Debbie's Debt Free Diary

DebbyInDebt

2022ismyyear said:

Loving the diary! Keep at it you are making great progress! I think sometimes it’s not just about getting that “number” down it’s also changing your mindset and attitude towards money which has helped me massively.

I am in a similar situation to you 30, recently moved back home, managing to save well during lockdown/attack my debt and also hoping to buy a house one day! At first it all seemed too much and I was never going to be able to do this but now I’ve started I can really feel myself reaching my end goal!

Good luck on your journey!! 

Thanks for stopping by  
Looks like you've done an amazing job, dropping your debt from 17 to 12K since January! That's Brilliant.
It's comforting to know there are others going through similar situations, thanks for sharing. I felt like such a failure to find my self at 30, living back home with all this debt and no prospects. Now i feel like it is absolutely possible to buy a house and have a future, I just need to have a little patience and go through the tough times to get there.
Good luck to you too! Send me the link if you have a diary setup as well, would love to follow your journey

DebbyInDebt

Another creditor checked off
I've closed my Debt Managers account which was originally for £380 but they accepted a 40% settlement offer of £222.04 - so quite a big saving and another one crossed off.
I've also been making some small one-off payments to the larger accounts while I'm getting these smaller ones cleared.
So I'm now down to £13,098 left to pay, with £3,029 cleared.
I've still got a lot of debt, but I worked out I've cleared 20% of the total - so when I think about it that way it feels like great progress

Tahlullah.H

Congratulations!  You are doing great.

FOMO_overspender

amazing progress - you'll soon hit 20%!! congrats

DebbyInDebt

Had a bit of a traumatic weekend, I poked myself in the eye and scratched my cornea on Sunday - and resulted in having to pay £25 for an opticians appointment and £10 for the eye drops. Made me a bit anxious because it wasn't in my planned budget, but I used YNAB to move some things around - and I have underspent on groceries. Was hoping the spare cash could pay off towards of the debts, but oh well. 

My Sister's wedding is going ahead in July with just immediate family, which means having to pay for a hotel room Eeeek. I think it's pretty expensive and if I remember correctly around was a couple hundred pound - plus now I'm single and on my own i'll be covering the cost of the whole room by myself. 

With the announcement of things opening up again today, this is where I'm really gonna be challenged to change my ways. I had put some money aside for my haircut which would be £150 - for cut and highlights, (I know it's a lot) but I may just need to sacrifice this for the hotel room and wait another few months for a haircut - maybe in August before my 30th Birthday.

Having a outdoor camping party with my friends this weekend in place of Glastonbury not happening, which will be cheap I have £70 left in my 'fun' budget so I should have some leftover as I'll only need to cover cost of some food and drinks to bring with me to the party. The theme is festival dress, I avoided ASOS to buy something new and going to be creative with stuff I already own.


Starting to get a bit frustrated with how long the processes can take for paying debts and closing accounts

Natwest Overdraft (£451)
To be honest, not had a great experience dealing with Natwest, and part of me wishes this had just been sold on to an agency as they seem so much nicer to deal with!
Was trying to find out who actually owns this debt. I've been sent back and forth between Westcot and Natwest both claiming neither them owns the account - until eventually turns out Natwest do still own the debt and was in the process of being sent back to them, even though Westcot claim they sent it back last year!
I explained  to Natwest wanted to make a full and final settlement offer of £112 (25% - and was willing to negotiate) - she said that wouldn't be possible because that wouldn't clear the debt of £451 - I got a bit annoyed then and explained that I actually have a letter from Westcot saying the client (natwest) wants to offer a reduced settlement figure. Anyway she said she couldn't help me now and made a note on my account for somebody to contact me. I asked when this would be, I know it's difficult at the moment for a lot of companies but she couldn't give any indication as to when I'd be contacted.

Still waiting to hear back from Link Financial and PRA Group regarding settlement offers.

Hopefully can tick another account off again soon!

DebbyInDebt

Another debt cleared!
This was for the PRA Group, (MNBA) account for the amount of £2,805.
I made a F&F Settlement offer at £700, they were willing to accept £1,118 - I couldn't believe it that's just 40%! I paid it today and officially closed the account! I can't believe how easy that was.
So now I've cleared a total of £6,004 and 36.82% of the total! Getting closer.
I've got £10,303 left, which still sounds like a huge amount when I think about the progress I'm making it feel like I can tackle it.

[Deleted User]

You're doing fantastically x

WinterWarrior

Great progress!