£80k debt - 30 month debt free aim - all support is welcome

DebtfreeaimOct21

Great, thanks Scott.
I do pay some things not on DD but mostly just because I’ve never got organised enough to set them up, but I’ll think on about that now, thank you.

I’ll go for a third account as I like the sound of diving these up.

For the overdraft I’ll go that alone, but the overdraft is a long way off yet and certainly behind the Vanguis and the emergency fund.

Good going today, I needed milk from the shop and I went to the shop and only bought milk.

PositiveBalance

DebtfreeaimOct21 wrote: »

Good going today, I needed milk from the shop and I went to the shop and only bought milk.

Baby steps!

DebtfreeaimOct21 wrote: »

Not as yet as a lot of my accounts are paper free, but I am totally rubbish as this one just takes on DD. I’ve decided that I am going to find out all the ins and out of everything and I’ve found myself a pad where I will dedicate a page for each of the debts and I will make it my mission before the end of April to find all of this out and note it all down.

Then at the end of April I will put a new SOA up with the exact amounts to the penny.

Using this book I can make it easier to update my diary as I will have a running total offline so to speak.

I am less freaking out and more excited about this now. Thank you for all your support.

This sounds like a good idea. I have a similar system for annual bills like house insurance , the end of my electricity/gas fixed price deal etc. so I can get the best replacement deal or price for the next year's cover. Perhaps that might be another spreadsheet worth considering?

DebtfreeaimOct21

Yes positive I am okay with a spread sheet, I never know when things end, they just roll on. I checked my gas and electric online and they are on a standard tariff so I can change whenever I want.

Scott-Weiland

Hay i am impressed you sound so determined and focused keep that mentality, i guarantee every time one of these debts goes you will feel brilliant.

Dont stress too much re emergency funds just find a way too slowly build it. My way is i build mine using earnings off cashback and survey sites. Everyone is different, i might get 4-5 Qmee surveys a day the payouts are small but a quid a day here and there and bits and pieces off other sites it does build.

Mentioning cashback lol and your post and switching energy providers, set up with top cashback.co.uk if you havent already. Uswitch are on there 25quid for a dual fuel switch, money supermarket are on there 27 quid for a duel fuel switch. Sse and others are on there too offering upto 80-120 for switching.Too me thats a lump off Vanquis, a lump in the EF and a saving in utility bills.

Re spread sheets if that works for you ace, i am abit old school an old notebook and diary

BabyStepper

Scott-Weiland wrote: »

The reason i ask is most banks (including the one i work for) will give you the option too open another current account next too your main one with no overdraft. From here you could pay into the account with the o/d say 25 too 75 per month more than the fees or interest and you could ask the bank to every month lower the overdraft. Its easily done we get alot of customers that do this and call once a month and we can drop the overdraft even a tenner a month if they ask.

Thank you so much for posting this. I had absolutely no idea banks would do this - what a helpful thing to help get rid of your overdraft. I'm currently paying mine down aggressively cos I didn't think drip feed was an option. Still, good to have this info and I'm sure it will help loads of people. And possibly me if my current approach doesn't work.

Scott-Weiland

Thank you babystepper not all of us bank workers are bad i promise.

Dont ring your bank and blast me though if they say no lol, i can only comment on "xxxxxxxx" and "xxxx" lol other banks maybe awkward as all banks dont follow the same processes.

The bank are still going too make money even if the account balance is dropping and you are slowly steeping the limit down. The bank will be happy and most likely with not be concerned providing your staying within the account limits and the balance is decreasing. The only time things maybe different is if its a time strained account like a student one or graduate account. Ie you have it 3-4 years etc while the client was at uni.

If you think of it this way an overdraft like a loan or overdraft or credit card etc etc is a risk product too a bank. Because of defaulting risk or potential debt recovery.

ie the client could start going overdrawn above there limit, getting loads of charges, the client could lose there job and have say a 1500-2000 overdraft that there living in thats maxed with suddenly no income. If this then happens its an issue for the bank. Once it goes beyond the bank trying too recover the money themselves if things severely escalate the bank then sells the debt on usually at a massive loss. If you think banks can do overdrafts into the 1000's of pounds mark, i have seen footballers at work with 40000 pound overdrafts. Then if you factor in some of the big 5 banks have a customer base of 7-10 million clients its alot of risk.

From the banks point of view its risk management by giving the client the option too reduce the limit in a way protects them and the client. All i would say is unless you massively in debt and struggling never let the bank do the plan route like i think i mentioned earlier. Just ring your bank and say hay my overdrafts abit high can i drop it slightly once you have being paid etc etc

I hope this helps sorry too waffle. Sorry too gatecrash your journal debtfreeaim i just wanna help, my journal is on here somewhere i will start charging for bank related questions though lol xx

BabyStepper

Debtfreeaim, I just paid £700 off my overdraft and could then reduce it online without any need to speak to them. So that was good. I think as long as it's under control and not over the limit, they're happy for you to manage it yourself. I've subscribed and your plans look good. You've been given some good advice and I would also say take it one small step at a time. Learn to live on your budget, get Vanquis sorted and then take stock. Loads of others on here have done it, and you can do it too. I'll be following.

DebtfreeaimOct21

Scott-Weiland wrote: »

Thank you babystepper not all of us bank workers are bad i promise.

Dont ring your bank and blast me though if they say no lol, i can only comment on "xxxxxxxx" and "xxxx" lol other banks maybe awkward as all banks dont follow the same processes.

