I’m 34 and have been in debt since I was 18. It ends now!

GolfR

Hi everyone! So I’m still toying with the idea of selling my car while the prices are higher at present. Wbac have offered me £9700 but I suspect due to the lengthy repairs and mods list I could get about 12k private.

I have a question though, I’ve been looking and houses that look nice are around the 130k mark. Lloyds, who I bank with, have suggested I could have up to 187k so this is well within what I could borrow. However, I owned a home a few years ago with my ex. It was never mortgaged but I was on the deeds until he bought me out via a solicitor just over two years ago. Would this still be classed as ‘buying my first home’ in terms of stamp duty etc? I don’t know a huge amount about mortgages but I will be looking to clue myself up soon. I probably won’t be taking one out for a year or so but it’s good to know the answers to these questions in advance. 

GolfR

Hi all. I’m in the middle of my annual leave at the moment and it’s been lovely but busy. I’ve done some more decluttering and lots of cleaning and I’m going to the tip again tomorrow. It’s costing me so much more in food being home with the kids and my electric smart meter is going up way quicker than I’d like! I sent some last bits off to music magpie and cex the other day which gave me £28 so off another £30 went to my loan which is currently on £6670. If all goes to plan I should have roughly £300 or so to go towards it before pay day this month. If I could manage another £50 towards it I’ll be into the £5000’s after my next monthly payment goes out which is very exciting 😄 oh and I won the works bonus ball lottery last night which got me an extra £59!

I’ve put my folding bike onto marketplace and eBay this evening, the tyres are completely flat on it and nothing I’ve done from google searching has worked so I’ve had to bite the bullet and put it up for sale, making it known that it needs to be fixed. I imagine it’s quite easy for someone who knows their way around bikes, even if they need to change the inner tube. Hopefully it should make around £150 which I’ll be happy with.

I messaged someone about a £500 Corsa this morning but by the time they replied the car had gone, which I was expecting but I was still a little gutted about that. I’m not having much luck trying to find a cheap car that’s got full service history and not terrible mileage! And all the cars I’ve seen on autotrader through independent garages, I google the garage and they’ve all had AWFUL reviews which has put me right off buying a car from a trader. I know it shouldn’t be this way but I’m really frightened that what happened with my other cheap car will happen again. Guess I’ll keep looking!

GolfR

Thought I’d update on my news. I bought a car! I’d been trawling the sales pages for a good couple of weeks and nothing was right, rubbish service history (which was a no go after my last experience) or people not getting back to me etc. But luckily this woman I messaged via autotrader came back to me quickly with the information I asked for and the car had full service history, and upon looking into the car/engine itself which is a Skoda Fabia estate with a VW 1.9 sdi (non turbo diesel), they’re absolutely bulletproof as long as the cambelt is changed regularly. It hasn’t been done since 88k miles and the car is just under 200k so I’m having that done next week while I use my main car to get around in and then nothing else needs doing until the service in January and mot in July - hopefully!

The car cost me £600, insurance £333, £13 pm tax, rac breakdown (definitely a necessity with this!) is £9 pm for the full package and with the cambelt and water pump (£280) the car has cost me around £1250! I’ve had to buy an fm transmitter and a phone holder and I may buy some cheapy parking sensors as I’ve always had small/medium sized cars so I feel safer having them. I’m not bothered about nudging my car but I don’t want to catch someone else’s.

I’ll make sure this one goes alright for the next month or two and then I’ll look to sell mine. There’s no rush to sell it as I need to pay off my big loan first before applying for a mortgage which has £6700 left on it. I’m planning to get that paid off within the next year and then I’ll see how things go. The way the housing market is at the moment I think I’m better off waiting a year or so until hopefully the prices start to drop a little. 

My neighbours want to buy their house from our landlord. It’s valued at around 130k but he wants £140k which I’m assuming he’ll want for mine as well (semi detached) so I’m not sure how that would work really in the sense of getting a mortgage. Can you get a mortgage for higher than the valuation? As I didn’t think you could. I love the house itself and a driveway, especially a double driveway is rare where I live, same with a garden. I have both here but I’m not willing to be ripped off. The kitchen is pretty small here and I would like a bigger one; which I have planned in my head how I would do it if I bought the house, but I’m sure that wouldn’t come cheap. And I can get a house with a bigger kitchen for 130/140k around here. So I can’t decide really but luckily, as I said, I’m not in a rush.

So that’s my news for the week! I’m a bit strapped for cash now after paying all that out and having to pay £280 for the timing belt and water pump next week so it’s going to be a cheap month next month! I’m so relieved I did that bank shift a couple of weeks ago as I had £348 from that today and it’s paid for the majority of the car. I put the insurance on my credit card but that’s being paid when I get paid next month before any interest accrues.

Thanks for reading if you got this far! 

CRANKY40

I have a skoda Fabia hatchback and it's great. Cheap and cheerful and very reliable.  My ex taxied in one and it was the least problematic car we ever had. 

GolfR

That’s great to hear Cranky! I do like the hatchback Fabia’s, I’ve never been a fan of estate cars but beggars can’t be choosers. And the kids and dog will love how big it is! I did a really cheery laugh to myself when I saw how big the boot was, I can’t believe I’ve been doing all these tip runs in the polo 🤣

I had a great morning money wise! Someone came to buy my old mower and someone else messaged me about the folding bike I had on marketplace and they both sold. £20 for the mower and £130 for the bike. I had £30 cash in the house as well so I went to the bank to pay the £180 in so that has paid off much of the rest of the new car from my overdraft; I’m now just £24 overdrawn. I get paid on Thursday next week so this week coming has to be no spend as I’ve got a really spendy month coming next month with the timing belt and paying the car insurance off my credit card. The month after hopefully I’ll be able to start paying extra off my loan again and also look to sell the polo. Time to raid my freezers!

mark55man

good job - those diesels will go for miles and miles - I got up to 250,000 and only had to change it cause I got rear ended 

GolfR

I’ve heard that they will go forever and a day. I saw one on a YouTube video on 450k miles and it was still going strong!

DayDreamerandGeneralWaster

Hi GolfR congratulations on your light bulb moment and journey so far. Don't be like me and still have debt into your forties 😊

enthusiasticsaver

You seem to be doing well on the decluttering and selling stuff.  I hope the car works out ok as  selling your existing one will make a dent in those two large loans. 

As for getting a mortgage most lenders will go up to the age of 70 but overpaying it and clearing it before retirement is advisable but  you have plenty of time to sort that out.  If you have bought before you are not a FTB.  If the landlord asks higher than the valuation then the mortgage offer will be lower as it will be based on valuation rather than sale price so asking £140k when it is only worth £130k will mean you finding an additional £10k deposit in addition to the normal deposit assuming you not getting a 100% mortgage as not sure those are available now. 

mark55man

I know it would be a lot easier and much less disruptive to buy the house you are in.  But you are saving the LL estate agents fees, and so his "excess" for selling to you will ne closer to £12K - so I don't think you are saving £12K worth of hassle.  so why not just go out and have a good look at what is available in your area (or even think about slightly wider area if that's doable in your circumstances)

On the other hand, the LL prob doesn't care if he sells or not, as he's got a tenant in paying his mortgage already - so may not be in a negotiating mood