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

Morning!

My monthly update is:

Tesco £0 🎉🎉🎉🎉
Barclaycard £8,252.20
Lloyds £8,630.97.

@MinnesotaMuffin, you paid a good chunk off this month. Surely Natwest will be gone long before next summer?

Fabulous to see the Tesco debt gone @BecomingDebtFree ! It must feel fantastic. How long have you been paying it off for and what’s your plan of attack for the other two cards? Are you going to pay off fairly equal amounts on each or work on one at a time? The interest on our NatWest is such a bore so that’s a good motivation to keep attacking it.

We hit the NatWest hard this month but it feels like a long time to the next pay day and I wonder if we were a bit ambitious. We haven’t done any Christmas shopping yet, although obviously we know it’s going to have to be a frugal one this year. We have a teen and a DS at uni, so really just want to focus on some nice, sensibly priced things for them. I’ll get something small for my DH and our DPs without totally blowing the budget. So, not too many people to buy for but it can all add up.

I think we’ll know better in January when we might have paid the NatWest off. Our very old car is due it’s MOT and service at the end of November so there are some known and unknown costs looming! We are trying really hard not to use the credit cards and so far we’ve managed not to but the next couple of months will be a test of that.

Ah, the horror of upcoming costs, eh?!

My Lloyds debt is a loan, so fixed payments. I'm paying a solid chunk per month off the Barclaycard (plus I pay anything extra I've spent on it) to get it down.

We are potentially looking to buy a house next year, as we rent currently (hopefully the house we rent!), so I may reschedule my remaining debt after Christmas so the monthly payment is lower (a LOT lower!), to help us get a mortgage. Once that's all sorted, I could go back to overpayment.

I've paid £8k-ish off my debts this year, so I feel like I'm doing OK. My attitude has shifted, so I now won't buy anything on a card that I can't pay off the next month, as I don't want to pay interest.

Yes, I am really looking forward to getting to the point where if we use the cc we know we can pay it off the following month, this how we previously used the cards. During the pandemic we stopped using them completely and it was a good feeling. We saved a lot of money which we put into a house renovation and holiday, which ironically ended up costing more than we had expected and hence the cc debts! 😀

DH and I have the same mindset about prioritising debt so I think we’ll be okay once we are over the hurdle of the next couple of months and can see more clearly when we’ll be clear of the NatWest card. We need to be shot of it asap as we’ll be facing bigger mortgage repayments from March.

Just been offered a settlement for a cc of around 3K for £1,200 from Moorcroft. I didn't realise they would offer such a figure, thought it may be more.

Still thinking about it as it might leave me short and also not sure of credit rating impact. Waiting for advice from Payplan.

@Orangesandlemons77, if Moorcroft is involved, I'd think your credit rating has already been negatively affected? I have read that how debt settlement is described on the report can have an influence though.

Hopefully you get advice soon.

Thanks, yes I have a DMP and credit rating is messed up anyway...in case anyone else on here is I have found Payplan very helpful.

Us too @Orangesandlemons77 it just all got too much late last year and we were accruing more in interest than clearing each month, we are now on a Self Managed DMP (was with StepChange) which started at around £38k - Paying back £500 a month and ALL of it comes off the capital with interest and charges all stopped. It has been life changing.

Sadly what caused the debt were 2 x SMP leaves, 4 years of Full Time childcare fees and increasing bills. We're now on the road to clearing it all within 5 years and Credit Ratings have started to improve already.

Just a note to say you got this.......and maybe worth giving Moorcroft a counter offer? a straight £1k? also ask for them to confirm that it will clear the debt completely and show as settled this will clear the account completely on your credit reports too.

Thanks for the message. Yes it is really helpful to know the interest is frozen isn't it? Well done and hope you are debt free in future asap! Mine was mainly illness / job related.

Hello. Please can I join? I hate being in debt! It seems to get worse this time of year because of christmas. The kids are older now (9 & 13) so we’re going much more low key now they’re out of the toy phase.

I have a virgin cc with 2995k left. I’m snowballing this one as it has interest. Paying off at least £200pm, but want to aim for £300 most months… particularly after christmas.

I also have a Lloyds cc with 1800k left. It’s 0% for the next 2 years so only paying £60pm for now.

