Too much debt, where do I start?

welshspendthrift

I have paid off just over £5000 since lightbulb moment in June still a very long way to go but at least it’s on way down. I’m proud of the fact that I have set realistic budget with DD  and OH  and a friend for their Christmas presents. Think my past generosity and overspending at Christmas has added to the debt. I have looked at credit card statements to see where the debt was accrued. I feel very stupid as to how it went up and up , the word no you can’t have that obviously didn’t occur in my vocabulary, thankfully it does now!  And none of this years Christmas spending is adding to the debt😀 food budget is doing ok and we will get fresh turkey from Lidl. Still within budget , aiming to shave more off it in January. Doing some home baked presents , as well as some Christmas treats with granddaughter! That should be fun icing and sweets everywhere 🤣. 

Picked up Magic bag tonight from Sainsbury’s to go, 3 big packs of blueberries, (ys was £2.60 each) 12 mini quiches, 2 chicken and bacon Kiev’s, large white toast loaf, 3 boxes of Mr Kiplin cakes, a ready meal Chinese curry and a nice sandwich all for £4, roughly £16 ys prices and we will use it all, might freeze some blueberries if not give some to DD as granddaughter loves them. 

2021 will be a hard slog but really want to overpay and get rid of some as per snowball calculator. Perhaps even bring DFD forward 

welshspendthrift

Update, got a pay rise which will come into effect at the end of the month so my plan is to throw the extra at the debt.exceeded my 2021 target of £1000 a month by £50 in January not much but every little bit helps. Need to buy the breakdown recovery ,Will do through top cash back hopefully! Debt figure reduced by 7,405.06 since June 2020 , feels slow but at least in the right direction. There will be some back pay too but am hoping that will pay for some damage to my car that I inflicted by driving too close to a trolley park area just before Christmas😢 Tiredness and driving don’t mix! Scraped bottom edge and door on the high kerb and rail  badly , annoyed with myself as was an avoidable accident ☹️ Got one quote probably need to get another quote to check price, had work done on previous car at the place though( not my fault that time) which was good. I’m due some leave so eBay selling will be done by end of March. 

welshspendthrift

Sadly pay rise won’t be effective till end of March 😢 but there will be back pay. Will have some extra due to extra bit of work which will all go to debts. Decided to go through insurance for damage so can use the extra pay towards debt. I have protected no claims so hopefully won’t affect next year premiums too much. Still haven’t done car breakdown as not travelling much and it’s not an old car! But feel I should get it sorted just in case! My OH proposed on Valentine’s Day so we will be planning a small wedding, another motivating factor to sort debts so we can afford a wedding in a few years. 😀
I think I need to look at planning a wedding on a small budget, do not want to get into further debt so we will be saving in advance!! Any advice gratefully received 😀

Mrs_F_2017

@welshspendthrift Congratulations on your engagement you are right, a very good reason to stick to budget with a wedding to motivate you!

Jamesyb123

Read through your diary you are going in the right direction. Be careful with the wedding that’s what started my debt spiral many years ago it can get away from you. Just be strict and you can still have a lovely day on a budget. Good luck 😊

welshspendthrift

Thank you @Mrs_F_2017 😀
And thank you @Jamesyb123 , I will thank you, no credit cards will be used so will be saving as well as paying off debts 😀

DIYBaldyman

Do some research - National Debt Helpline & Debt Camel are great places to start. Write to your creditors & make a request for the Consumer Credit Agreement & full statement under sections 77-79 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974. Chances are that they won't be able to locate this information if the debt has been sold on to a debt collection agency, or the account dates back to before around 2010. At that point the debt becomes legally unenforceable. There is no legal action they can take against you to make you repay. If the debt has defaulted, all you need to do is make token payments for 6 years from the default date to keep your credit file clean until it drops off. If it defaulted more than 6 years ago you can just stop paying.

welshspendthrift

@DIYBaldyman Thank you

sourcrates

DIYBaldyman said:

Do some research - National Debt Helpline & Debt Camel are great places to start. Write to your creditors & make a request for the Consumer Credit Agreement & full statement under sections 77-79 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974. Chances are that they won't be able to locate this information if the debt has been sold on to a debt collection agency, or the account dates back to before around 2010. At that point the debt becomes legally unenforceable. There is no legal action they can take against you to make you repay. If the debt has defaulted, all you need to do is make token payments for 6 years from the default date to keep your credit file clean until it drops off. If it defaulted more than 6 years ago you can just stop paying.

"National Debt line", not "National Debt Helpline".

The former is a well respected Debt advice company that provides free, and impartial debt advice.

The latter is a bottom feeder Debt Management Company that does not.
Avoid the latter.

Your advice is a little off kilter, making any kind of payment will stop a debt becoming statute barred, and just because a debt is more than 6 years old, does not mean it is unenforceable, the truth is slightly more complex than than.
Also what has 2010 got to do with anything ?

A little fact checking before posting would not go amiss.

welshspendthrift

Thank you @sourcrates
at the moment I am going in the right direction and debt is reducing, hopefully with payrise, back pay due end of March and payment for some extra work at end of Feb I can throw some more money at the debts so speeding up my DFD 😀