Is this it? Am I finally Debt Free? :-)
electricdemon
Forumite 
Hello,
Long-time lurker, and first time poster :-)
I've been inspired by the MLMS and the MSE forums
for years.
I had racked up over £8,000 is CC debt over the
years, covering purchases, bills etc. I had managed to reduce this to just over
£5,000 a few years back, but as my monthly payment to them covered the interest
plus a standard round £100, slowly chipping away at the bill I figured I've
have it cleared in just under 8 years so I ignored it.
However MBNA decided to up the interest rated in
line with the BoE rates meaning that £100 chip away started turning to about
£90/month after interest.
I switched banks to Monzo back in the early days
(2017). I was a serial switcher up until then, claiming the switch incentives
etc I had stopped with Monza as I liked the idea of the security and tools that
I would eventually use to manage my finances. Even though not much had changed,
I was more mindful of what I was paying out each month.
A bit later, after
reading about these ‘round-ups’ I them on, rounding up transactions to the
nearest £1 and putting the difference in a savings pot. I also participated in
automations for savings challenges (deducting the price of a coffee daily and
placing it into a saving pot, £1 daily savings challenges)
In light of the Energy Cap hike in the news
recently I decided to look at my finances in more detail (using the Monzo app
to show my incomings/outgoings etc.) I had found that I had accrued enough in
savings pots and challenges to pay off the £5~grand debt.
I have just transferred the money out of the pots
into my account and as of 14:27 pressed the button on the MBNA page to make a
payment (and it's gone through).
I still have the mortgage left, but that's not an
issue for me yet, let’s see if I can chip away at that in another few years.
It can be done, with a
bit of jiggery-pokery.
Best Regards to you all.
Chris
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