When it's good, it's fun. When it's bad, it's funny.

BrotherUuurgh

Doing some more back-of-envelope calculations, well, sort of, I've projected a few options and their pay-off dates. I'll jot these down below, but wanted to check my methodology with you guys first. I'm doing this before my new SOA, but roughly I'm going leave myself £200/month for clothes, haircut, car costs etc - approx £50/week.

Lendable is the highest interest rate at 48.9% if I remember correctly. Plata is at 34.9%. I know, I know, what was I thinking?... Anyway, these loans allow extra payments without penalty, so I'm going to be doing that. I don't really know how the maths works for loans vs Credit cards. For these loans, I believe when I pay down capital, I will pay less interest overall, however my calculations below are based off the overall amount outstanding today. Hopefully this makes sense... Overpayment options are formatted as follows:

L1 - option 1. This is an overpayment option for Lendable. P1 - option 1. This is an overpayment option for Plata.

L1 £350 (+82), 11m. Option 1 is to pay £350 per month overall, including contractual payment, so an £82 overpayment. It will be cleared in 11 months at this rate of overpayment. 

Hopefully you're still with me 🤣. A few scribbles shows I have approx £550, and leaving myself £200/month means I should have around £350 to play with. 

L1 £350 (+£82), 11m.
L2 £400 (+£132), 9m.
L3 £450 (+£182), 8m.
P1 £200 (+£61), 11m.
P2 £250 (+£111), 9m.
P3 £300 (+£161), 7m.

With the most aggressive overpayments at +£343/month, I could clear these interest bearing accounts in 8 months. I feel like it may be less than that as I will be clearing capital quicker so less interest, but that's where I'm not 100%. With the least aggressive overpayments at +£143/month the accounts will be clear in 11 months. Both accounts would be getting hit hard, which would feel great. But what about snowballing? Is it the same for loans? 

Does any of this sound doable? What about emergency fund? I've not thought about that yet, I'm just really focused on getting debt free, though I'm unlikely to spend the whole £200 that I'm leaving myself per month, but you never know. What would you do with these options? Would you propose any others? Should I leave Plata and hit Lendable with the whole +£343? I just want to be debt free as fast and sensibly as I can. 

[Deleted User]

I think the £200 a month you are putting by for the things you name may be a bit tight. £250 may be more realistic. No point setting yourself up to fail.
Car costs should, excluding petrol, to be in a separate pot (which you add to monthly) so you can pay tax, insurance and maintenance annually when they arise. Petrol would be a monthly spending cost.
As a retired person I put aside just over £300 a month for personal spends. That includes petrol, socialising, hairdressers and chiropodist lol!
I also put £125 a month into a car pot for tax, insurance and maintenance, That may seem high but any emergencies can also be covered-hopefully!

joedenise

You might want to try using the snowball calculator at Lemonfool:  https://www.lemonfool.co.uk/financecalculators/snowball-calculator.php

Can also do your SOA and format for MSE and post on here:
https://www.lemonfool.co.uk/financecalculators/soa.php

BrotherUuurgh

So, home from my work trip. Time for an updated SOA. (Note - it hasn't seemed to format for the forum very well?). I've tried to be more accurate and realistic here, and based it mostly off the last 12 months. I want to make sure that any eventuality is covered for. I want to start building an emergency fund. I want to start keeping hold of money for certain things, lest things end up going on the credit card like they have been for a little while. It might make moot of my back-of-the-envelope funnies earlier on, but if it was never meant to work, that's fine. I'd rather it works for real, than just works on paper.

