10yrs in and just paid off my last debts!

moto1

Old member here but couldn't get into my original account.  Its has taken me over 10yrs paying monthly via CCS now Stepchange for my debts to reduce enough for me to make settlement offers on them and I have just made the last payments. WOOP WOOP!  I was in debt for over 50k in a downward spiral before having my lightbulb moment and drawing a line under things and getting help, I didn't think it would ever get paid off but today it has.  All my lenders where supportive other than Nat West who constantly lumped on charges and interest for months at the start and took me to court to try and get my house (they didn't succeed). There is light at the end of the tunnel even if it takes a long time you can win and move forward, If you are reading this and in a similar situation get help from Stepchange or similar,  don't bury your head in the sand you will feel so much better with there support..

sourcrates

I think I remember your story actually, rings a bell anyway.

Very well done, 10 years is a long time, but with a house to keep safe, options are limited.

Good for you.

EssexHebridean

Congratulations to you - get your name on the DF roll of honour ASAP and pat yourself on the back! 

moto1

Thanks, Nat west where total bar stewards and wanted me to pay an unrealistic monthly payment that they new I couldn't afford!  When it got to court they never showed up just sent a statement, I guess they thought they would automatically get the judgment.  Lucky for me the magistrate was lovely and we had a long chat and she asked me what I could afford to pay and set the judgment at that although she did have to give me a CCJ, they only one I got in the 10yrs..  

RAS

Congratulations. That's a major achievement.

Maybe your story also highlights the wisdom (earned over recent years here) of delaying the start of your repayments until the creditor has defaulted?

moto1

RAS said:

Congratulations. That's a major achievement.

Maybe your story also highlights the wisdom (earned over recent years here) of delaying the start of your repayments until the creditor has defaulted?

I kept up all my payments until CCS took over then all my lenders other than Nat West excepted the DMP offer but also defaulted me as to be expected.  I was and still am self employed and was constantly at breaking point, I thought the right thing to do was to get help before defaulting on the debts which was only a matter of time, I should have got help a year earlier and saved my self a lot of stress to be honest.  In the 10yrs I never missed a DMP payment, I managed to move house to a cheaper but nicer area 100 miles away clearing our mortgage and I also start another business as well.

Andyjflet

Wow, 10 years, but look where you are now, what did you do during this time, £5k a year cleared, did you get extra work> Cut back on luxuries etc? Would like to hear more about your story. You've done well to stick it out, I'm three years in, with a year to go max, but I'm already wobbling and seeing things I want to buy.

moto1

Half of my debt was with Nat West and under a CCJ so was a separate payment to my DMP so that got paid off first 4-5 years ago then I could increase my DMP.  We moved 7 years ago from the south east to Norfolk and that allowed us to clear our mortgage and buy another house outright so no more mortgage so again increased my DMP.  My income has increased quite a lot in recent years so that gave me some extra money and over time the smaller debts finished just leaving a few bigger ones. This week I had £2100 left on my debts so made offers to settle the accounts and today paid them off, a few took 50 percent a couple wanted more but ended up settling the lot today.  Going to be strange not paying my DMP anymore One things thats quite mad, all my debts dropped off my credit file 4-5 years ago and my Experian credit score is 999/1000, I have a mobile phone on contract and a credit building credit card that I use for small amounts and pay off when the bill comes in so must be helping.  Being self employed my income is not set in stone so when I had a good month I would put a bit away so I always had a buffer to cover the bad months, this was a good thing for me as I didn't feel like all I was doing was paying debts with every spare penny.  Not had a holiday for a loooooog time though Andyjflet said:

Wow, 10 years, but look where you are now, what did you do during this time, £5k a year cleared, did you get extra work> Cut back on luxuries etc? Would like to hear more about your story. You've done well to stick it out, I'm three years in, with a year to go max, but I'm already wobbling and seeing things I want to buy.

horsewithnoname

Huge congratulations!