Few false starts but my journey starts here

conkerlad

Hi all,

Long time reader of these forums but here I am posting my journey to become debt-free and set myself on the right path, I am hoping this post will give me accountability in that its the first time I have let the world know about my debt.

As with most people, my debt accrued at a young age of which it escalated to a point that I was only just keeping my head above water, payday loans, bank loan, credit cards etc.

In my mid-20's I managed to battle back but little by little the debts have crept back up so here is my debt as it stands:

Credit Cards:
Capital One - £200
Zopa - £376.05
Vanquis - £1363.17
118118 - £1994.94

Loans:
Bamboo - £5887.62 (Assuming monthly payments over 24 months on £5000)
PRA(Formerly Halifax) - £6273 (CCA requested as loan began in Feb 16, defaulted in Sept 2018)

So on the face of it, compared to some other poor souls, its not so bad, problem is my discipline as so that is primarily the aim of this post.

Ive listed debts in order of amount, im going to snowball them in order to feel like I am getting somewhere.

I have seen a lot of people PAD'ing and I feel this could be a tool I use to gain some discipline with my money.

Currently waiting til friday for a small sum of money and im thinking of just clearing the Capital One then

Thanks for reading.

tacpot12

Congratulations on documenting your situation and sharing it. It will help keep you accountable. 

You are doing all the right things - you just need to keep up the good work. You should return here to update us, even if things are not going so well. Most readers will understand all to well the difficulties of keeping up the right habits, but it really is worth it. I went from having £12,000 of unsecured debt to paying my mortgage off early!

WinterWarrior

Good luck. I think the snowball method is the easiest as you get such a boost from paying each one off. 

[Deleted User]

Good luck, I did the snowball method on my debts and now down to the last one! 
Keep us posted, we are all here for you!

conkerlad

Thanks guys for the nice comments, I have set up a savings space within my Starling bank that rounds up any transaction to the pound and saves it for me.

I've got a lot of decent branded clothing but wear very little of it so I have decided to get these all freshly washed, ironed and ready for pics and then onto Vinted they go.

Be that as I'm waiting for some money Friday and then next money I will receive will be my payday, these feel like a teeny tiny steps but a positive ones where I can muster up a few extra £££.

enthusiasticsaver

Are you paying interest on those debts? 

conkerlad

All except PRA have interest yes. Vanquis and 118118 are the highest but because Capital One and Zopa are low amounts, I figure its best to hit them first and that is 2 debts eliminated.

Karonher

If you feel better about having fewer people to pay that will be the way to go. Ideally, you would put most towards the debt with the highest interest.

conkerlad

Karonher said:

If you feel better about having fewer people to pay that will be the way to go. Ideally, you would put most towards the debt with the highest interest.

All are of high interest in fairness, but you are correct. 

I have an arrangement of £50 per month with PRA which is 0%, I accept the responsibility that I owe money, just really irks me that they bought the debt for pennies to the pound. I'd rather be paying Halifax still.

conkerlad

Currently on night shifts this week and so last night was productive as nights are lone-working.

Went formula crazy in excel creating a budget and debt payment plan exploring both snowball and avalanche method, what was interesting is the forecast debt-free month is the same.

Little update on the debt.

True balances of the CC's are as follows:

Capital One - £159.71/£200
Zopa - £385.21/£400
Vanquis - £1363.17/£1400
118118 - £1994.94/£2000

The £200 planned for Capital One has a £40 flex spot that now I can throw at Zopa.

I have also cut up all the cards which weirdly felt quite hard to do, glad ive done it.

NeverendingDMP

Well done on cutting the cards. If the debt free dates are similar then yes starting low to high will help keep you motivated. It's whichever works best for you. And it's much easier on the mind when you owe fewer people as opposed to owing money all over the place!