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

Month end check in.
Currently;
CC1: 0.00 (paid off $511)
CC2: $2820 (paid off $900)
Loan: $5000
Total= $7820
I am so excited I finished paying off the first credit card, now I can throw all the money towards the 2nd credit card followed by the loan.

I’m finding this thread so helpful. Learned about her snowball method.

But....not sure how to apply it to own situation, which is:
CC1 (0%) 7,800
CC2 (0%) 7,500
Loan repayments (3 years, 3%) 350 monthly
Mortgage (1.96%) 17 years to run, overpay by £25 monthly

Atm, paying £100/ month at both CCs, having learned about standing orders on here. But should I be targeting just one as per snowball method? Or since they are 0% should I be overpaying mortgage or loan?

Left abusive exh just over a year ago and had to set up home from scratch for me and the kids, that’s where the debt comes from. Only just back on my feet emotionally & now trying to get a grip financially.

Worry about it a lot, hence posting at 4am...

@Walkingwounded if I was you, I'd look at the term of the interest free and pay more to the one with the shortest term. When the interest free runs out, how likely are you to have paid them off?

I would be using the overpayment for the mortgage to go towards debt payment too, as the interest on the debt will likely be higher than the mortgage interest (once the CC interest starts up again). Then, when debt free (or debt lower) start up the mortgage payments once again.

Only my opinion and what I would do!

Thanks grumpypug. That’s really helpful.

CC1 has the shorter term so will focus on that. Can’t pay them off by the time the term ends, so Was hoping to switch to another 0% deal...if it works like that.

Anyway another no spend day here so that’s good.

@Walkingwounded yes, you could switch to another 0% deal (potentially). It would depend on how much credit you have available and how much you are currently using etc as well as which providers you are with and who you apply to.

Hello everyone. Great to see how well people are doing! 1st of the month check in for me:

Credit card £590
Loan £503
Electricity £638
Overdraft £700

Total £2431. Down £90 on last month.

Welcome @Daeneris, nice to get more people join in and tackle our debts.

My month end check in
CC1: £0
CC2: £1075 ( paid off 1757)
Loan: £5000

Total: £6075. I am throwing everything at the credit card, when I clear it next month I can start tackling the loan (0%), I hope to be done by June.

Hello

Have 3.5k on car finance

Saving for dental treatment need to raise 4K
Saving for house deposit

Welcome @inmyslippers, I hope you are able to reach your goal, when are you planning to do the dental treatment?

Hello all, hope everyone is OK!

Checking in for the beginning of the month:

Credit card - £553
Loan - £492
Electricity - £600
Overdraft - £700

Total £2345.

Checking in too! Good to see you making progress Daenerys.

CC1 7493.20
CC2 7575
Loan for home improvements 11,629

Had a bit of a shock today when checked my credit rating through Moneysavingexpert.It said I was unlikely to get a 0% balance transfer for CC1 due to affordability....had been counting on that.

So am going to accept CC2; Virgin’s offer of 0% transfer for some of the balance, and throw all I can at CC1 when the 0% expires ( this summer)

Good too see lots of progress @Daeneris.
@Walkingwounded, Sorry you couldn't get the balance transfer you were hoping for, at least you can get part of it, that's something. You are doing such a great job getting back on your feet.

Guys I got a little windfall today so I am Debt Free🥳, I am so happy, I can't believe it. I got £5700 from tax returns and managed to throw all of it at debts plus some money from paycheck, this month I was going to start paying the loan; so now

CC1: £0
CC2; £0 (paid off £1075)
Loan: £0 (paid off £5000)

In September 2020, we started with $16600 and managed to pay it all off this month. I am doing the Dave Ramsey plan, now we move to baby step 3, saving for our 3-6 months emergency fund then save for a downpayment on a house.

Chuffed that these threads are still ticking over.

Interest rates are low at the moment
but terms may tighten
and living within your means is essential for households (if not Governments)

I'll try to find the spreadsheet thread for those who might need it...

