Unsure whether to consolidate - please advise

zippygeorgeandben · 2 April 2017 at 11:42PM

JReacher1 - Hi! Yes I absolutely see your point. I normally go on holiday during the Summer and was being proactive in getting a CC with a long 0% interest on it. I will then set up DD to clear it. Nothing is booked yet, but I thought I'd sort it out just in case.
Last year, I had the problem of receiving the money from other people coming with me but instead of paying it off the CC, I just left it in my current account and it got swallowed up in everything else.
I also have a potentially VERY expensive wedding to attend in August too.
The reason I've basically moved a CC balance to a Sainsburys one is because of that poor decision of mine in June last year. I won't be doing it again though you can be sure of that!

JReacher1 · 3 April 2017 at 12:47PM

zippygeorgeandben wrote: »

JReacher1 - Hi! Yes I absolutely see your point. I normally go on holiday during the Summer and was being proactive in getting a CC with a long 0% interest on it. I will then set up DD to clear it. Nothing is booked yet, but I thought I'd sort it out just in case.
Last year, I had the problem of receiving the money from other people coming with me but instead of paying it off the CC, I just left it in my current account and it got swallowed up in everything else.
I also have a potentially VERY expensive wedding to attend in August too.
The reason I've basically moved a CC balance to a Sainsburys one is because of that poor decision of mine in June last year. I won't be doing it again though you can be sure of that!

As a bit of advice if you are serious about clearing this debt down I would probably have a year either without a holiday or just have a cheaper one!

zippygeorgeandben · 16 April 2017 at 10:21AM

Thanks for replying JReacher1 (in fact I have just read about your latest escapades in Hamburg!)

Regarding the holiday, I see your point, it's totally valid and yes I may look at a cheaper one. However, I tried the year before last with no sunshine holiday and when I went back to teaching in September, I didn't feel I was replenished and relaxed. What I have done this month is given my sister some money to keep so when it comes to paying for a holiday of some kind, I've planned in advance.
I'm in a better position than I was 6 months ago that's for sure.
Thanks

Windofchange · 16 April 2017 at 1:32PM

You've pretty much been there and brought the same t-shirt that I did - I got in a lot more debt, but still, same sort of picture. I am nearing the end of my journey to pay this all off, and I am aiming at the end of this year to have it all done, along with also having built a small savings account - I have already managed to put away 2k into an ISA this year, and am aiming to save 5k by xmas.

I would concur about the holiday - the past year or so I have been living pretty frugally - haven't been away anywhere since last spring bar a couple of UK weekend break type things. Having said that, over the past few years I have still spent some cash - you have to I think to keep you sane. I couldn't live on beans and toast for a year to pay off the debt sooner.

Keep on going!

zippygeorgeandben · 22 April 2017 at 5:45PM

Hey Windofchange hope you are enjoying your Saturday!
My sister has kindly lent me £2k interest free which I've just thrown at the Zopa debt, bringing this down to about £1900 now. I've agreed to repay her £133.33 over 15 months and saving me some interest, reducing my monthly repayments on all my debts meaning I can throw some more at the others (if that makes sense!)
Anyway, it's not that long until pay day (next Friday) and I'll be changing my signature that's for sure!

zippygeorgeandben · 30 April 2017 at 4:23PM

Hello guys.
Just thought I would provide a quick update.
My monthly repayments now are as follows;
1) Zopa - £85pm
2) Tesco - £222.61pm
3) Sister - £133.33pm
4) Sainsburys - £76pm
New total repayments £517.00pm
2016 monthly repayments £653.00pm
I will throw an extra £136pm at one of my debts, probably the Zopa one.

farazakbar25 · 24 May 2017 at 2:37AM

i have the above debt, not sure what to do, should i pay in full or part settle,
what is best for my credit, i have DEFAULTS on all 4 creditors which the defaults expire by end of 2018

i have an arrangement to pay £5.00 pm to each creditors

any suggestions ???

-taff · 24 May 2017 at 5:54PM

The defaults will stay on your file for 6 years whether you partially settle or not, so it's entirely up to you.
You could offer a settlement figure, see what they say.
And you're better off asking for debt advice on the debt free wannabe board. Ask sourcrates to move your post.

zippygeorgeandben · 2 June 2017 at 4:50PM

Hey everyone,
Just giving you an update for those of you who have been reading my thread since I started it in December.
To save all of you first timers re-reading it, in a nutshell in September I started to take a look at what I owed and budgeted accordingly. In December I was looking at consolidation loans to allow for more fliexiblity. Six months later I'm making great inroads into my debts and looking at short/mid/long term goals.
I'm going to take each debt one by one now.
Tesco - I have been paying £222.61pcm every month on this debt and haven't paid more than the monthly amounts. There are about 2 years to go on this debt.
Zopa - This loan I have made regular overpayments of whenever the month allows. The original payments were (as in my OP) £230pcm but due to these extra payments this is now down to £72.25pcm. However, I also borrowed £2k off my sister to reduce this, save on interest also and I'm paying back to her £133.33pcm.
Sainsburys CC- This was an original debt of over £5k in September and is now near the £3200 mark. I transferred it from Virgin and it's on a 0% card for 2 years and this isn't a card to purchase any goods on. My monthly repayment on this is roughly £74pcm but I'm well aware of clearing it before the 0% is up.
Halifax CC - I signed up for this card purely for my summer holiday. Last year I was naughty and didn't put the money I received from everyone else off the holiday debt (hence the plus £5k CC mentioned earlier) but this time I've already transferred the holiday money from 2 people leaving just my own of £1347 to pay on this card. This is also 24m 0%.
If I don't make extra repayments my monthly debt repayments are around £520 which is £133 less than I originally was paying off back in late 2016. I'm glad I've saved interest on the Zopa loan and as I've been selling stuff on ebay and spending within my means, I've got quite a healthy amount in my bank account at the moment.
It's all going well, plus I've got a new job starting in September which will bring in another £250pcm.
Thanks for reading.

zippygeorgeandben · 29 June 2017 at 10:24PM

Hello everyone - time for my monthly update (I hope at least one person is reading!)
This month I have paid over £800 off my debts.
Tesco - I made an extra monthly payment of £222.61 this month, which also gave me a £20 interest rebate.
Zopa - I made the monthly payment of £68.38 and I also paid an extra £200 off this loan.
Sainsburys CC - I paid a monthly amount of £72.96 this month. This is 2.25% of the balance.
Halifax CC - I paid the 1% of the balance which was £15.95 this month. I am completely aware that I haven't paid this Summer holiday off yet but it's right that I pay off the debts with higher interest such as the Tesco/Zopa personal loans. I just need to ensure that I up the minimum payments once at least the Zopa is paid off.
Sister - The standing order didn't come out of my account this month, I think it's programmed to go in my sisters account at the start of every month.

I also made a one off payment to Student Loans Company (£100) as I was sorting out how much I have left on this debt. I've never included it on any of my debts whilst on MSE because it comes straight out my salary. It's gone from £6500 to £3800. The more I earn the more I pay back each month and I think I've calculated that it should be gone in about 18 months.

Thanks for reading if you did and thanks for stopping by!

Unsure whether to consolidate - please advise

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