I have come here to chew bubblegum and clear debt - and I'm all outta bubblegum AKA the £83,000 saga

Guybrush_Threepwood

A small mid-month reduction brings me to a balance of £66,981.30. This was thanks to a refund of interest and charges that had been applied to an outstanding overdraft with a high street bank. Had to go through their complaints process and spent an hour on the phone but a nice welcome result.

Guybrush_Threepwood

ellie.52 wrote: »

You sound so determined and are doing amazing. Well done.

Would love to hear more in how you changed your monthly spending (i.e Aldi Aldi Aldi :j)

To be honest, switching to Aldi has saved us a fortune on our shopping bill. I think I used to be a bit of a ‘brand snob’ when it came to supermarkets - but no more! I have been recommending Aldi to everyone I know.

What else have we done?

- Quidco
- Stocking up on essentials when there are special offers on (e.g. shampoo, razor blades etc)
- Walking more (saving on bus fares)
- Working from home when possible (saving on train fares!)
- Taking lunch to work
- Switched broadband and phone provider

Lots of other smaller adjustments too that I will add here as I remember! 😄

CASPIE

Well done! I wish you all the best with your recovery 😊

Guybrush_Threepwood

Just a quick update. It was payday yesterday and so this month's committed payments have been made.

The new balance is...

£65,711.80

I may be able to make some additional payments later this month but with Christmas on the way, it may well stay like this until January. Still, good progress nonetheless.

Didn't quite hit my goal of getting under £60,000 by Christmas (unless a few Financial Ombudsman decisions swing my way!), but I'm still down a whopping £17,324.15 since May.

adg89

Great work, Guybrush!

Admirable stuff - I'm inspired by your tenacity with the creditors and the ombudsman!

Guybrush_Threepwood

adg89 wrote: »

Great work, Guybrush!

Admirable stuff - I'm inspired by your tenacity with the creditors and the ombudsman!

Thank you I know I am ultimately to blame for the mess I got myself into, but looking back I am really shocked that some mainstream lenders considered me worthy of credit at times when I obviously wasn't and that it is only fair that they make amends.

I am thinking about producing a 'name and shame' chart of my creditors, from best to worst in terms of how they have handled my situation. I think the results would surprise some people!!

fatrab

Absolutely brilliant achievement so far! Keep it up

Guybrush_Threepwood

Happy New Year! Apologies for the lack of updates recently.

So, the figures are in.... I'm starting 2019 with a debt pile of £64,466.73. Still a hell of a way to go. But let's look at the positives:

• This is a 22% reduction on the original debt of £83,035.95 in just 8 months.
  
• I've missed ZERO repayments across all of my creditors since I started tackling this mess back in May 2018.
  
• My credit score (whilst still rubbish) has gone from ZERO up into the 300-400 range (depending on the company used to check)
  
• Having affordable repayment arrangements with creditors has meant I've still managed to have some kind of 'regular' life - even a holiday!
  
• Today is 250 days since I last gambled (the root cause of 99% of my debt).

I'll make sure I update this thread more often this year!

CCW007

Wow, well done on everything you have achieved so far and I hope you continue with your amazing determination. And your wife sounds like an amazing woman!

Debt_buster_2

Hi, amazing results and well done!! do you have a prediction on what you’ll pay off over the next few months?