Cool hand that’s amazing! Congratulations to you.

@Walkingwounded, thank you🥰 wish you guys all the best too.

Morning everyone. Checking in for the 1st of the month. Hope everyone is doing OK.

Credit card - £538
Loan - £467
Electric - £566
Overdraft - £700

Total £2271.

So close to getting below £2000 now, when I first started posting I owed over £4000.

Great to see you making progress Daeneris.

Check in here:
CC1 2926
CC2 11,313 (transferred from CC1)
Loan 11,371.

Plan is to pay if CC1 by Oct and then snowball it onto CC2 which is 0% until Oct 22.

Morning everyone, hope you're all well. Checking in for 1st of the month.

Loan - £445
Credit card - £535
Overdraft - £700
Electricity - £529

Total £2209.

So good to see your progress Daenerys. You are really close to getting it under 2000.

I went off track in April due to school holidays. But managed to make payments so status is:

CC1 2506 (focusing on paying this one off)
CC2 11,199 (0% so ticks over on min payment)
Loan 11048 (repay 350/ month)

Hi can I join in? I've just paid off one CC which is an almighty relief. I now have £5900 on my other one. With the snowball method I would have £390 per month to pay and was going to use an extra tenner to make it up to 400 a month.

However, the gas and electricity will be increasing £20 a month (gah) and I could do with a some spare cash for day to day expenses...

I'm thinking then of paying £350 a month, and trying to save that other 50, use it if I need for anything, or if not I could either keep it in savings and try to get ahead on things like car insurance and mots (which I have had to use cc for every year for a few years, and currently paying monthly for insurance), or invest in crypto and hope the value rises overall. (Partner is getting very into crypto so I would go on his wisdom if I did it).

Got a month to think about it anyway.

Welcome @Thecomfortador. You could save the £50 and pay off chunks of a couple of hundred at a time, get it down quicker?

I'm currently at £9500 paying off £300 per month and was expecting to balance transfer for 0% in December when my current offer runs out p, but my other (empty) CC have just sent me a letter telling me they are dropping my limit from over £10k to just £250. I'm gutted, I'll have to start paying interest and it's going to add so much time to debt. However I'm still better off than this time last year when I was at around £13k.

That's a good idea flummingbird I like the sound of an extra chunk being paid off every few months, like a little turbo boost.

What a shame about your other cc limit, they couldn't have just let it work for you could they. I'm hoping for a 0% balance transfer once I get down to around 3000, although hopefully I'll still have that limit on the other card by then.

And yes, this time last year I was lying awake worrying about it, and now there's a distant light at the end of the tunnel.

Hi everyone, how are we all doing? I'm checking in for 1st of the month.

Overdraft £700
Credit card £500
Loan £420
Electricity £529

Total £2149, £60 decrease from last month. Slow and steady.

Hi Daeneris

Well done for the decrease, it's still going in the right direction.

I have name changed but have dipped in and out of this thread. Starting figure was around 41- about 18 months ago (?). In Jan it was about 29 and is now 25.5k so more than 10 x yours (sweats) - have 5 avenues of debt. Debt-free (bar mortgage) in two years will be amazing - that's the goal.

I'll join you on the first of the month with an update.

@everythingissoexpensivenow

Hi Daeneris

Well done for the decrease, it's still going in the right direction.

I have name changed but have dipped in and out of this thread. Starting figure was around 41- about 18 months ago (?). In Jan it was about 29 and is now 25.5k so more than 10 x yours (sweats) - have 5 avenues of debt. Debt-free (bar mortgage) in two years will be amazing - that's the goal.

I'll join you on the first of the month with an update.

Thank you! I wish I could afford to pay more but I'm a lone parent on a low wage so it's not really possible. I'm just doing what I can.

You are doing amazing! My goal is to have everything paid off bar the overdraft by September 2022. Then tackle the overdraft in one go.