A support thread for people paying off debt #2

[moneyworries9]

Hi all... hope you manage to find the thread?

The last one seemed to be such a success 😃 I will be honest and say that I haven't cleared as much as I would have liked but I know if I hadn't been on here, the debts would most likely have increased rather than decreased. I currently owe

£3,355 - loan
£1,600 - credit card

We do have some cash in our bank accounts. I'm in the process of paying for driving lessons so have about £1,000 in our current account, most of which is to cover that.

On the plus side, when I started the other thread, I had around £2,500 on my credit card and £3900 loan so I'm taking baby steps in the right direction.

The other thread was a huge source of support and motivation for me and I hope that this one will be for many others.

Feel free to give a quick summary to introduce yourself

My payment has just gone out for the month. Started this month with £12128. £300 payment left £11828, and I thought I would treat myself (see what I've become...) and pay another £28 off so it's a nice round £11800, 0% interest until Dec 2021. I can do this!!

So...in a random turn of events, I’ve received a lump sum this morning that was due to me (I honestly didn’t think I’d see any of it.. v long story!)...so I’ve now complete BS3 I follow Dave Ramsey method so BS3 is a 6 month emergency fund). Need to compose myself and get spreadsheet out to start planning BS4/5/6 which are all done at the same time.

I’ve no idea what the stages thing is mum4fergus but it sounds very positive. Well done on being able to make progress.

@Totallycluelessoverhere Dave Ramsey is an American money coach...you'll find his stuff all over Internet if you are interested but basically it's...

Hello all! Hope we are all coping ok. 1st of the month check in time:

Loan £826
Credit card £749
Overdraft £700
Electricity £831

Total £3110.

Moved into my new property so I will npw have £100pm more disposable income than before, I am aiming to pay more off on the credit cards as they have high interest.

Beginning of new month update.
Credit card £396
BNPL £90
Emergency credit card £120

I didn’t pay off as much as hoped last month but going in the right direction and hoping I will be able to pay everything off in full before the end of this month.
My savings are still standing at £1900.
Overall I’m pretty happy.

Good morning all.

I stumbled onto this thread late last night, not sure how but I'm glad I did. I only have a small amount on my cc - £485 but that's a lot for my circumstances. I'm was currently paying off £75 and that would have me cleared by March next year just in time for us to remortgage. We're also saving for an abroad wedding next year so I'd worked out how much I'd need to save monthly. I thought I was all organised and plodding along nicely.

Until I read this thread. I had a light bulb moment! Why am I saving more for the holiday than paying off the cc?? I could kick myself! Anyways this morning I've transfered what I've saved (£250) to the cc and I've re worked my budget plan. The cc will now be paid by August at the latest, then I can save for the holiday including "paying" back what I've borrowed out of the savings.

Thank you for helping see where I was going wrong!

Hello currently sticking to a budget. Had 7 no spend days. Trying more economic meals.

Missed the date for a balance transfer so was whacked with £45 interest. Moved balances onto a 0% deal for 12months so aim is to clear them both by then.

Hi all, I've now got CCs down to £9305. Monthly payment is only at £250 so really need to up this, but with recent furlough and pay reduced slightly we're a bit wary.

I wondered if anyone can help me with interest rates? The reason we have the CC was to transfer from several other CCs to get the 0%. But this ends for different amounts as follows:

£628.00, the 0% ends 01/01/2021
£6,631.00, the 0% ends 01/04/2021
£3,045.89, the 0% ends 25/07/2021

I feel embarrassingly ignorant but I just don't understand what will happen on these dates as the total balance has reduced since these were set? Will we still have to pay interest on those amounts from those dates? What should we ideally set the monthly payments to, to optimise the interest free periods and avoid too much interest?

Thanks for your help!

@Totallycluelessoverhere

Beginning of new month update. Credit card £396 BNPL £90 Emergency credit card £120

I didn’t pay off as much as hoped last month but going in the right direction and hoping I will be able to pay everything off in full before the end of this month.
My savings are still standing at £1900.
Overall I’m pretty happy.

