From broke to better ..a journey

FacelessNumber

I think it's ok to slip up occasionally on spending, you've recognized it and can move on! Also really positive that you were in a better position than last year for the water bill - you're doing a grand job!

lillypoo

Decided to start paying Cabot this morning. They now own 2 of my 4 debts. One other is not yet defaulted (over draft with black horse bank ..haven't touched it fir ten months but will soon write to them and ask them to consider defaulting so it can be added to my dmp). One other with a different bank is a CC which defaulted and was passed to wescot then passed back. Have heard nothing from them since before Christmas.

I'd have liked to have delayed paying but to be honest need the accountability. 

One of the smallest debts I have is a cc for 750. I paid Cabot £10this morning then tried to set up a scheduled payment online but they wouldn't let me set one up for less than £150! That's ten times what the minimum payment was each month before defaulting. Very odd.

Oh well. Not sure if I feel relieved or sick or resigned to what it is. But here we go. 

Emmel

I have 2 debts with cabot both circa £6k, but when i set up my payment it was a minimum of £30 per month as I didn’t fill in an SOA. Weird they are asking for such a large amount

lillypoo

Emmel I think it must be a glitch because my other debt is more than 10 times bigger and it didn't require me to set up a payment that high. I'll try again ttomorrow 

Emmel

Fingers crossed you get it sorted out. 

lillypoo

Well it's a year since I stopped payments on all my non priority debts. I've settled into better budgeting habits thankfully, have a small EF and the fund for a replacement car is slowly growing. I also manage to save enough each month to cover essential bills as they come in over the year.

Mr marks and s bank defaulted me after about 4 missed payments. They then sent the debt to wescot to manage. Wescot contacted via text , letters and phone calls fir a couple of months. Then gave up on me and said they'd be returning the debt to m&s. This was before Christmas.  Since then there's been nothing ! Not sure if this is normal,  but I certainly will not be contacting them. 

Enjoying a little sunshine today and being able to put the washing out to dry on the line. It's the little things!

Emmel

How are things now? Much changed?

lillypoo

Hi @Emmel sorry I've only just seen your question.

Not much has changed.
Paying three debts off to Cabot. They ring and text a lot but I've not answered any communication. They keep wanting a soa .
The m&s debt went to wescott, back to m&s , then to moorcroft in August last year. I've heard nothing since. It's now 2 years since it defaulted, 2.5 years since I engaged with anyone. I'm almost believing I might possibly be able to ride that one out. We will see.

The one thing I do have a struggle with is that my emergency fund sometimes gives me a false sense of security. The spendy voice in my head occasionally tempts me to spend in a way I shouldn't because " there's slways the emergency fund" ... 
This is something I'm working on.

But I managed to get rid of the pcp car, had enough saved to buy an older one outright, have the emergency fund,  have two part time jobs and am able to do Christmas without a credit card.

Doesn't sound like much but Christmases past were times of robbing Peter to pay Paul, paying one credit card by taking cash out of the wall on another, then having a huge panic come January. So despite having the dmp ( self managed) things are much better.

January will see me having a spending review though as I need all my garden boundary refenced and that's going yo be a big bill ..but I like actually having something to aim for ..it keeps me focused. 

How's it all going for you?