10 years later yikes

1stTimer

Hello all

Here again for round 2… my first diary https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4529627/can-i-do-it/p1 I’ve just looked back at this and as much as I really thought I knew what I was doing, it’s crazy to now see 10years later here I am. I was in my 20’s and ambitious and honestly looking back on it now how in the world could I not have got my !!!!!! together then. I’m 40 this year and worse off then when I was that whipper snapper and it’s shocked me to the core.

Anyway this is a brief start to a brand new diary. long story short in Dec 2019 I was in £50k+ worth of debt I finally knew I needed help, I just couldn’t keep up…

Stepchange were amazing! They stopped those letters and calls in what felt like days and the weight was lifted. Now I know that within months lockdown hit but I’m one of the rare few that it worked in my favour, I continued to work and entered a DMP

im here now to start my 2nd and hopefully final journey! I’ve gone self managed with £20k left to pay.

I am in no means saying anything against SC, they were my lifeline when I needed, however I’m at the stage now where I need to see a change and there are creditors there that are being paid minimal but with a balance that I need to see gone.
I’ve now decided to go self managed and take control I want to see creditors gone not amounts going down, I really believe it will make such a difference.

SO this is just a brief introduction and tomorrow I will get my sums together and start writing a frequent reminder for myself to see where I was and where I am now.

if you are reading thank you this, is for me to see in writing my progress so please don’t feel like you have to comment.

Happy Friday all, tomorrow will be working out what’s owed day 

Blackcats

Good luck on your ongoing journey to debt freedom.
lots of advice and plenty of support on this thread.

[Deleted User]

Looking forward to reading about your ‘financials’ and your plans to pay off the debt and move forward. 

FootyFanDan

Well done for managing to get rid of so much already

Wishing you luck in the next part of your journey

enthusiasticsaver

Well done on getting down from £50k to £20k in debt after just a few years and hopefully it will all be gone soon. Presumably you have now managed to sort out budgeting and saving? Stepchange are brill but going self managed after a while sounds like a plan. 

1stTimer

Fell at the first hurdle with updating my new diary it would seem!

so I left SC with the following to clear

intrum 1 £7,250
intrum 2 £4753
PRA 1 £4088
PRA 2 £1370
cabot £1505
virgin money £1035
There is also Tesco £2232 but I need to look into this one.

The first thing I did when I left SC was pay virgin off.
They never defaulted me throughout and accepted all payments offered to them so I cleared it with the money stepchange would normally take and also added the rest from my savings ( I had been saving my overtime at work last year for f&f offers)
it was such a relief after a year to see another creditor gone.

I’ve just been paid again and managed to pay Cabot ( stepchange had the debt at the amount above but they sent me a letter because I missed the last payment and it had a total of £936 so again used the monthly amount and a little from the creditor pot)

and it brings me to here, 2 intrum debts and 2 PRA debts who both unfortunately are not really known to offer any full and final settlements but it will not hurt to ask I guess!

It’s great to see 2 debts gone but honestly not sure on what I should be doing now….I will continue to save the £750 a month and maybe pay minimal payments for a few months but the motivation to just get them gone is also making me feel like I should just pay the full amounts as and when I can get it?

1stTimer

Today I’ve started looking at cars, my current one is 18 years old with over 130000 on the clock. I only brought it 3 years ago for £2000 and it’s done me well, however the engine management light keeps coming on and apparently it just about passed this last MOT. I don’t know much about cars so when my mechanic said it’s going to need money throwing at it I trust him.

wow I’m once again shocked at how everything is rising price wise! I mean I’ve come to expect it now when food shopping etc but I was not expecting to see so few cars out there at the prices I saw 3 years ago.

I’ve given up and will revisit that when the need becomes more urgent. This cost of living is insane and don’t get me started on the black bin bag shortage I am seeing in my local shops…crazy times

1stTimer

Man am I happy it’s Friday! Work has been carnage but on a plus side the days have just flown by.
why is it when they do fly by you find yourself asking for more hours in the day lol

i said I was going to look into the Tesco debt as I thought they had passed it to Westcot but I was only 1/2 correct. I had 2 debts originally for Tesco and for some reason only one was sold on.

so the bad news is I also owe them, the good news is I paid it in full just so I can still cross them off my list and work with Intrum and PRA.

I know it wasn’t my smallest debt and I also know I could have tried for some form of f&f but I’m taking the win with another one paid. 😏

1stTimer

I managed to earn an extra £4 from a survey site this morning, I only downloaded it approx 4 weeks ago and am managing to earn roughly £4 a week I was a bit worried at the beginning of the week as they locked my account but after emailing them they unlocked it but apparently a researcher had detected multiple quality checks being found…not quite sure what I did wrong but glad I can still carry on.

I think I’m going to add another Monzo pot and just keep throwing the survey money in there so I can watch it grow!

it’s my sisters birthday on Wednesday and I’m really stuck on what to buy her so I guess today I will be browsing online and hoping something jumps out at me

1stTimer

Current update

Intrum 1 - £6144.16
Intrum 2 - £4130.33
Pra 1 - £3848.22
Pra 2 - £1284.19

As usual for me, I’ve switched course again…I was so determined to clear this all by end of year and pay it all back but I think seeing 3 creditors cleared has calmed me a bit and given me the fulfilment I needed for now. I’m happy with that progress.

I’ve now decided to switch pace and lower my 4 remaining payments but throwing the rest of the money I would have paid each month into savings.
I still need to get a new car but my one is currently still chugging along thankfully and until it doesn’t I will keep saving.

eventually I want to try and offer f&f settlements again but I’m going to give it a few more months on the lower payments.

Good to see my debt go from £22,233 in Feb to £15,406 now too 

I’m feeling satisfied today 😊

1stTimer

I really want to pay that smaller PRA debt off but am so annoyed with them and their ridiculous settlement amount on both accounts 😂 I’m struggling to keep emotions out and not be frustrated. Going to keep with the smaller payments and just watch it naturally disappear (tonight at least)