Finally cleared my credit card

[jollyjester]

I don't want to annoy anyone but I just wanted to tell someone that today I finally cleared the last balance owed on my credit card!

About five years ago my hours were cut in work and I just was randomly using my credit card to live. Three years ago I finally was brave enough to go through all my balances and I owed £6k.

I was meeting the minimum payments and wasn't able to switch to 0% interest for the full amounts so I paid extra where I could etc.

Today I finally cleared the balance and I'm over the moon. I need to set myself a strict budget now to make sure it doesn't happen again.

No one in RL, not even DH, knew how bad I had let it get, I couldn't face telling anyone so I'm determined going forward things will be better!

This is great to read . I'm starting back to work tomorrow in a bid to clear mine . I also owe around 5k . If i chucked every penny earnt i could probably do it by xmas but with xmas and kids bdays in autumn march will probably be abit more realistic . I'm so excited to pay my last payment . After that I'm never taking on any debt again . I'm done with all that worry x

Well done that is great!

I spent loads of credit cards whilst I no maternity leave but this maternity leave paying it off and trying to avoid spending as much and using credit cards.

They are all on 0% interest and I am concentrating on clearing one card before the 0% expires which is Oct/Dec & Feb 2018 .... then I will balance transfer the other card to avoid paying interest and pay off more each motbh

Jollyjester How did you do it? (If you don't mind me asking) I'm in the process of clearing mine but sometimes get frustrated because I want to do more to clear it faster...

Congratulations. Im trying to get there. Its hard but doable. I cant wait.

2 things I suggest.

Put that same amount away each month now for holidays!

Dont call it "Lidl surprise aisles"
Rename them - "The aisles of shit" Dont go near them & save that way!

Well done OP

and for anybody just starting to grasp the nettle of clearing their debt,
please try the "standing order trick"
as it makes clearing debts a lot less painful
and a lot quicker
(details are in the spreadsheet thread or in the big debt thread)

OP
you need to plug the money you were spending on debt into savings ....

BRILLIANT! Well done OP!

yummy

I kept a spreadsheet of all the balances and any spare money after pay day went straight to paying it off.

I ebayed a lot of stuff, job lots of baby clothes went well. I was lucky to get a Christmas bonus with work the last couple of years so I used some of it towards the balance.

I sold some of my university textbooks on Amazon. One went for £80

I use topcashback for anything I could and researched anything I needed to purchase thoroughly.

The extra bits each month really helped bringing the cost down.

I used noddle and Clearscore to keep an eye on my credit rating and was able to get a 0% card, not for all the debt but for a good bit of it which helped with the interest I was being charged each month.

Bloody well done 👍 that's a fabulous achievement.

Yummy cake if you are paying interest on your credit cards do a balance transfer to a credit card which has 0% interest.

Check out this link which will help you choosing a 0% interest balance transfer
www.moneysavingexpert.com/credit-cards/balance-transfer-credit-cards

Try and get a balance transfer credit card with no fee - the Sainsbury 28 month credit card has 28 months without paying interest and you don't have to pay a fee to transfer the balance from your credit card to the Sainsbury card.

Divide your balance to pay by 28 months and pay that each month. If you can't pay that amount each month set up a standing order to pay minimum amount and pay extra some months if you can.

Hope the above helps.