Sorting out the mess 'past me' got me in to, for a happier 'future me'

FOMO_overspender

Sarahwithlove said:

You need to find out the settlement figure for if you clear the loan today so ring up and ask. Then add on the 4% fee and see if that's less then the loan amount at full term with interest to know if it's worth doing. 

Good point! I will find out that figure & then see. Thank you! 

enthusiasticsaver

FOMO_overspender said:

Ok, so here is January's pay day update! Total debt numbers are now: 

• Loan: £13,500
• CC: £1,550 (0%)
• Total: £15,050 - so close to breaking through the £15k milestone 

January was a tough month and I probably spent more on impulse purchases, e.g. skincare, make-up, than I should have, so aiming to stop that in February.  Hopeful to get below the £15k this month as still doing surveys (managed to cash out £5 this AM) and hopefully cutting down on my spending will allow for some money to go towards the loan. 

Quick Q, if anyone has any advice, my credit card is offering me a money transfer for 0% until November '21 with a 4% fee. I would be able to transfer around £9k but it would then put my usage right up, however, it would mean I would be paying off a big chunk of the loan off earlier, so saving on the interest (which is 5.99% APR). I am more keen to pay off debt quickest and pay the least amount of % than worry about my credit score at the moment, so wondering whether to go for it?!  I am currently on track to pay off my loan by Dec 22 with all of the interest included and I figured that I could then hopefully get a BT for the remaining on the CC to a 0% card? 

Any thoughts or advice would be much appreciated! For now, I am just ploughing on and not going to make any rash decisions. 

I think I would urge caution on that deal unless you can clear the money within the deal period.  A 4% fee is quite substantial and will need to be taken into account especially as it is not that much lower than the current rate.  If you cannot clear the balance within the deal period which is less than a year away and need to do another BT then you will have another fee so any savings on the 5.99% interest rate may well be wiped out. 

FOMO_overspender

Yes re-looking at the figures it’s not worth it, as you say, the time period at 0% isn’t long enough. 

Thanks everyone! 

FOMO_overspender

Ended up doing some late night number crunching and managed to save myself around £1.5k from my debt by refinancing my M&S Loan to a loan with a lower interest rate of 2.99%! So after paying off the final settlement of current debt levels now sit at: 

• Loan: £11,948.88 (inc. interest) - this is currently to pay back over 24 months but I am aiming to pay quicker by overpaying each month at the same level I was the M&S loan
• CC: £1,550 (0% until Jul '22) - still paying off £100p/m to get this gone within the 0% period 
• Total: £13,498.88 
• % of debt gone: 48% 

So great to see the number drop below £14k and almost at 50% of the total amount gone! I am still working to Dec '22 for my DFD but hoping to shave some months off by overpaying as much as possible. 

Sarahwithlove

That's great news you managed to find one with lower interest. Just keep plugging away at the overpayments on the loan it will be worth it to save the interest. 

FOMO_overspender

Gosh, I can't believe how long it's been since I checked in! 

Ok so since last check in, I ended up having to move house, which was not in the plan, which meant the Emergency Fund really came in to it's own when I quickly needed to find 5 x weeks rent to pay a deposit & 1st month's rent before getting the deposit back from current place and paid!!! So, debt payments were all min until that got sorted. 

Where I am at the moment on debt is: 

• Loan: £10,953.14
• CC: £1,500 
• Total: £12,453.14
• % of debt gone: 52% - so glad to be over halfway! 

However, somehow, I have managed to fully fund my Emergency Fund to £1,000!  One plus to moving was being made to declutter - so I sold a lot of stuff. 

The credit card took the hit for not debt busting for two months, so going to make sure to go back to overpaying each month to get this cleared before 0% runs out in July '22. I also want to get back on earning extra £ from surveys etc. 

I get paid tomorrow, so the total should be £11,855.27! SO close to being in single figure debt. 

Has anyone ever tried to overpay a T3sco loan? I am finding it more challenging that my MS one, where I could just transfer the odd £ here and there when I had survey cash outs etc. I think with T I need to call them every time, which feels like a LOT. So thinking what I will do instead is start a pot and then once I have a few hundred, then I call and make an overpayment? 

Hope everyone is doing good!

Sarahwithlove

FOMO_overspender said:

Gosh, I can't believe how long it's been since I checked in! 

Ok so since last check in, I ended up having to move house, which was not in the plan, which meant the Emergency Fund really came in to it's own when I quickly needed to find 5 x weeks rent to pay a deposit & 1st month's rent before getting the deposit back from current place and paid!!! So, debt payments were all min until that got sorted. 

Where I am at the moment on debt is: 

• Loan: £10,953.14
• CC: £1,500 
• Total: £12,453.14
• % of debt gone: 52% - so glad to be over halfway! 

However, somehow, I have managed to fully fund my Emergency Fund to £1,000!  One plus to moving was being made to declutter - so I sold a lot of stuff. 

The credit card took the hit for not debt busting for two months, so going to make sure to go back to overpaying each month to get this cleared before 0% runs out in July '22. I also want to get back on earning extra £ from surveys etc. 

I get paid tomorrow, so the total should be £11,855.27! SO close to being in single figure debt. 

Has anyone ever tried to overpay a T3sco loan? I am finding it more challenging that my MS one, where I could just transfer the odd £ here and there when I had survey cash outs etc. I think with T I need to call them every time, which feels like a LOT. So thinking what I will do instead is start a pot and then once I have a few hundred, then I call and make an overpayment? 

Hope everyone is doing good!

Can you not manage it on the tesco app? With my card you can make payments easily. Maybe give them a ring and ask how you go about doing it 

FOMO_overspender

Sarahwithlove said:

Can you not manage it on the tesco app? With my card you can make payments easily. Maybe give them a ring and ask how you go about doing it 

I managed to get through to someone and it turns out I can just do a bacs transfer like I used to for the old loan & then they have set it so the money comes off the final term, instead of just reducing my next payment. So that's much better! I was worried that I would have to call up every time to make any kind of overpayment. 

Sarahwithlove

That's great news that will make it much easier for you 

FOMO_overspender

yes, definitely! 

Think I need to go back to working on having NSDs and tracking them. Just realised that I will have one today (woop) but I have really got out of the habit of trying to do X per week and tracking them. Going to try and do this in May.