Becky's 2008 DFW diary

findingmyownway

I've just looked through your original thread - some of the comments on the SOA get a bit confusing so it might be worth posting a current one in here. I see you have cancelled gym and a few other things which is great.

Did you think about switching the 14% card onto the overdraft? Or getting new lower rate card (see martins articles on the subject). If its going to take you a while to pay you could save a lot of money by doing that.

At the beginning SOAs can change daily so posting a new one (on here) may give you some new ideas.

Well done for everything you are doing, it WILL make a difference!

MissEyre

Hi Becky,

How annoying! It's just when you feel like you are getting it sorted out that something like this happens, so here are some positives to cheer you up:

-You are checking your accounts daily, so you actually noticed it
-It has bothered you, so you will be more determined to stop it from happening again in future
-You are now doing all the right things to fix it (challenges, ebay etc) but in the same way that you didn't wake up one morning and find you were in debt, it will take a while before you see the benefit of what you are doing in terms of capital repayment. I suppose its like an adjustment period for you and your money, where you get used to not getting further into debt, and your money gets used to sitting in your account, and not being spent!
-You have actually earned some interest! They have paid you money! And feeble nothing-I got about 6p interest on one of my accounts the other day and was over the moon!

You are doing so well, this is just a tiny mini setback

Beckyneedstosavecash

Thanks everyone, it just puts such a downer on things when you feel like you're making progress and then something like this happens but it hasn't stopped me, only made me more determined.

Just spoken to Barclaycard - they have offered me a 6.8%apr balance transfer rate on their card for life (no 12month initial rate and then interest through the roof) and no handling fee on transferring which would make my initial interest £8.30 per month (obviously going down as I pay more off) - can't believe someone is happy to give me a card!
So I've got to wait for my card to come through and then they are going to call me - next Wed first and, if I haven't had the card by then, next Sat to sort out the balance transfer.
When I have done that I am going to close my Virgin Credit Card - damn 14.88% and look at where the priorities for paying things off are again.
I think doing this will mean my bigger OD will me my priority (the one that charged me over £10 today ), then the smaller one (as these are 9.9%) and then the CC.
My ebay items finish in 4/5 and 6 days so when (if) I get money for these I will see what the situation is and pay off where I think the priority is.

I WILL sort out my debt and I WILL NOT let evil banks upset me!

Beckyneedstosavecash

Rent - £485
Council tax - £175 in Dec and Jan, nothing in Feb and March and then should reduce to approx. £90 for next tax year
Internet - £10
Phone - £20 (budgeted, never normally this much, probably more like £16)
Gas - £15 (again budgeted, I haven’t had a gas bill since moving into the property)
Electricity - £20 This may be able to be reduced after a couple of months depending on usage
[strike]Gym - £28[/strike]
Car Insurance - £53
Mobile - [strike]£35[/strike] £25
Water - £25 (called water company and arranged a change to water meter - rep visitng on Wed to look at current meter to ensure possible - should reduce monthly amount.
TV Licence - £11.71 Paid Quarterly (£35.12)
Savings for parents 60th birthdays - £30
Food - £75
Petrol - £50

Total: £1032.71

Debts:
Credit Card - £1512.13 14.88% apr - currently pay min payment £25 / month (spoken to Barclaycard today who have agreed a 6.8%apr for life and no transfer fee so will be transferring to them when I recieve the new card).
Nationwide OD1 - £1470 (limit £1500) 9.9% EAR - Currently do not contribute per month
Nationwide OD2 – £520 (limit £600) 9.9% EAR - Currently do not contribute per month
Nationwide 3 - £200 Currently at £0 but due to expense of Xmas I will have to use this this month. (Limit £1700) 9.9% EAR
HSBC Grad OD - £399.33 (limit £1500) £500 of which 0% (until July 2008, then jumps to 14.8%) £1000 of which already 14.8%. Currently pay £20 / month
Car Loan - £6800 0% apr. Currently pay £150 / month
Debt to family - £6000 0% apr. Currently pay £50 / month

Total: £16901.46 :eek:

Beckyneedstosavecash

findingmyownway wrote: »

Did you think about switching the 14% card onto the overdraft? Or getting new lower rate card (see martins articles on the subject). If its going to take you a while to pay you could save a lot of money by doing that.