Is there any reason for you not using the savings to pay off the debt?

mrsunicorn all the debt is at 0% and my marriage has not been good the last year so I decided it would be prudent to have a little savings whilst paying off the debt. I should be debt free within the next few weeks

At the start I had zero savings and over £6k debt.

Hi folks, just checking in...still following Dave Ramsey and am now on Baby Steps 4/5/6 which are all done at same time. Now that I've paid off all consumer debt (except mortgage) I have money left each month so I'm setting up a SO to a S&S ISA (step 4), I need to have a think about how much to save for DS and his further education (step 5). Step 6 is overpay mortgage however I'm sitting on that for a couple of years with the plan to repay it in full with part of my 25% tax free sum at 55.

Meantime I'm still jealously looking up properties for sale in the islands that I just can't afford right now patience Mum, patience...you're almost there.

@Charcol

I'm presuming you mean £14k for 6 credit cards?

Have you had a look at the Debt Free wannabe threads on MoneySaverExpert? I found them to be really useful in making a budget/plan.

A big well done for giving up gambling. That is hard - but 4 months gamble-free is great.

@daytripper28

Thanks buddy. Yes 4 months hasn't been easy but I'm happy. And keep drawing on the encouragement to keep on.

Yes about the 14k across the credit cards. And yes I am on MSE too.

Everyone's doing really well on here. Keep it. Up guys!

@Worrywart2020
Have a read of this thread and some of the other similar ones on this board.

No judgement, just support
(and for those wondering what I'm on about)
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/3975848-AIBU-to-be-furious-at-DH-over-hidden-debt?

I’ve paid off the last of my debt today it feels amazing to finally have no debt.

My next goal is to build up my savings to £5000 (currently have £2300) and then start investing in a pension fund as I don’t have any pension savings.

It’s taken me a long time but it was worth it.

Well done Totally
it is indeed a great feeling
and from there building up savings should be straightforward

@Totallycluelessoverhere

mrsunicorn all the debt is at 0% and my marriage has not been good the last year so I decided it would be prudent to have a little savings whilst paying off the debt. I should be debt free within the next few weeks

Ah fair enough!

Saw your update, congrats on the debt free!!!

Good morning all, checking in for the 1st of the month. Debts stand at:

Electricity - £907. This is the final bill from my old property and I have now set up a payment plan for it.
Overdraft - £700
Credit card - £729
Loan - £730

Total £3059. Almost below £3k now, I can see an end in the distance.

@Totallycluelessoverhere well done! Amazing news.

Daeneris
Well done.
And yes, the debt clearing speeds up at the end because you are paying more capital in each payment.

@Annonymiss123

Ooops had just posted in the other thread when I spotted the new link. Here goes again...

Hi All. This is a great thread. I’m jumping in because writing it down here will help I think.

CC1 = 1,773.68 (min payment this month 43.34)
CC2 = 2,573.43 (min payment this month 56.58)

I usually try to pay the interest amount plus 100.

I have a CU loan that is currently approx 10,000 - can’t check it right now. The repayments are 400pm. My DD is set at 410pm so I’m slightly ahead with my repayments.

DH car is costing 411pm but it’s brand new. He was driving an older car and his tax and insurance has reduced by around 1,000 per year.

Finally (!) I’m paying 400pm for DS college fees.

The above post is from April 2019. I have just paid my final instalment against CC2 so now have zero credit card debt! Thanks to everyone who recommended the snowball payment. 👍🏻

@Totallycluelessoverhere

I’ve paid off the last of my debt today it feels amazing to finally have no debt.

My next goal is to build up my savings to £5000 (currently have £2300) and then start investing in a pension fund as I don’t have any pension savings.

It’s taken me a long time but it was worth it.

Fantastic! Well done. 👏👏

Thank you everyone for congratulating me on being debt free
Annonymiss 123 tour news re: clearing your credit cards is great news too.
Do you have much to go on the loan and the car?