Debt-Free Wannabe Newbie

NigelFax

Hi All, 
I have been wanting to get debt free for a long time now and thought i would try to make a real go of it this year. 
Debt currently stands at Approx. £35k.
got 5 CC's totalling £15.7k (only 1 for £4k is on 0%) . 1 of these cards is with Barclaycard and we know they plan on increasing minimum payments from my Feb Statement, so not sure how much that will go up by and what impact it will have on me been able to clear down my debts
Overdraft at £1.7k (was £3k last year) so feel good i managed to get this down
2 loans total £18K
i can manage these payments just by only making minimum on some, but slightly overpaying on others. i have decided to try and do the snowball affect, So next month when we get a bonus, (lucky i work for a company who are still willing to pay one this year in the current climate) i plan on paying 2 of the CC's off fully so that will reduce my debt by approx. £1.5k.
With working from home at the moment what i would normally use in petrol i have decided rather than spend will start to put on a debt

BlueJ94

good luck with your debts! Maybe make a diary on here so some of us can support you!

Babybelles

Good luck. You’ve got a plan so are on your way to sort this.

I have 5 CCs & only one is 0% interest. It just makes me more determined to make a good dent in the debt so I don’t waste any more money than needed on interest.

bloomfelt

Good luck
I would recommend joining some of the DFW challenges to help you along the way.  I found the No spend day challenge very useful last year - it certainly makes me think twice before buying something and meant I had spare money left over to put towards debt. I have added January's link below
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6227782/joyous-januarys-nsd-challenge/p1

LMCD

Hi there, how long have you had the loans and debts for? have you considered writing to the companies and asking them if they would freeze the interest for an amount of time in order for you to try tackle it much better ?
Also have you done what incoming is and your outgoing to see if you can make savings. every little helps, good luck with your mission

enthusiasticsaver

Good idea to use any fuel savings  you make from working at home to overpay the cards.  Most overdrafts are around 40% interest now so I would sort that out before the cards. 

NigelFax

Hi LMCD,
i have had 1 of the loans for just over 2 years now so only got just under 3 years left. these debts are managable, so happy to keep them going for the time being, when i have cleared some of the CC's end of this month. i will put this money onto other's.
my Halifax CC only has £330 outstanding, so clearing that and then closing the account, so that will be 1 down
got another at approx £900 (AO.Com newday) which i might be able to clear, which will give me 50 quid a month back will close that also.
Bonus is slightly better than i thought, forgot i had moved up a bracket, so money left over will go on overdraft to bring that down by £500 hopefully (depends how much the tax man takes  

Blodyn82

Hi, I'm a newbie too and your situation sounds similar to mine. I have around £36,000 to tackle over 4 credit cards and 2 loans. I started off at around £43,500 in July and have been using the snowball method to get it down. Was also really lucky to have a tax rebate which I put towards the debt. I'm using the snowball method and hope to pay one of the credit cards off in May. Good luck with everything, it's going to take time but you're on the right track (this is what I say to myself when I'm struggling!). 

NigelFax

Hi All,
Not updated for a while, but today is payday/Bonus day, So at the moment i have done the following, which to me is a good start
Halifax CC (£330) paid off, once account updated will close
AO.com (newday CC) £860 Paid off, will wait for the statement to come through in a few days then will be closed
reduced Overdraft by £100, (Now at £1.6K)
Argos Card (had a bnpl due up, so paid that off £152)
So things going in the right direction. 
We have got our Fixed Mortgage deal coming up in June and we was wondering would it be better (if allowed) to take a little more and pay some of the higher interest paying accounts off? like the Overdraft?

sammyjammy

As a general rule never change unsecured debt for secured.  Just keep hitting that overdraft as hard as you can then you can reassess what you have left.  Good luck - you're doing great!

NigelFax

Hi All,
Not updated in a while.
my current situation 
Halifax and AO.com have been closed
2 loans are on the way down and just carrying on making normal payments, currently £15.3K left
MBNA (0%) still paying above the minimum required, down from £4k to £3.3K (got until October then will need a new 0%)
Argos card, just plodding away with this one down to £990
BarclayCard, payment went up by 30quid which has slowed paying it down but still  slighty overpaying. (but have used it a couple of times for when things have broken and need fixing) don't have any savings yet that will be another target at some point
Overdraft has not changed from £1.6k