Back in debt after clearing it in 2013

bettyboo65

Here I am again, back in debt 😩

I cleared 17.5K back in 2013 using the suggestions on this forum, but life (and a complete inability to manage money) has led me back to being in debt. Granted it's not as bad as before, at least the LBM was quicker this time around 😆 but it needs sorting.

I did start doing a payment a day, but it doesn't seem to work with my brain, so I'm now tracking my income and expenses and putting aside any extra to pay down my debts; I'm also trying to save some extra to have an emergency fund.

I'm lucky in that I receive a civil service pension after being medically retired at 45, though not that lucky to have several chronic health problems. I'm now rapidly approaching 61 and being successfully treated for them.

I started a business 2 years ago, which is doing really well and I'm now in the process of starting another, which should mean that I can work from home rather than driving all over the place with the other job. Obviously, I'm not that good at dealing with money in these business either, which has to stop.

Anyhow, I'm going to make a list of my debts today, along with the APRs and then I'll probably go down the avalanche route of paying more towards the highest.

Follow along for the ride!

bettyboo65

So I've made a list of debts. I didn't realise I had a couple more than I thought!

Capital One £609 33.9% APR

Halifax £1668.06 29.34% APR

PayPal £1352.68 25.9% APR

Zopa £4429.01 10% APR

Santander £1050 0% until April

Clydesdale £949 no idea of APR

Grand total of £10,057.75

I know I can't overpay on the Capital One debt, so I'm going to concentrate on my Halifax credit card and clear that first. What an absolute plonker I am.

joedenise

Why can't you overpay the Capital One card? I assume that's a card and not a loan which are often front loaded with interest. I'd also check the % on the Clydesdale card so that you can slot that into the right place for order of paying. I suspect the Santender card will go up after the 0% to mid-high 20s so should be paid off before the Zopa which has the lowest APR.

bettyboo65

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81904332#Comment_81904332

Thank you. It does make more sense to clear the Santander card first.

I ended up ringing Capital One because I couldn't get on to the app and I thought I couldn't overpay. I now know the actual APR is 28.04% and they have updated my details.

I have absolutely no information about the Clydesdale card apart from seeing details on ClearScore. I can't even remember taking it out. I'll get on the case tomorrow.

bettyboo65

Doh 😣 Clydesdale is Barclays buy now pay later. It's for the laptop I needed for the business. It has 6 months to go with an APR of 19.2%

bettyboo65

I got my new Capital One card yesterday, so was able to get onto the app. Today I used profit from the business to pay it off in full 🎉

Although it didn't have a high APR, psychologically it's given me a boost. All other debt payments are now on the minimum payment and I will concentrate on the Santander card next.

It's quite a high amount to clear before the end of the 0% transfer deal but I'll give it a go. Unfortunately, I'm not able to get another 0% deal as we moved just over a month ago and I'm still waiting to get on the electoral register, 😞