Making a plan to become debt free/cancelling pet insurance discussion

RobzM

Hi, first time posting I think, but I just had the shock of my life when I got an email from my credit card saying I just went over the limit. I have 3 credit cards, 2 are 0% transfer balance ones I dont use, but just pay off just over the minimum monthly so its always reducing. But my 3rd card isn't 0% anything and has been getting battered without me realising it I could make all the excuses in the world, bad health for the last couple years both mentally and physically. I'm married and we have a 4 year old that has been a medically complex baby, Im pregnant again/about to give birth and its been a really rough pregnancy. I was working 30 hours a week (to allow time for looking after said toddler as well as studying at uni, as legally I had to to get the job I want at my work). I work in healthcare so I'm just drained all the freaking time. See all the excuses in the world, but basically it means I have just been spending on my credit card to make myself feel better/constant takeaways because im too tired to cook half the time. Excuses I'm now working on. I'm going through my outgoings to see where I can reduce (there isnt much!), but my husband has suggested that we cancel the pet insurance as that is one of my biggest outgoings! I currently pay £116 a month towards it. This is one I'm really struggling with. She is an older dog now (almost 13 i think), so the likely hood of her needing the insurance is high. If it was a case of she got cancer we would probably just let her go (a nice peaceful time at home with her family) and not push for treatment and expensive tests. But I worry it would be something silly like a small accident that needs a £5k surgery and we just cancelled the insurance. She is on regular medicine: propalin for a leaky bladder suspected caused by her spaying when she was younger which we claim for, but honestly it feels like we get less back everytime, so could just start paying for it fully out of pocket. And painkillers for onset arthritis, which I havent started claiming back for via insurance yet so it currently out of pocket. It's just the worry that she is otherwise a healthy dog, and if it was a minor accident that she would be fine again after a pricey surgery how could I face just getting her put down because we cant afford it. We've had her since she was 2, so she is family. It's just been the last 2 years with cost of living and my head in the sand attitude to finance that has caused this. Other ways of getting out of debt right now: we just made the finally payment on the car, so thats £200 not being paid out a month anymore. Husband is working overtime right now (major guilt from me, cause I cant due to baby coming any day now!/it makes sense for him to do the overtime and now me as he earns a lot more than me (at least until I can finally finish uni and get the job I want which will put me on par with his wage). I just opened another credit card with 0% transfer because yes thats 4 damn credit cards open, but I can transfer half the debt on the one thats just gone over the limit (and I am paying hella interest on it) and work really hard to try stop spending and pay the rest of it off this coming year and get it closed and then work harder all the 3x 0% interest ones. I have rambled and if anyone reads all of this and/or comments thank you. It just is a suddenly scary place I found myself in tonight with the email from the bank.

pramsay13

£116 / month for 1 dog? 
We pay around £25 / month for our 10 year old and I think that's a lot. 

RobzM

Yeah 1 dog! Hence my husbands desire to cancel the insurance at this point. She's been on the propalin since she got spayed 10 years ago, so we have been claiming for that, plus she had a couple of pricey minor operations on a foot and a leg when she trod on broken bottles hidden in long grass which left nasty gashes, so that was claimed for. So I assume that's what has driven up the monthly price, but its at a price now (and the excess goes up every time too, which means less back to us of course) that i'm struggling to justify it, unless something went wrong and we needed it and then I would hate myself for having to put down 'a family member' who was otherwise healthy. I don't think we can get other insurance for her at this point, due to her age and the pesky pre-existing condition of bladder incontinence and arthritis. 

35har1old

RobzM said:

Yeah 1 dog! Hence my husbands desire to cancel the insurance at this point. She's been on the propalin since she got spayed 10 years ago, so we have been claiming for that, plus she had a couple of pricey minor operations on a foot and a leg when she trod on broken bottles hidden in long grass which left nasty gashes, so that was claimed for. So I assume that's what has driven up the monthly price, but its at a price now (and the excess goes up every time too, which means less back to us of course) that i'm struggling to justify it, unless something went wrong and we needed it and then I would hate myself for having to put down 'a family member' who was otherwise healthy. I don't think we can get other insurance for her at this point, due to her age and the pesky pre-existing condition of bladder incontinence and arthritis. 

I assume the excess resets on policy year and each condition has its own excess. When the policy year begins and you visit but you treatment  does not exceed the excess are you able to combine the claim the next time you visit or does it always needs to be in one visit before it becomes a ongoing claim

Rob5342

How do you plan to pay for any treatment the dog needs if you dont have the insurance? Also how long do you habe before the 0% deals end? It. Might be worth you posting a statement of affairs so people can comment on your whole situation 

FlorayG

How much would the dog's current medication cost you without insurance?
Does your insurance for the dog cover any age related conditions? Obviously there's a much higher possibility of needing vet intervention now do g is old, but often vets will offer all sorts of treatment if you are insured that they won't if you aren't - keeping a dog alive longer than they really should and with no quality of life
In the end, that decision is up to you; and of course there's always the worry that you cancel and the next month have a huge vet bill, which is what makes people keep paying
It's not a problem I have - I have so many pets there's no way I could afford to insure them, I just keep a very good relationship with my vet 

RobzM

I'm looking into just taking out some kind of basic policy: accident and new illness that has limited cover i.e. runs out after 12 months. As if something happened accident wise I would want cover. But if it was age related we would be more likely to let her go as I watched family dog have their life extended well past what it probably should have been and it was hard to watch. And I'm getting quotes for like £35 a month which seems more reasonable than £116 a month! We are happy to pay for her 2 medications she is on out of pocket (My husband tells me he paid £140ish for 2 months supply of pain killers and a large bottle of her bladder medication which tends to last 3-4 months, so its a lot better to pay that than the £116 we think as we don't even get all of it back!).