Household Information

Number of adults in household........... 2

Number of children in household......... 0

Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details

Monthly income after tax................ 2570

Partners monthly income after tax....... 0

Benefits................................ 0

Other income............................ 0

Total monthly income.................... 2570

Monthly Expense Details

Mortgage................................ 0

Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0

Rent.................................... 571

Management charge (leasehold property).. 0

Council tax............................. 117

Electricity............................. 173

Gas..................................... 0

Oil..................................... 0

Water rates............................. 37

Telephone (land line)................... 0

Mobile phone............................ 65

TV Licence.............................. 15

Satellite/Cable TV...................... 57

Internet Services....................... 32

Groceries etc. ......................... 0

Clothing................................ 25

Petrol/diesel........................... 50

Road tax................................ 25

Car Insurance........................... 40

Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 40

Car parking............................. 0

Other travel............................ 0

Childcare/nursery....................... 0

Other child related expenses............ 0

Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 20

Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0

Buildings insurance..................... 0

Contents insurance...................... 0

Life assurance ......................... 0

Other insurance......................... 13

Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 20

Haircuts................................ 20

Entertainment........................... 0

Holiday................................. 0

Emergency fund.......................... 100

Total monthly expenses.................. 1420

Assets

Cash.................................... 0

House value (Gross)..................... 0

Shares and bonds........................ 0

Car(s).................................. 750

Other assets............................ 5500

Total Assets............................ 6250

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

Unsecured Debts

Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR

Lendable.......................3656.39...268.......48.9

Plata..........................2094.76...140.......34.9

Barclaycard....................3692.61...125.......0

Family.........................3440......310.......0

Total unsecured debts..........12883.76..843

Monthly Budget Summary

Total monthly income.................... 2,570

Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,420

Available for debt repayments........... 1,150

Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 843

Amount left after debt repayments....... 307

Personal Balance Sheet Summary

Total assets (things you own)........... 6,250

Total HP & Secured debt................. -0

Total Unsecured debt.................... -12,883.76

Net Assets.............................. -6,633.76

A couple points. I have tried to be accurate, but I have to be able to work with and understand the numbers as well, so that it makes sense and I can follow the story, so income is rounded down to the nearest hundred. It is also based on my contractual hours only, and the likelihood is that I will net an extra £100-200 per month in overtime. If I really go for it, I can make the figure very near to £3,000 per month, but it takes it out of me. Groceries has changed to zero due to how my wife and I split household costs. The phone bill itself is actually around £49. My wife and I are on SIM only contracts. The other £14 comes from my subscription to play Xbox which I pay through the phone bill. It is one of the few things that I actually have to enjoy. Electricity is high as it's duel fuel, so includes gas, but also includes a payment plan toward reducing a balance that had accrued (smart meters - yikes)... I have nothing down for the dentist, far too scared for that, shalln't be going.

Looks like I have around £300 left after everything. As above, I should be able to earn an extra few quid to enjoy myself with, and will use that as motivation alone to keep putting extra hours in. I filled out the Snowball Calculator as well, and it looks like, based from just my contractual wages, I'll be debt free no later than Christmas 2025!

So yeah, something like that

vampirotoothus

Hi well done on getting this done. I would set Barclaycard to just above the minimum payment for now (rounded up to the nearest £5) and throw the difference at Lendable. That will reduce the interest that you pay. Good luck V x

BrotherUuurgh

vampirotoothus said:

Hi well done on getting this done. I would set Barclaycard to just above the minimum payment for now (rounded up to the nearest £5) and throw the difference at Lendable. That will reduce the interest that you pay. Good luck V x

Not a bad idea actually. When I set up the account I made a direct debit instruction for £125/month, which would be what clears the balance within the promotional period. The minimum is £5+1% so about £40. Perhaps then I should set the DD to £50 instead and use the extra £75 toward Lendable.

Thanks 😊

vampirotoothus

Hi the minimum is £5 OR 1%. So set that then throw it at the 2 high debts, then when they are paid off throw at the Barclaycard. Good Luck V x

Sarahwithlove

I agree i would aim to pay more off the highest interest loan first to reduce amount you are paying. It may also be worth keeping an eye on money transfer cards to see if you become eligible for any to use to pay off the loan. Virgin CC are usually good for this and Tesco. Though barclaycard did offer me it as well. 

Take_a_hike_Elon_and_Jeff

Hello well done on your progress so far, like so many on here I too have debt but I am working on it although there is not a lot of chance that my take home pay will rise soon therefore I am being ruthless on what I can save outgoings wise.
One thing that strikes me about your budget is a few minor things the first being cable/satellite tv @ £57 per month that's a whopping £684 per year, do you really need it? The other thing is the tv licence @ £15 per month (£180 per year)
One does not have to pay a tv licence if not watching live tv, if you can give up the BBC and BBC iplayer and the good news, is it's possible to watch the other channels so as long as they are not watched live in the moment but ok to watch on catch up. It does not have to be forever but just while trying to do the debt busting.

The other thing is clothing what's your situation there? I've come to the conclusion that I personally have enough clothing and will not buy any for a couple of years and it will be perfectly fine.

I'm not judging just wondering if you can make a sacrifice on the above points? It brings your debt free date closer if you can save on the above.

[Deleted User]

Compared to satellite and TV subscription sites the TV licence is good value. You need it not access BBC and iplayer and difficult to use independent tv stations (ITV Channel4 etc...) and their catch ups and streaming options without one.