Feeling positive about banishing a decade of debt

vixx_123

Secured means it's secured against another asset. For examples a mortgage is secured against your house and car finance can be secured against your car. Basically, the asset secures the debt. If you don't pay your mortgage, the lender sells the house to pay off the debt. 

I only knew about the loan interest because my first statement caused me huge anxiety. Suddenly the £25k loan went up to ~£27k. I called the company and they explained to me. We also had to call for a final settlement as they had to recalculate the interest owed. 

pippa_pelada

@joedenise and @vixx_123 ah, yes, I get it now. In that case only the car is a secured loan. I'm going to get hubby to contact both Natwest and the car finance people to see what the final settlement would be and also about overpaying. Do you think it would be possible to transfer both those loans to a 0% credit card providing our credit rating is good enough. It seems such a shame to be paying so much interest if we don't have to.

pippa_pelada

I might have had a slight breakthrough with hubby today! He wasn’t impressed when I was trying to tell him how much we owe at the moment (I’d just done my figures for December) but he thought I was having a go at him when it was quite the opposite, I was trying to get him to see how far we’ve come and how he should be proud.

I causally metioned that if he curbed his unnecessary spending we might just be able to pay off our debts 6 months earlier and that got him interested! Maybe today was his LBM? I think he needed to hear how far we’ve come in a year and I also think that gave him a sense of relief that maybe he hasn’t actually felt before. I also told him that he needs to get involved in this debt journey because if he leaves it all up to me, he’s not going to learn anything about how to manage finances better – he agreed.

I also promised not to talk about money and debt for a few days which I understand completely. I think I’m just very excited about what I’m learning from this forum so it’s hard not to report back the latest money saving idea I’ve picked up!!

SandyShores

Hi Pippa, well done on your progress so far, you are doing great!

Your story sounds so similar to mine.  It can take a few lightbulb moments for it all to sink in.  My DH has had several, but the last one we both had was that he just can't be trusted to budget - so I am now Chief Finance Manager in the Shores household.  

I'm not sure why its so difficult to talk to others about our debt.  DH always wanted to give the opposite impression, which was part of the problem.  Whilst I wouldn't tell our family the details of our sizeable mortgage, these days I wouldn't hesitate to say that we are trying to pay off our mortgage early or don't have any money left for the month if for example they were pestering us to go away with them (and it sounds better than we just don't want to spend the weekend with you).

Good luck on your journey, keep going - you will get there!

Sandy

savingholmes

Unless you plan to return the car at a certain threshold within the loan - normally after 2 years ish or when you've repaid half - then I would transfer to 0%. We gave back DH's car at the breakpoint. We moved my car finance on to a 0% card. It can be done.

Sarahwithlove

I agree the NW loan is a really high interest so if you can move some or all of it to a card then that would be much better for you as it means more of the repayment will go towards actual debt rather than interest. 

badmemory

I wouldn't bother overpaying your mortgage just yet unless it is on a silly rate.  Get the overpaying details from the Natwest.  Overpaying that will save you a lot more money & then when it has gone you can overpay your mortgage by much more.  What is the interest rate on your credit cards?  Because that is often a lot more.  Highest APR first is usually (but not always) the way to go.

pippa_pelada

Thank you everyone for the advice, that's all really helpful. We've been looking into getting a 0% card for a transfer and we should qualify but we've decided to re-mortgage in March/April when our existing deal is up as we desperately need some work doing on the house so we'll be looking into 0% transfers once we've got the mortgage sorted out just in case anything impacts the rate we might be offered.
@badmemory That's a really good point about early payments on the mortgage - I guess I just wanted to start chipping away at it but you're right, paying off the card and loan is more important at this point. I need to find out the overpaying details for the NW loan and the car this week, just haven't had the chance yet.
@SandyShores yep, chief finance officer sounds about right Yes, my hubby was always wanting to project a certain image but I do think he's coming round to the debt free way of thinking and thank you!

pippa_pelada

09/12/20

I’m supposed to receive £27 on ziffit with another £23 of books to go once I know they’ve received the first lot and they’re not rejected for daft reasons – I’ll put this into the premium bonds pot. I think it’s the only way I won’t end up frittering away any bonus money that comes into our lives. It’s too easy to swap cash around in the starling savings pots!

12/12/20

I’ve spent the last two days clearing out a lot of my stuff – papers, old uni stuff, general stuff, stuff and more stuff and I feel amazing! I’ve noticed from these debt diaries that the de-cluttering tends to go hand in hand with getting a grip on finances. It’s like everything in life builds up and becomes out of control. Anyway, the only clutter left in the house is now hubby’s but that’s a whole other story and will have to be tackled over the next year or so along with the debts.

I received the £27 payment from ziffit so I’ll sell the other £23 worth of books now. Again, I’ll put this extra money in the premium bonds account.

13/12/20

Hubby’s sold some things on ebay today so that will be £600 into the savings which should more than make up for what we’ve spent on Xmas so far. I can sometimes be a bit meh about xmas, it’s hit and miss from one year to another with how much effort I put in and this year is a fairly minimal effort year. I just want to have a lovely meal with hubby, my folks and our good friend. Low key and relaxed hopefully!

I’ve done pretty much all the present shopping now so it’s just the food and wine to sort. I’m not really budgeting for that as the proper budgeting will start after boxing day. We’re doing absolutely nothing for new year and I’m really not fussed with everything that’s going on. We’re just hunkering down and trying to keep as safe and cocooned as we can.

Step daughter and I put the tree up this evening – I promised her Bublé and Baileys while we did it as is our tradition so I'm feeling quite festive for the first time tonight.

pippa_pelada

Ughh, expensive month! I thought we were on track to keep everything to budget but last week we lost the electricity supply in part of the house and had to call out an electrician (still ongoing and more £££) and then we sprung a leak under the kitchen floor which meant calling out a plumber last night only to be told that the dishwasher is leaking and we need a new one. That was a pricey 5 min call out for not very much at all! (and I've got a ton of washing up to contend with to add insult to injury )
Then we realised that it was hubby's good friend's big birthday so we splashed out on that but I don't mind that as he's lovely - it just wasn't budgeted for.
Additionally, I spent two unplanned days as an outpatient at the hospital at the end of last week which now means a pricey covid test on xmas eve in order to feel relaxed around my parents on xmas day and not worry that I might be infecting them with the virus.

At this point I'm feeling very relieved about setting up the emergency fund!