My Debt Free Diary

Madfool

Hi all,

So having been struggling with debt for a long long time, mainly caused by a HUGE Gambling problem, ruthless spending and just borrowing way beyond my means when i was younger.

It's time I dealt with my £42,349.38 DEBT !

This total is made up from 3 separate areas:

Total Of Debts;
Joint Debts with my partner: £4.929.38 (Rent and Council Tax Arrears)
My Partner's Debts: £4.846.00 (They are in my partner's name but only exist because I took them out in her name, so they are 100% my responsibility)
My Own Debts: £32,574.00 (Made up of Credit Cards, Personal Loans, Payday Loans, CCJ's, and defaults)

Individual Break Downs:

Joint Debts:-
Rent Arrears: £2,555.00
Council Tax Arrears: £2,374.38

Partner's Debts:-
Credit Card 1 (LLoyds) - £1,643
Credit Card 2 (Bank of Scotland) - £1,560
Credit Card 3 (Halifax) - £2,102

My Own Debts:-
Natwest - £236.00
Active Securities LTD - £273.00
Arrow Global LTD - £300.00
Lowell 1 - £301.00
Djs LTD - £357.00
Ferratum - £357.00
Lowell 2 - £379.00
Lowell 3 - £415.00
Indigo Michael LTD - £541.00
Merligen Investments - £600.00
Anglian Water - £687.00
Lloyds Credit Card 1 - £1,441.00
Halifax Credit Card 1 - £1,516.00
Bank of Scotland Credit Card 1 - £1,517.00
Bank of Scotland Credit Card 2 - £1,530.00
Lloyds Credit Card 2 - £1,533.00
Halifax Credit Card 2 - £1,562.00
UK Credit - £2,865.00
Amigo - £7,896.00
George Banco - £8,268.00

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OMG! YOU HAVE SO MUCH DEBT! HOW WILL YOU EVER DEAL WITH THIS MOUNTAIN OF CRAP!
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I'm lucky enough to have landed a new job at the start of the year, earning £25,000 PA (£1,699.41 Monthly) for the first 6 months and if no problems this will raise to £28,000 PA (£1871.49 Monthly) after my 6 months probation

After Priority bills (Rent, Council tax, Gas, Water, Electric etc) Starting from March 2019 till August 2019 (when the pay rise kicks in) i have £1,147.46 a month excess, from August this raises to £1,319.54. Barring February where i only have £547.96 due to starting the new job half way through January, so wages cutoff dates, and all that Jazz.

I'm going to use a snowball effect to clear the above debts (unless someone suggests a better way), as they are all defaulted and i believe its the most sensible way to deal with them and clear them in a priority order.

Starting with the Rent Arrears > Council Tax > Partner's Debts > My Own Debts.

Using this method the following should (if i stick to it) happen:

Rent Arrears: CLEARED! April 2019
Council Tax: CLEARED! June 2019
Partners Debts: CLEARED! Oct 2019

At this point i will stop Until January 2020, as i would like to put 2 months wages to one side for Christmas 2019.

January 2020 I will continue to use the snowball effect, starting with my lowest debts and just hammer them each and every month. Just working my way through clearing what i can each and every month. Until they are cleared which i predict (using the joys of Excel) as :T January 2022! :T

I intend on contacting each Debt before making a payment and asking for a full and final settlement figure. As the debts are old, ranging from 1 - 3 years each and no payments have been made for a very long time, I'm hoping i might be able to get some of the debt written off so i can become debt free earlier!

I will update this post every 26th of the month as this is pay day and when payments will be made to creditors.

:T:T:T:T:T Any advice, or words of encouragement welcomed! :T:T:T:T:T

I'm happy to answer any questions as well, be it about the debts, or my gambling problem anything i'm very open and really want to hammer this stuff down!

[Deleted User]

Good luck on your journey x

unicornrose2804

good luck will be following your journey!

LullaBelle

Good luck, I'll follow your journey!

EssexHebridean

You might find it helpful to look at the debts in a slightly different order - and also to add the interest rates to any that it applies to in the post above too. I agree with dealing the priority stuff first - so Council tax & rent arrears. beyond that though, the best way by far of dealing with it is to tackle the debts that are charging the highest rates of interest first, as this means it costs you less over all and thus you get stuff paid off faster.

It might also be worth you diarising every 4 months or so as you go along to check your eligibility for any 0% balance transfer cards you can get to shuffle the higher interest rates on to. The MSE Credit Club will be helpful here - it's a free resource with a very handy eligibility checker.

Madfool

EssexHebridean wrote: »

You might find it helpful to look at the debts in a slightly different order - and also to add the interest rates to any that it applies to in the post above too. I agree with dealing the priority stuff first - so Council tax & rent arrears. beyond that though, the best way by far of dealing with it is to tackle the debts that are charging the highest rates of interest first, as this means it costs you less over all and thus you get stuff paid off faster.

It might also be worth you diarising every 4 months or so as you go along to check your eligibility for any 0% balance transfer cards you can get to shuffle the higher interest rates on to. The MSE Credit Club will be helpful here - it's a free resource with a very handy eligibility checker.

Thanks for the advice, unfortunately though i can't use the MSE Credit Club for some reason i can't get past their verification process. Basically they are unable to match my details with my credit report. I have a noddle account though so i can probably use that.

ratrace

Good luck, But have you considered bankruptcy as you dont own a house and assets etc.... unless bankruptcy will affet your job it would be very tempting to go for it, and just have a clean slate they may put you on a ipa for 3 years and after that its all done



in terms of gambling have you stopped and are you seeking help with it

EssexHebridean

Hmmm..that's odd - assume all the details you've entered are 100% correct - no small errors that might be throwing things out? Could be worth dropping the helpdesk a message to see if they can sort it as that is one heck of a useful site, as well as giving you free access to your Experian report of course.

BabySteps234

Good luck to you! We owe a similar amount too. Scary numbers but hopefully this time next year we will see our efforts paying off and those numbers really rolling back! Keep positive

Madfool

ratrace wrote: »

Good luck, But have you considered bankruptcy as you dont own a house and assets etc.... unless bankruptcy will affet your job it would be very tempting to go for it, and just have a clean slate they may put you on a ipa for 3 years and after that its all done



in terms of gambling have you stopped and are you seeking help with it

I'm considering bankruptcy once the 3 priorities Rent, C/T and Partner's CC's are cleared as if i was to enter a bankruptcy then i wouldn't have anywhere near the excess i have now to clear them off, and my partner would still be 100% liable for all 3 of the area's unless she went Bankrupt as well which she should def not have to do. Honestly i would much prefer to clear everything without the bankruptcy as i did borrow the money and i should pay it back.

Madfool

So looked at stepchange website yesterday, BR is 100% my only option for my debts but the dilemma i have is i must clear these arrears and CC's in my partner's name first >.<

So now i'm finding ways to save, and make money on the side to clear these off asap before i start the BR route.

On a funny note i have a Pockit account which is frozen as i put in a complaint about them back in Nov 2017 and never worried to follow it up, i have just received an email from them about a payment made into the account. So i'm now on hold to them (for the last 30mins+) trying to find out if i can have access again and what this payment was for lol