The bank are still going too make money even if the account balance is dropping and you are slowly steeping the limit down. The bank will be happy and most likely with not be concerned providing your staying within the account limits and the balance is decreasing. The only time things maybe different is if its a time strained account like a student one or graduate account. Ie you have it 3-4 years etc while the client was at uni.

If you think of it this way an overdraft like a loan or overdraft or credit card etc etc is a risk product too a bank. Because of defaulting risk or potential debt recovery.

ie the client could start going overdrawn above there limit, getting loads of charges, the client could lose there job and have say a 1500-2000 overdraft that there living in thats maxed with suddenly no income. If this then happens its an issue for the bank. Once it goes beyond the bank trying too recover the money themselves if things severely escalate the bank then sells the debt on usually at a massive loss. If you think banks can do overdrafts into the 1000's of pounds mark, i have seen footballers at work with 40000 pound overdrafts. Then if you factor in some of the big 5 banks have a customer base of 7-10 million clients its alot of risk.

From the banks point of view its risk management by giving the client the option too reduce the limit in a way protects them and the client. All i would say is unless you massively in debt and struggling never let the bank do the plan route like i think i mentioned earlier. Just ring your bank and say hay my overdrafts abit high can i drop it slightly once you have being paid etc etc

I hope this helps sorry too waffle. Sorry too gatecrash your journal debtfreeaim i just wanna help, my journal is on here somewhere i will start charging for bank related questions though lol xx

Thank you, sounds like great advice so happy we can all learn

Guybrush_Threepwood

Just catching up on your thread, will have a proper read through all the comments later today, but just to say now that I was also a member of the £80k+ club. I say "was" as I'm now a member of the £60k club, and very shortly will be a member of the £50k club :-)

You've set yourself an aggressive target, which is really great, but make sure it's realistic.

My advice would be:

1. Contact all of your creditors and explain the situation. Be honest. If many cases, you'll find them sympathetic. Some will even have dedicated teams to support you. Agree payment plans that will help reduce debts but will also leave you with enough to live on. You don't need to (and shouldn't!) live on breadcrumbs, but be sensible. You need to still have "a life" so to speak.

2. Save. Some people prefer to throw every spare penny at their debt, but you should try to put a little away each month too for those "rainy day" expenses.

3. If any of your debt has been incurred through the less reputable lenders, it costs nothing to put in a claim for "irresponsible lending".

4. Whilst it makes logical sense to pay off the debts incurring the highest amount of interest first, if in a position to clear smaller debts quicker, do it. It gives you a great mental boost to "cross one off the list" and will free up whatever that monthly commitment was so that it can be applied to other debts.

I've not read the whole thread yet, so apologies if I have repeated anything that has already been said! Best of luck on your debt-free journey. Feel free to reach out to me for help, advice or just general chit-chat.

DebtfreeaimOct21

Guybrush_Threepwood wrote: »

Just catching up on your thread, will have a proper read through all the comments later today, but just to say now that I was also a member of the £80k+ club. I say "was" as I'm now a member of the £60k club, and very shortly will be a member of the £50k club :-)

You've set yourself an aggressive target, which is really great, but make sure it's realistic.

My advice would be:

1. Contact all of your creditors and explain the situation. Be honest. If many cases, you'll find them sympathetic. Some will even have dedicated teams to support you. Agree payment plans that will help reduce debts but will also leave you with enough to live on. You don't need to (and shouldn't!) live on breadcrumbs, but be sensible. You need to still have "a life" so to speak.

2. Save. Some people prefer to throw every spare penny at their debt, but you should try to put a little away each month too for those "rainy day" expenses.

3. If any of your debt has been incurred through the less reputable lenders, it costs nothing to put in a claim for "irresponsible lending".

4. Whilst it makes logical sense to pay off the debts incurring the highest amount of interest first, if in a position to clear smaller debts quicker, do it. It gives you a great mental boost to "cross one off the list" and will free up whatever that monthly commitment was so that it can be applied to other debts.

I've not read the whole thread yet, so apologies if I have repeated anything that has already been said! Best of luck on your debt-free journey. Feel free to reach out to me for help, advice or just general chit-chat.

Thank you for reaching out Guy and well done for getting closer to the 50k club, got to be better than the £80k + club. Do you have a diary of how you have got this far that I could please subscribe to?

Reference your points for (1) I have previously contacted a lot of the lenders and gone onto a plan, although I have not declared the payday elements into these so these plans are in the main still quite high. If I revisited these I believe I could get a lower payment and as these are at 0% I expect this would be good to do. I’ve just been paying them and at least they come down by more, but I’ll consider this to help shift ones with higher interest.

For point (2) this mirrors most of the people on the thread and something I will do, as when on the plans any open cards I’ve had cannot be used, so will be the way to go.

I am in the process of claims for unaffordable and irresponsible lending with -

Money boat
Piggy Bank
Peachy
Lending stream
My Jar
Uncle Buck
Mr Lender

The first one is due back with a decision on 29th April, then these stagger until 2nd June as I didn’t complaint to all on the same day, as facing this has been very hard. I’ll let you know how these go.

I have agreed on here to tackle to Vanguis very high interest one first with a small refund I have had from Cash Float.

I put a SOA up and I’m just waiting for the end of the month when I receive exact amounts from lenders to update this and then I’ll update this monthly, along with details in between and I’m sure lots of advice will be required along the way.

Thank you for your tips.