Can we have a support thread for people who are massively in debt?

[Nerfmother]

Because you can't talk about it in real life? We owe 44k, reduced from 60k in a year. Not including mortgage.
It's so depressing.
Dh is determined to pay it off and so bankruptcy or plans isn't an option. I do think its doable, just hard hard hard.

Here we go ladies and gents

Get onto the forums as well. Especially ones like Debtfree Wanabe, Moneysaving Oldstyle.

I think you should all be very proud of yourselves.

TooTired, thank you! Will investigate ASAP.

I applied to barclaycard for the 30 month 0%, I didn't get it, but they did offer me 0% for 13 months for a smaller amount so I took that. It's better than nothing and I've worked out I can pay it all off in the allotted time

Bluedog
If you pay off double the minimum at 0% you'll clear it really fast.
Well done.

Puffer123
Put estimates in for the tax return : overestimate your income, under estimate your tax paid
just to make those penalties stop
THEN tidy up your paperwork :
have a look at my ebay "me" page linked from the spreadsheets thread about how to sort things quicklyn
THEN submit corrected figures which will reduce your tax bill and thus cut into the penalty bill.

Overdraft.
You need to go talk to the bank once you have worked out what you owe and can show them that you are putting as much as possible onto standing orders (so they and you can predict outgoings)

and then no shopping ANYWHERE unless your tummy is rumbling or the thing you are buying replaces an non repairable item
hair can grow, nails can go au naturel, use up old makeup, drag out old clothes
but no spending at all until you have quantified exactly what you owe and got a plan for each item

Talkin: Right, will put the kids to bed early tonight and grasp the bull by the horns by any means possible! Bank not returning my call, will try again tomorrow. Luckily remembered lawyer still holds some money on account so have got them to transfer that back. As for the rest, original spendthrift, me - I loathe spending money. Need to get to a place where I have it all sorted or at least plans for sorting so can concentrate on getting some work in.

Talkin, i was only able to transfer 650 quid to the new, 0% deal which is a drop in the ocean compared to everything else I owe, but it's a start.

I get paid on Friday so I've written out all my envelopes for all my bills that aren't on direct debit. Such as food, fuel, car tax, hair cuts etc. I've also started an emergency fund. I'm hoping this will help with DHs spending, as he'll see it in real money terms. That said he's been really god this month and barely spent anything that was avoidable.

Well done puffer! It's a good start.
Puffy, hello. Hard to get the dhs to face up to it it seems.
Bluedog - this might not make any financial sense but what would work for me would be to clear the 650 ASAP and the transfer again, purely because I'm seeing this as a psychological thing. Small amounts seem doable. But I know that flies in the face of sensible financial advice.
Update from me : dh has every intention of repaying the cc and is on board with paying chunks off and closing it.

Those with an overdraft, would it be possible to open up a basic bank account with no overdraft and transfer your income and out goings to there and then have a standing order to the old bank with an amount to start paying the OD down. Just an idea and don't know if it would work for many.

I have suggested to dh that he does this; so far no luck.

Youarejust
In a sane world, your idea is sane, but we live in a world where the banks have balance sheets chock full of zombie debts and are being forced to reduce the minus figure.
With the zombie debts, they would have to write them off .... bad karma
so they choose to give a hard time to those who engage with them

I'm expecting them to firebomb my home at any time as the maths of beating them at their own game is pleasure of mine

I had the same conversation with an RL client this afternoon and we shortened his loan repayment term from 5 years to 2 : with the commensurate drop in total interest.
Oddly, they want him to reschedule longer term

Just a quick note to say I have just files two tax returns. Could not have done it without your support

Dropping in again to mark place and waiting for the weekend so I get a chance to read through properly!

Well done Puffer!!

Had to dip into emergency fund yesterday after DP car failed MOT. We had money budgeted for it,just not enough so upping the monthly contributions for the car envelope and aim to repay emergency fund when I get paid on 20th. Also £7 for bread milk fruit and veg.

Payday is next Friday so not long now to struggle until we can struggle a bit less!

Fantastic Puffer! Well done!

Hello all, checking...

I owe about £34k in credit card debt and overdraft. However, last year I paid off about £7K and also managed to not get further into debt (well, not by much) despite a VERY tough year financially (I have a flat that I let out and had to evict a tenant, hence court and bailiff fees and a massive amount of money on putting right the damage they'd caused to the flat. Coupled with the fact that I was paying both rent on the family house and mortgage for the flat for over 6 months without receiving any rent from a tenant, I think I did bloody well in managing to actually reduce my debt burden!).

Been lurking on this thread for a while, you are all an inspiration. Today I have fully paid off and cancelled one credit card - the smallest amount true, but as NerfMother says, it's psychologically a real boost - next is the next smallest amount which is one of my overdrafts. Snowballing all the way...

I also know for a fact that I'll have a decent sum of money coming in over the next few months so I'll really be able to make a dent in it. Hurrah.

Oh, I forgot, I built my £500 emergency fund first too. That also helps!

Talkinpeace, sorry another question. About 6 months ago I took out a loan with my bank to consolidate some debts, now I'm a bit more money aware I've seen the interest rate is really high

My credit rating has improved during the 6 months of having the loan due to me paying off certain items and doing this, but my available credit is small.

Could I renegotiate a different loan with them, with a lower interest rate? Or would I need to wait a bit longer?

Thanks

Hi all. Need to catch up with posts when I get a min - just popping in. Pleased to report I've followed talkin's advice and changed DD's to SO's rounded up to the nearest £5! It doesn't work out as that much extra each month and will be faster to pay off:) so thank you!!
I have a question... My overdraft is £2000. I'm always in it. Payday makes it look a little less of a problem, for about a day, then it's back again sneering at me in an 'I'm eating your wages' kind of way. It's on my list to get rid of (in effect I'm paying debts with a debt!) should I save to clear my OD first, before putting as much £ as possible towards my highest interest cc bill? It's just short of £30 a month for OD Usage fee & interest charges.

How much interest are you charged monthly on your highest rate credit card? More than £30? If so, I would leave the overdraft until later. If not, set to work on the overdraft!

I have the same question foureyedfox.. We live in our O/D due to the way DP gets paid, I would love to transfer all our outgoings to a different account, but unfortunately don't have enough money to do that.

All our credit cards are 0% so my thinking is the overdraft is probably the next priority, even though its fee free - as it's demoralising to see that figure staring at me every time I log on to bank account.

In fact, I am going to ask the bank to reduce it by £200 next month! And see how we go from there :)

Well done for tax returns puffer, they're horrid aren't they! I make my dad do mine (he's an accountant - the apple fell REALLY far from the tree there didn't it!)

Hello Anilec well done

Actually I have a migraine but have just read through all the posts and I think we are all making progress, real, psychological, facing up to it, stashing a bit of a fund, whatever.
This feels much less desperate than when I first posted.
Mum - good news is you had an emergency fund to dip into. You haven't increased your debt.

Thanks for all the pats on the back. Compared to all you clued up people I feel like a babe in the woods though...

I have another question: bank is telling me to sell an endowment mortgage which is about 15 years into a 25 year term and has been on amber alert for about six years. The company would give me less than half of the target value for it. It would clear my debts. Should I sell? Might another company give me more for it? Psychologically hard to sell as always regarded it as a kind of pension pot for old age, but needs must, right? I am very unlikely to get a cc balance transfer with my credit rating as bad as it now is

*endowment policy (not mortgage, sorry)