Same old story here I'm afraid...!

RAS

Go to the snowball on www.whatsthecost.com and for each of your loans, put in the amount and the APr and see how much interest you will pay over the period of the loan.

Once you have got rid of the store cards - close the accounts, and the CCs, ditto, then you can ask what the settlement costs would be for the loans and see if it is worth paying them off early.

lostindebt

RAS wrote: »

Go to the snowball on www,whatsthecost and for each of your loans, put in the amount and the APr and see how much interest you will pay over the period of the loan.

Once you have got rid of the store cards - close the accounts, and the CCs, ditto, then you can ask what the settlement costs would be for the loans and see if it is worth paying them off early.

Thanks just done the snowball, actually looks quite feasible, could get my credit card paid off in less than two years if I follow it..!

Thanks for your help.. I think I might actually be able to see a light at the end of the tunnel here!

Bismarck

well done for sharing with the other half! It's never pleasant but I bet you feel a whole lot better now!

lostindebt

Bismarck wrote: »

well done for sharing with the other half! It's never pleasant but I bet you feel a whole lot better now!

Hi, yes he knew most of it, but its a relief that he didn't go mad, and instead offered to help me out..!

He said it was payback, seeing as most of my debt was accrued while he was a student and I was paying for everything back then, whether I could afford to ot not...!

Hopefully it will only be for a year or so and I should have a fair chunk gone by then.

lostindebt

only a small thing, but on my littlewoods account, I've just noticed I have money available to spend on goods of £20.82, but this can also be used, albeit slightly reduced as payment on your account.

So just paid another 16.69 off the account, not much but it all counts. The interest on these goods is also 0% i've been told because of the way I purchased them which is also good to know!

So as I pay more money off, they will reward me with a slight bonus to help pay more off.

I'm easily pleased aren't i?!!

Bismarck

As a large and overly-dominant retailer would say "Every little helps!!"....if we look for things in the right places, good stuff does tend to happen...

lostindebt

Hey all.. just a quick update...

Got paid today and had the mot done on my car.. and it passed!! Woohoo! And got it discounted at 33.73 because of an online voucher I found by searching. (went to nationwide autocentres - were great in there)

Also, the snowball calculator has actually made me so determined to get this debt paid off quicker, I love the little 'new payment- hurrah!' button, and I've paid a fair chunk off my storecards today so happy about that too. They should be gone by the next three months and then its on to the credit card.

With the credit card found out my interest is broken down the following ways:

Balance Transfers - 0% until July 08 and the 6.9% for the life of the balance after that.
Purchases are at 14%
Cash Advance for £300 is at 27.9% (had to get this due to issues with my overdraft)

So in the snowball calculator, I'm not sure what to put in for the interest rate, because its variable.

Also checked with my loans and car finance, definitely early repayment charges, and I can't make overpayments either. So i'm assuming the best course of action is when the cc is paid off to then save as much as possible and get the loans paid off quicker that way.

Welshlassie

Regards your credit card with the cash advance on, when you pay off money on here you will pay it off the 0% balance first, followed by the Purchase and then the Cash advance, that is how they make money out of you.

If the interest on this card is higher than your store cards pay this balance (in total) of first. Once this is paid of it may be worth considering transferring your store cards onto their LOB BT.

Well done for trying to sort this out.

You mentioned that your overdraft on the joint account was a mess aswell. It is worth sitting down with your OH to review all the bills that come out of here to ensure that you are getting the best deal. This may also free up some addition money as you won't have to contribute so much to it.

When you check/change these bills don't forget to use Quidco.

Do you have anything you can sell on Ebay to boost your income a bit and give you more to throw at the debts.

Good luck.

lostindebt

Welshlassie wrote: »

Regards your credit card with the cash advance on, when you pay off money on here you will pay it off the 0% balance first, followed by the Purchase and then the Cash advance, that is how they make money out of you.

If the interest on this card is higher than your store cards pay this balance (in total) of first. Once this is paid of it may be worth considering transferring your store cards onto their LOB BT.

Well done for trying to sort this out.

You mentioned that your overdraft on the joint account was a mess aswell. It is worth sitting down with your OH to review all the bills that come out of here to ensure that you are getting the best deal. This may also free up some addition money as you won't have to contribute so much to it.

When you check/change these bills don't forget to use Quidco.

Do you have anything you can sell on Ebay to boost your income a bit and give you more to throw at the debts.

Good luck.

Hi, yes we are addressing the joint overdraft, just paying in an extra 100 a month at the moment to try and make a dent in it.

Thanks for the advice on the credit card, I knew how they made the payments, its listed on my statements - bit of a nightmare though!