for the peace of mind and financial benefit of being mortgage free. Imagine having no mortgage to pay and how that would benefit you. 

I will need to have a look at the paperwork because I I can't remember what my rate is. I'm not on a fixed rate deal I know that much. I think I will have a look at the paperwork tomorrow and do a bit of investigating 😊

Onebrokelady

milann said:

When we got our mortgage in the early 80’s interest rates were very high. We struggled to pay with 2 little ones but we did it. As the mortgage rates went down we usually kept the payments as they were. A couple of times we didn’t change it  but on the whole we did - not massive amounts but we paid our mortgage off about 10 years earlier than originally planned. Even rounding it up to the next £10 could make a difference. But check with your provider that you won’t incur charges.

I remember those eye watering interest rates, it was one of the reasons I didn't want to buy a house in the first place,I was terrified it would happen again. I only agreed when we got a fixed rate originally. I'm now on a variable rate and so far it's paid off for me.  I am definitely going to look into it this week 😊