Wobbling my way out of debt

enthusiasticsaver

I agree that using the £1500 to repay part of the loan to save on interest is sensible so glad to see you followed that advice. You are so close to getting that repaid now. 
I am sceptical that empty credit cards  or lower credit utilisation rates make a lot of difference on a mortgage application but I think it is sensible to keep one or two open (usually the oldest ones). Your OH could close one of his empty cards so you both have a card each. 

IrishSean

Yeah, i'm at £240 exactly on my cc, paid down from £2338 last month, am hoping to see lower figure on my mse credit club. 
Irony is as long as i've some BT offer for the last £300 of holiday spend i'm going to move onto my cc then pay off into 2020 then don't need credit offers so my score & offers will be less important.
I'm trying to wean myself off wanting to see the low total, good score & range of BT offers; doesn't impact me directly but for those prone to shopping on a CC, i'm guessing seeing loads of new card offers is a difficult temptation if on a DFW journey.

Keep up the good work; we're getting there!

findingthisdifficult

I haven’t look for credit offers for ages, I just haven’t needed them.  

The end is nearly in sight for sure, the loan drops below £1k on Monday 😂 that doesn’t even feel real.  The CC is still at £2k so gonna have to plug away at that to get it gone.  

Now for a confession, the wobbles are real today...my sister has just got a new (4 year old) car on finance and I am jealous, we’ve been wanting to upgrade our car for the last year or so.  Is car finance frowned upon?  

Feeling grumpy today 😭

ohdearhowdidthathappen

It is probably frowned upon, but I'm not one to judge as we have one on finance and one on lease!  I like leasing a lot, although you obviously don't end up owning it.  With car finance, I don't think it's awful if you find a low APR... or even better, 0%.  In general though, cars a massive waste of money, but a necessary evil?

IrishSean

As some1 who buys & sells cars it is possible to run them at lower cost.. in most cases depreciation is the big loss. 

There's 5 main ways to counteract this:
1. Buy a nearly new desirable (new model minis were good for this).. you could buy, drive for 6-12 months then sell without too much loss as waiting list for new was quite long
2.  Banger-nomics at the other end. Buy say a Mishubishi colt, 1.1 for £800.. keep it in good nick & it'll sell for £600 in 2 years time; don't buy undesirable or expensive to run tho
3. Buy at depreciation trough, say 4 year old, drive for 2 years then sell; this way you lose least on most mainstream models. Again, buy what's popular to sell on. 
4. Buy a future classic; you need skill & crystal ball here but can be done without too much difficulty. Sports cars; Toyota MR2s, rust free mk 1&2 mx5s and in particular a Honda S2000. If you need it as a 2nd car, commute or have no kids you could easily drive for 3-5 years 'free' and in some cases make money...
5. Buy a 'bargain' @ auction & keep driving til it in effect 'outruns' depreciation. I bought my Audi A6 2 years old for £11400: that was 11 years ago. 36k miles, now 144k on it but it's never broken down & got all servicing it needs. I paid it off within 2 years of purchase so depreciation less an issue given time i've had it. 

With 1,2&3 you need to change car A LOT for it to work, even if you like the car; some you buy will be good, some bad (Friday Cars).. it's all part of the risk / reward...

Cars are like houses: an essential in most cases. Unfortunately cars usually go down in value. I'm less keen on leasing as it can trap ppl in a 'depreciation cycle' where you're always paying but never own. 

The options above are more cost effective but I appreciate most ppl need to use a CC, loan or HP to get a motor... still it shouldn't cost the earth.

Then there's ppl who buy a run of the mill brand new car on PCP & change when the ashtrays are full: 😱😱😱 don't get me started!! If they counted the depreciation in a decade or 5 new cars worth, they could have put a large house deposit down in what they'd spent!

findingthisdifficult

I've given my head a wobble and the new car jealousy has subsided a little bit

On to my official pay day update, after some number crunching over the weekend I can proudly share some new numbers with you:

• Minimum payment on the card made now £1955
• Paid an extra £200 off the loan now £662 (what a ridiculous number)
• Overall debt outstanding £2618
• Overall debt paid now at 90%

The loan will pretty much be gone on 1st September give or take about £95 which will go out in October

With some hard graft and providing nothing unexpected happens, the card should also be gone by Christmas.

Sarahwithlove

That's exciting it's so close now and even more reason to stay focused and on plan with the budgeting. 

Lookafterthepennies2020

Amazing numbers!! They will all be clear before you know it  

ohdearhowdidthathappen

So close....

enthusiasticsaver

Whether or not you buy a car on finance depends on several things.  I don't think it is necessarily frowned upon but they are expensive and so buying on finance will saddle yourself with another loan for at least a couple of years. If you buy using PCP or lease you will never own the asset and will get caught in a cycle of constantly changing cars and paying a lot for the privilege.  I would never do it but many people do.  You need to weigh up how much you use the car against how much you are willing to pay for it. Someone up thread put it well that cars are a massive waste of money but a necessary evil.  Personally we never bought a car without putting at least 50% down (including exchanging the previous one) so that was a rule we set mainly to guard against the fact that cars depreciate quickly.  We only ever used low rate personal loans and only over 2-3 years maximum. Now we save up and pay in cash and although we have two cars we do not usually pay more than £8k - £10k for them including PE the old one and we usually go for one which is 1- 2 years old then keep them until we have had it for 10 years.

How old is your current car and how much mileage.  Do you actually need a new one or want one? Personally as you are so close to debt free I would be reluctant in your position to take out another loan so I am glad to see you  are stepping away from that idea now.