2020 time to change

savingholmes

Well done on the EF and what you've repaid so far. It will come together. I manage my £ on a spreadsheet so have virtual pots as in lines on spreadsheet and have savings accounts with a different bank to my main one so I am less tempted to touch it. I plan out all my annual bills in the pots bit of the spreadsheet.

EchoB

I think I need a shiney new spreadsheet will help 😂

Sarahwithlove

Well done you're do close to that 30k mark you'll get there though 

EchoB

Thank you @Sarahwithlove I feel so close yet so far!!! 

I need to remember I have paid 20% which is as good a milestone as getting sub £30k.

Sarahwithlove

EchoB said:

Thank you @Sarahwithlove I feel so close yet so far!!! 

I need to remember I have paid 20% which is as good a milestone as getting sub £30k.

They all count! 

EchoB

I’m under £30k 😁😁😁😁😁

Clearly I am very excited about this! My interest free card stands at £0, the promotional rate runs out on 8th August so I cleared it on payday!

my current debt is 

Loan 1 £11,380 from £14,396
Loan 2 £13,035 from £15,000
CC1 £0 from £4022
CC2 £4,031 from £4,397
CC3 £0 

Total debt £28,477 from £37,815

a total £9,398 or 24.8% paid off.

My EF has taken a beating, and is now at £75 I have had a more expensive than anticipated month. I ended July £150 overdrawn, this was interest free, but won’t be for August.

My aims for August are to stay out of the overdraft, start building up the EF again I think I won’t have any significant overpayments this month.

I then need to split between overpaying loan 1 and building up a pot for my CC which is currently at 0% but the offer expires next June.

Do I prioritise paying down the loan or do I get a pot for the CC? My loan is at 12.9% which is expensive. Do I focus on this? Realistically I don’t think I can clear it as soon as I had originally intended, so snowballing the payments before the CC offer expires is unlikely. with the economy as it is are 0% deals likely to be non existent next year?

It’s a massive boost and relief to see my total coming down, although it is still a scary high number!

mark55man

well done on reaching a big milestone.  the only way is down

If you are not confident about being able to refresh 0% deals on your CC and are at risk of a large interest rate post 0% I would stick with the regular loan payment and try and get ahead of the card.  I don;t think psychologically there is a lot to it so maybe just do a  bit of spreadsheeting and see which works out cheapest

bd80s

Yay, well done you!

enthusiasticsaver

Well done on getting below £30k and I think people do need to recognise that 0% deals will not be so freely available so I would focus on getting rid of the cards and staying out of overdraft (plus building up EF and savings pots).  I know the loan is not at a great rate but the credit card will be higher if you do not clear it once the 0% deal expires and if you cannot get another.  Those 2 loans are probably making you look debt heavy so that will affect your ability to get cheap loans and 0% cards. Keep going and maybe now things are opening up a bit keep a tight hold on the budget. 

EchoB

Thanks all for the comments! 

I think some aggressive saving to get a decent buffer in my EF is the way forward.

My credit score is classed as “good” but I definitely don’t want to rely on more offers being available. This journey is ultimately about becoming debt free.

Come September I am going to start building pots, I seem to have been just about keeping on top of things (eg car insurance, MOT etc over the last few months) but I want to get ahead of the game and feel confident that I have everything covered.