Quick update and thanks ....

LEWKI

Hi all. This is an update on my finances. Earlier in the week I had savings (£4k) and an overdraft (£4k) , my OH's student loan £550, 1 Barclay cc £2200 and a Natwest Loan of £10,050 (plus this quarters interest whic I think will be about £240.

So having taken advice from MSE (thanks to all helped :beer: ) I have taken the following steps:

1. Used savings to clear OD :j
2. A new Virgin CC arrived with a £13,600 limit. I have transferred £12,000 to my bank account (I did this online I am not sure how long it takes to arrive??)
3. Once money in account, I will clear Natwest Loan and Barclaycard. I will also use "cash" to pay off any excess interest.
4. Student Loan will be cleared by end of June using OH wages - this will be £500 as DD comes out mid month
5. I have used the comparison website and I can HALVE :j my car insurance costs!! I could not believe it (new policy will start in July) - I expect we can do about the same amount for OH car (August).
6. I have contacted bank and cancelled OD
7. Virgin and Barclaycard have both been chopped into bits!

Targets for end of June:

1. Not to be overdrawn
2. All debt will be interest free for 15 months on Virgin cc
3. Student Loan will be cleared
4. New car insurance policy for me

Thanks to all those that replied to me earlier in the week

LilacPixie

Yay.

Doesn't it feel great. knowing you have it under control??

LEWKI

It does feel great. It is also the realisation that we are lucky to have stopped the overspending, realised we have a problem and that we are dealing with it. However...I cant believe our luck..

....I have just had a phone call from home and our washing machine is beyond repair!! Our first port of call is freecycle, you never know your luck.
At the same time as this appears bad luck, these things happen and we will have to adapt the budget. Less money to repay the SL I expect

mattylad

Sounds like you have control :-)

Also, despite the bad news about your washing machine - it's great how you can now adapt your budget without seemingly going further into debt.

GeorgeUK

That's very unlucky with the washing machine.
Good news about the rest of the debts though. Hopefully after you get your first nil balance statement on the barclaycard they might offer you a 0% deal to keep the account rather than close it. Possibly move anything that this setback has put on the back burner to 0%.

Keep up the good work. Might be an idea to start a diary thread to make sure you are keeping on top of everything.

poppyg_2

Well done LEWKI, sounds like you have made some fantastic decisions there to get your debt under control, well done x

sammy115

do you have to wait until July to cancel your Insurance.

stapeley

Well done ! but don,t get carried away , you,ve made good progress . But don,t forget you have now got £1200 credit card debt ! good luck

LEWKI

Hi Sammy 115 - yes I think so, I insure with Direct Line and I have June as my last month of insurance, I expect if I pulled out now I would still have to pay something and doubt I would be any better off.

Stapeley, you are so right. We do have a £12,000 cc bill. The good news is that it is interest free for 15months so we are looking to hammer this as hard as possible. This will save me almost £1,000 in interest payments on my Natwest Loan over the first 12 months.

I will be looking at £500/month to DD to Virgin cc. I will be paying £500 from the following old combination of old payments plus a top up:

1. Student Loan - £55/month - cleared by end of June
2. Barclayard £100/month - transferred to Virgin
3. Natwest Loan £155/month - transferred to Virgin.
4. Stop £150 overpayment on my mortgage - £150.
Total of saved DD = £460
Add £40 top up = £500 dd payment/month.

My question to all the experts out there is, should I pay £500/month to Virgin, or pay the minimum payment and put cash in a high interest account and then pay off a big lump sum when the 15 months are up....Ideas please

poppyg_2

I would think you may be better just paying extra off it per month, it'll be good for you seeing the balance go down so much and if it's stashed in savings a) it might be depressing seeing that all disappearing in another year b) you might be tempted to spend some of the money saved up???

GeorgeUK

As Poppy says, there is a strong temptation there unless you are very disciplined. If you are both good at sticking to your budget then it may be worth doing, but if there is any doubt i would jsut make the payments to the CC.

You could look at a savings calculator but i think it would come to about £280 putting 475 into savings and paying the minimum £25 for the entire period.

Just make sure you don't miss payments or you will lose the 0% rate. Possibly best to set up a DD for £25 and making sure the first payment goes through manually if you are saving. Otherwise have the full £500 as the DD.