I decided not to as the NW3 account is my account for every day use and I know if I tranfser that balanace I will end up using it to its limit even with good intentions.

With the new Barclaycard though hopefully I will have less interest on the account and will be able to see some movement on the balanace.

Thanks for all you help, advice and support everyone.

Beckyneedstosavecash

Well, after a not so positive start today I feel a bit better and, again, more determined.

Today is the last day of my holiday from work, it has been really good having time off to realise where I am and to get a focus on doing something about it.

A few things I have done today:

• As mentioned in my earlier posts, spoke to Barclaycard and arranged to get a 6.8%apr for life card for balance transfers (no transfer fee) - I will transfer my Virgin card onto this and hopefully save on interest.
• Bought 2 energy saving bulbs from Tesco (241 deal so only £1.68 fo both!!)
• Worked through EagerSavers clicks email and made a start to a regular clicking - let's get some cashback!
• Went grocery shopping in three places -
  • The Organic Veg stall - lovely fresh locally produced veg for 1/4 price of Tesco 70p
  • The local fruit stall - again lovely fresh fruit for 1/4 price of Tesco 76p
  • Tesco for the remaining bits and pieces £3.71
• Used bits in the store cupboard for lunch
• Updated my spending diary
• To do:
  • I am going to make a veg lasagna (yum yum) to last me the next few nights
  • Have an evening infront of Ugly Betty - no going out for me because a) I need to save cash b) I slept funny on my neck last night and can't move it!!!

Update on ebay listings:

• 9 items listed
  • 2 with bids
  • 1 with 1 watcher
  • 1 with 3 watchers
  • and 1 with 6 watchers
  • 4 with nothing yet

Did some clearing up and found some brown envelopes and a bit of bubblewrap - put it all with my ebay items for packaging.

I think that's about it for now.

Becky

Lemon_Tree

well done for getting over the surprise of the overdraft interest. It's terrible when they charge you 10 quid then give you 2p back so disheartening.
Just something to watch on the Barclaycard ( i may be wrong) i think you'll find that when you make any payments it will be against the 'cheapest' debt first so you may not be able to make any head way into the stuff on the card at the higher rate until it's cleared. You may have negotiated it with Barclay card that the rate will also cover the stuff already on there, hopefully so. They can be sneaky sometimes!

Beckyneedstosavecash

Lemon_Tree wrote: »

well done for getting over the surprise of the overdraft interest. It's terrible when they charge you 10 quid then give you 2p back so disheartening.
Just something to watch on the Barclaycard ( i may be wrong) i think you'll find that when you make any payments it will be against the 'cheapest' debt first so you may not be able to make any head way into the stuff on the card at the higher rate until it's cleared. You may have negotiated it with Barclay card that the rate will also cover the stuff already on there, hopefully so. They can be sneaky sometimes!

Thanks Lemon Tree - just to make sure I've got this right before i speak to them next Wednesday - currently I don't have a balance with them at all and would be looking to transfer my £1500(ish) credit card balance to them - so if I start paying it off then, what will I be paying against? The balance transfer?

Sorry - I'm probably not making much sense!

Lemon_Tree

ok it's me who was confudled Becky, if you don't have a balance with then then the whole thing should be at the balance transfer rate. thought you had a balance with them already.
Think i need to stop looking at numbers on an evening after doing it all day at work i just end up getting confused! lol

Beckyneedstosavecash

Lemon_Tree wrote: »

ok it's me who was confudled Becky, if you don't have a balance with then then the whole thing should be at the balance transfer rate. thought you had a balance with them already.
Think i need to stop looking at numbers on an evening after doing it all day at work i just end up getting confused! lol

Phew! I thought I was going to end up getting myself more problems again by not understanding properly!! Thanks for the heads up though - definitely something to keep watch on. Not planning to keeping the credit card when I've got it though, apparently I need various bits of info on it for the balance transfer but after that I can cut it up (which I will be doing v. promptly!!).

Does anyone know - if you have a credit card with no balance on it open and don't use it does it have an impact on your credit rating??

Thanks,
Becky