The road to my end of 12 years of debt.

sparks_2023

I like the idea of documenting my debt and its eventual demise.

After 12 years of debt this is where I am.

Today the situation is :

PRIORITY DEBTS :

Council Tax ( 2 x £264 ).
Parking Ticket ( £70 ).
Gas Bill : £185 to be paid ASAP.

Unsecured loans : ( Will be paid as and when funds allow as I already have 2 defaults on my Credit File. )

Likely Loans ( AP MARKER, 9 × £73 ). 1 Payment Late.
CashFloat ( AP MARKER, 2 × £111 ).
Bamboo ( AP MARKER, 4 x £120, 1 x £80 ).
Payment Assist ( motor repairs ) ( 1 x £245 ). Payment Late.
CreditSpring ( 3 × £42 ).
Lantern Debt Collection ( 2 × £31 ).


NatWest £1950 overdraft ongoing.


Credit Cards ( all Maxxed ) :
Aqua ( £1200  ). Payment Holiday until £180 due April 1st.
Capital One ( AP MARKER, £700 ). £56 per Month arrangement for next 6 months. 1st payment likely to be Missed/Late.
Vanquis ( £250 ).
Zopa ( £200 ).
Smile ( £500 ).

Defaults :
( Jan 2023 ) Fund Ourselves (£92). No payment plan.
( Jan 2023 ) CashAsap (£102). No payment plan.

Current income after accommodation: £1000 / month.

Car automatic gearbox died, car sold for scrap. Unused period of driver insurance refunded.

No assets except decent pension pot.

sparks_2023

End of February update :

A couple of financial facepalms : The Parking Ticket fine has risen to £105 due to non payment. And I got a DVLA fine for not continuing my road tax and not telling them I'd sold the car to a scrap dealer. Stupid me.

Council Tax PAID. Phew.


PRIORITY DEBTS :

Council Tax Arrears PAID.
Parking Ticket ( £105 ). Pay this week.
DVLA fine ( £70 ) Needs to be paid by March 18th.
Gas Bill : £185 to be paid ASAP.

Unsecured loans :

Likely Loans ( AP MARKER, 8 × £73 ).
CashFloat ( AP MARKER, 2 × £111 ).
Bamboo ( AP MARKER, 4 x £120, 1 x £80 ).
Payment Assist ( motor repairs ) ( 1 x £245 ).
CreditSpring ( 2 × £42 ).
Lantern Debt Collection ( 1 × £31 ). GONE IN 30 DAYS.


NatWest £1950 overdraft ongoing.


Credit Cards :
Aqua ( £1200, Maxxed, Cut up  ). Payment Holiday until £180 due April 1st.
Capital One ( AP MARKER, £700, Maxxed, Cut up ). £56 per Month ( x6).
Vanquis ( £250, Maxxed ).
Zopa ( £200, Maxxed ).
Smile ( £500, Maxxed ).

Defaults :
( Jan 2023 ) Fund Ourselves (£92). No payment plan.
( Jan 2023 ) CashAsap (£102). No payment plan.

Current income after accommodation: £1000 / month.

No assets except decent pension pot.

sparks_2023

It feels like I need a target so I can see the wood from the trees.

Target - pay off all the "miscellany" ( everything except overdraft and credit cards ) within 150 days ( 25th July 2023 ).

Then I can get a plan to attack the remaining 6 debts.

enthusiasticsaver

I look forward to your updates. Good to have a target and plan. 

sparks_2023

Just had a bolt of inspiration.

Over the past 12 years I have had hundreds of payday loans. I wouldn't be surprised if it is approaching 1000 of the evil things. At 1 stage I had 13 on the go each and every month. The tragic familiar story of having to take new loans as the repayments for existing loans each month took all my money.

Anyway, I know that only the last 6 years are relevant and I have reclaimed a fair bit of interest in the past. But...

I never claimed against CashAsap as I "wanted not to ruin my relationship with them". But they defaulted me last month ! There is no longer that relationship. The gloves are off - I'm going to claim against the 30 odd loans from them on my credit file.

sparks_2023

Capital One just ruined my mood with this text message to my phone...

"You'll permanently lose the use of your card ending xxxx if you do not act. We can still help you avoid further action, but you must call us now on 08000520242"

Starts off with a threat and then decides to appear like they want to help.

It's £56 you petty idiots. Get some perspective.

I'm just sick of them and I can't wait to be rid of this particular credit card.

sparks_2023

I cheered myself up with sending off my complaint about the loans from CashAsap. Let's see what happens.

sparks_2023

Just got the acknowledgement back from CashASAP.

They will let me know within the required 8 weeks.

These loans were mostly chained - paid back and re-loaned on the next ( or same ! ) day so I'm confident in my claim.

Let's see. I'll now put it out of my mind, ready to escalate to the Ombudsman if necessary.

More pressingly, the Parking Fine of £105 is now paid.

I'll update the situation next week, and then give an April Fools day update after that - unless CashASAP deliver good news beforehand.

sparks_2023

March update :


Repayment phase 1 ( 146 days to go ) :

DVLA fine ( £70 ) Needs to be paid by March 18th.
Gas Bill : £185 to be paid ASAP.
Likely Loans ( AP MARKER, 8 × £73 ).
CashFloat ( AP MARKER, £200 remaining, payment plan failed ).
Bamboo ( AP MARKER, 4 x £120, 1 x £80 ).
Payment Assist ( motor repairs ) ( 1 x £245 ).
CreditSpring ( 2 × £42 ).
( Default ) Lantern Debt Collection ( 1 × £31 ).
( Default ) Fund Ourselves (£92). No payment plan.
( Default ) CashAsap (£102). No payment plan. Raised claim against them about this and many more loans.



Repayment Phase 2 :

NatWest £1950 Overdraft.
Aqua CC ( £1337, Cut up  ). Payment Holiday until £180 due April 1st.
Capital One CC ( AP MARKER, £802, Cut up ). £59 per Month ( x6).
Vanquis CC ( £223, £250 Limit).
Zopa CC ( £194, £200 Limit ).
Smile CC ( £481, £500 Limit ).


Current income after accommodation, council tax, gas, electric and water: £500 / month.

Defaults : Oct 2022, Dec 2022, Dec 2022.

sparks_2023

Gas Bill paid ! A terrible weight off my mind.

Now I have to call Capital One ( dreading it ), Likely Loans and Bamboo. I assume I am not in the running for any of them's favourite customer of the year.

The highest priority now is the DVLA fine for late admin on my scrapped car.

sparks_2023

Credit where credit is due - Capital One were very helpful when I got through to 2nd line support. They did warn me that my card may be withdrawn at the end of my payment plan but for my own satisfaction I'll try to get in first and be the "dumper" not the "dumpee". The card is going to go in any case.

So another one not to worry about.

Yikes ! Just noticed the Aqua £180 payment due on April 1st. That one had been pushed so far to the back of mind that it had almost disappeared from memory. Oh well, that's now priority 2 after the DVLA fine.