Debt Free Diary

Addictionisbad

Hello All,

I’m some years into my debt free journey however I thought I’d start to share the process in aims to help others or highlight the processes to becoming debt free and reducing high levels of debt.

I racked up all of my debt at a young age of 18 through gambling addiction and compulsive purchasing.

I believe this was sparked by playing games such as FIFA and CSGO where loot boxes and packs promoted a culture of gambling from a young age.

I entered a DMP with Stepchange in Nov 2018 however in 2020 I decided to exit this and manage the debt by myself as I had a high enough income to sort settlements and start reducing the debt more swiftly for reduced payments.

I am now 22 and earning over £30k a year so I aim to have this debt cleared by the end of the year and begin saving for a house deposit.

The date is currently 21/04/22 and my debts are as follows:


Defaulted Credit (Secondary Priority):

Nationwide: £15,000 (currently with the FOS with a settlement of £2,500 pending due to irresponsible lending on Nationwide’s part.)
Cabot: £590 (currently discussing settlement options)
PRA Group: £390 (settlement offer of 20% accepted by not paid yet (£78.93))
Tesco Bank Credit Card: £769 (had no contact on this for over 3 years, will discuss settlement offers soon)

Credit in Good Standing (Priority):

118 118 Credit Card: £250
Creditspring: £500
Capital One Credit Card: £200
Ocean Credit Card: £400
Very Store Card: £280
Cashfloat: £300

Closed & Resolved Accounts:

Credit Provider (Original Credit) (settled amount)

Quickquid (£300) (£120)
Vanquis (£250) (£250)
Wageday (£150) (£150)
DJS (£120) (£120)
Lloyds Asset Finance (£12,000) (£8,600)
Amigo Loans (£2,250) (£2,250)
Lending Stream (£100) (£100)
Argos Card (£300) (£300)
Fund Ourselves (£400) (£600)

There may well be a few I’ve missed as I’ve settled a lot of debt in my time! However I think this gives good insight into my present position!

Cheers,
Addictionisbad

WinterWarrior

Hi @Addictionisbad , welcome to the diaries. You have done so well so far and only a year left to be debt free. Well done. Do you have an SOA and know exactly where your money goes and what’s left for overpayments? Maybe with some help on here you could make a few changes and get done even quicker. Do you have an amount in mind to save for your deposit? Do you rent, or live with parents? Lots of questions sorry.
I have certainly spent more on games than a sensible person should and wasted disposable income I absolutely should not have done, to a point where I realised and blocked myself. So I totally understand how easy it is to slip into and I hope you are very proud of yourself for recognising things needed to change.