KiwiEssexGirl ne debtfree diary

KiwiEssexGirl

Well I actually had the lightbulb moment in December 2007 but by that time I was so poor I couldn't do much about it in January - damn getting paid before Christmas and then having to wait 6 weeks! So the debt situation has got a bit worse. About to do a new snowball based on the new limits.

I live with my OH but have worked hard to keep our debts separate - he is much better than me and only owes a few hundred £s... I have been trying to get a consolidation loan this week (I know it's not always a good idea but I thought it would take the pressure off a bit and I read in Metro that it might be the last chance to lower interest rates). However, I have been turned down without my partner helping me out - so snowball it is.

Here goes my statement of accounts:

Income
Salary £1906

Expenditure
Joint account £ 850 (pays mortgage, council tax, phone, gas, elec, insurance, service charges, car loan, joint 0% CC in my name, food, petrol)
Train £ 171
Car insurance £ 29
Union membership £ 14
Spending £ 160

Debt repayments £ 682

Debt owed:
Debenhams card 29.9% £ 810
Virgin CC 26.9% £2451
Egg CC 19.9% £2750
Monsoon card 18.9% £ 306
First Direct CC 18.9% £3100
Evans Mastercard 16.9% £2500
Tesco Mastercard 15.9% £2800
Egg loan 7.7% £5600
MBNA joint CC 0% £3000
Ikea card ? £ 200

The last 3 tick over from the joint account and we'll deal with them once I've dealt with the ones that are my responsibility.

GirlRacer_2

Hi Kiwiessexgirl, Welcome aboard. Well done on having your lightbulb moment. Do you have a plan of action? Are you able to move any of the cards onto 0% balance transfers? Have you cut them up yet?

littlemissnau41

Definitely try and shift your CC cards onto a lower rate card (And cut them all up!)... I would advise with the big amounts you have to go for a low rate for life of balance. A 0% bal tfr is usually only for a limited period of time and unless you are able to repay in full before it ends, it may not help you in the long run.

I would also advise to breakdown your expenditure even more and find out where every penny goes. Where can you cut back? Switch energy, mortgage, insurance, etc?

Also, have any of your CC's incurred any penalty charges? It maybe that there are some, and however small, would advise to claim them back. There's so many success stories with these.

ms_london

Hiya. Welcome to MSE!!

First step is always the hardest so well done!

Call of your creditors and see if they can stop the interest, reduce it or at least agree a more reasonable monthly repayment for you (then if you chose to overpay each month thats up to you!). Afterall, if you dont ask, you dont get!

Some of them may be keen to do a balance transfer for you. I stopped all of the insurances I was paying on my credit cards, store cards - and saved me about 10 pounds a month for each creditor (I had loads!). Couldnt do it with my loan (with Lloyds) but in the end they ended up refinancing it for me and did so with an interest rate of 2.3% (yes, really!) which was great, especially since the loan was about 11,000!!!

When you say the last 3 tick over from the joint bank account? You both pay for these out of the joint account? Does the 850 you pay in there account for these? Whose name are the cards and stuff in? If your OH has a better credit rating, could he at least deal with the joint debts and perhaps switch them all to 0%? He doesnt have to take responsibility for your debts, but could help you both out with what he can do. Can you cut the joint costs down? How much do you allocate for food? Most people overspend in this department....

Your travel expenses are pretty high - I guess this cant be helped? Is there an option to get a yearly pass? Some companies offer an interest free season ticket loan (dont know where you live or work, I'm just going on London!). Do you have the 1 car or 2? If 2, do you really need 2?

What are the service charges?

What about birthdays/christmas/dental & doctors/holidays/savings/hair cuts?

Maybe a good idea to start trying to build a small savings fund, just to get into the swing of things, even if its only 20 pounds a week to start with, or a month - whatever.

Good luck, you can do it xx

KiwiEssexGirl

Long time no update... Thanks for the replies.

I just got a season ticket loan from my employer but it has disappeared - literally! I decided to switch banks t try and get away from the fees I'm being charged and start afresh - hopefully not going overdrawn! I chose Alliance & Leicester because of their favourable OD rates and then they didn't offer me one... Anyway, I transferred the money quickly to the new account out of my old account in case they nicked some of it for the CC arrears and it arrived today and was immediately reversed. A call to the call centre was unhelpful to say the least. I'm told it won't arrive back in the other place for 4 days and I don't want it to go back there!

I hate banks! I'm very inclined to tell them where to go - I've never had a bank refuse a deposit before!

Worst thing is I got a default notice on the First Direct card today and I thought I'd borrow £200 of the season ticket loan to pay that immediately, topping up from my salary. No chance of that and I don't have the money for the default payment.

Re: the OH. We've been together 7 years and it seems unlikely to finish anytime soon BUT I want to take responsibility for my own debts. He is also very debt averse and wouldn't want to take on any debt t help me out. he would itf I pushed it but I don't want to ruin my relationship. So that's that as far as I'm concerned.

KiwiEssexGirl

Feeling better today. But OH went to the bank to look for a loan to fund our NZ trip. (My Dad is 72 with emphysema and we've booked time off in May to go when it's the cheapest airfares. To be honest I still can't afford it but I'd rather have the chance to see my Dad than risk missing the chance.) They started badgering him about a couple of things (Egg loan and MBNA Card) that come out of the joint account even though both are in my name. My lovely partner is a bit sensitive and felt really bullied. They tried to get him to take out a big loan to pay everything off. When I asked him what rate they had offered, he didn't know. It took me several minutes of persuading him they were just trying to make their sales targets. Scumbags! He only wanted £1000 to pay for his share of the airfare. I have suggested he look into a 0% card instead.:D

KellsBells

Welcome to MSE! good to see you here, hope this site helps you well on the way to debt freedom!!

Good luck.x

KiwiEssexGirl

Very disappointed today. I've sold a few books on Amazon this month and posted one today. I noticed that after fees etc I received £1.41. The postage at the cheapest rate was £1.20 (post office tried to charge me £1.97 initially!). So for all the hassle and in sending someone an as new book, I get the grand total of 21p. I would rather have given the book to Oxfam - at least it would have benefitted others as well. What a waste of time!

However, I did do some other DFW things today. Bought veg at the local market. A lb each of peppers and mushrooms for £1.60. Why use supermarkets? Then made a yummy stir fry for dinner with left over chicken from last night.