Hi @MinnesotaMuffin @Gwdihooooo
no update from me yet but when I do it’s gone up ! We had a tax credit bill come through this month which has left us short so I’ve used the credit card a bit .
just having a read trying to remind myself to stay on track ( or at least minimise the damage )
have started Christmas shopping . Older kids have asked for money which I’ve already put away . Am trying not to buy just for the sake of it this year ( although I miss the days when they were younger and you could make a big pile out of cheaper bits )

Morning!

Welcome, @Gwdihooooo! It sounds like you have a plan in place, so that's something. I know what you mean about hating it. I curse my previous self for being so bloody stupid, but all I can do is fix it, not go back in time to prevent it!

@Greyingmumto3, bloody tax credits are more hassle than they're worth. We had two overpayments we had to pay back a few years ago. It's very annoying; I'm glad to be free of them!

Thanks.

We’ve had a tax credit bill in the past due to being self employed. I actually found it less stressful to not apply after that. I couldn’t cope with an unexpected bill.

I soo have a plan in place, but worried that Christmas abs a broken car with run it!

We no longer qualify.. am almost relieved!

I am worried about a potential overpayment with tax credits. Are they good with repayments I wonder. Not sure if will qualify when it changes to UC - Dh is self employed and they overpaid it a few years back, they take it back a little bit but not much (I asked them to take more but they said they couldn't).

@Orangesandlemons77 the letter we received asked for payment in 30 days or you could speak to them to request longer . ( not able to pay it with a credit card either )

The NatWest card has gone up to 3982. A lot of that is a car bill.

End of November update:

Tesco 975
NatWest 3218

Tesco will be paid off at the end of Feb. The NatWest will probably take until the end of April. We can request money back from Octopus which could go towards the debt but is more likely to be swallowed up by Christmas.

Morning!

My update is:

Barclaycard £7,875.31
Lloyds £8,423.12

I might be doing a little bit of rescheduling soon to make the payments cheaper so I have better affordability for a mortgage, so things may change / get paid off more slowly in the few months I need to prepare my evidence bank statements.

I need to speak with a broker to see if minimising payments for a few months is best, as obviously as little debt as possible is good, but if you're throwing all your money at it, you look like you can't afford a mortgage! Fine line.

Hi. November update for me…

Virgin CC… £2822.59 Snowballing £200pm
Lloyds CC… £1523.54 0% interest. Paying minimum

Hey! Can I join? I just spent the evening with my debt spreadsheet and it was... grim...

My debt is all college loans from overseas so the numbers are huge and intimidating. These are private student loans with "normal" repayments not like the UK "graduate tax" thing...

~£43k @ 6.9% for main student loan

~£14k @ 3% for secondary student loan

I'm going to try to (mostly) pay off the second one with my January bonus. It's 3% for now but after May it finishes its sweetheart/intro rate and will increase a lot. And I think it will make me feel psychologically better to only have one loan. Not sure though...

Hi everyone and welcome @sooomuchdebt
i haven’t updated in a while ( mainly because things got a bit out of control money wise )
my total looking back actually hit 3018 which is a huge step back !
I’ve actually sat down and worked it out now and feel back in control
now stands at 2824
cc1 is 1988
cc2 is 826 ( this has been the problem one -haven’t used it years and once I did I just carried on ! )
im hoping to make another payment in the next few days to get it down further.

Hi @sooomuchdebt I don’t think i could cope with seeing my student loans as debt! Good luck with paying it off 👍

I know what you meant @Greyingmumto3 I feel like I’m starting to have a routine, but my dh was in a car accident last week and won’t be able to work for the next 4 months at least! So I’m now worried about cost of living on top of debt repayments

Hello @sooomuchdebt - that’ll be amazing to pay off a chunk of the £14k off in January - you’ll feel so unburdoned I’m sure!

I got paid early this month, including £500 ish back pay. It’s tempting to chuck some of that at the debt now but it’s a loooong time to next pay day and we have overspent on Christmas already, so I think I’ll wait to the ”official” pay day and assess the situation then.

Christmas pay day check in:

Tesco 450
NatWest 2134

Here’s to a becoming debt free 2023!