Dh thinks I’m catastrophising… am I?

[Tbagger]

Hi,

so we bought a house three years ago that was a total renovation project, we’ve literally just finished the work but it’s cost a fucking fortune and we’ve ended up with some unsecured debt.

on top of the mortgage we owe 30k in a loan and credit cards. It’s shit and not what we planned but in hindsight we massively underestimated the costs. On top of this, I’ve got. CCJ from a fucking parking ticket so we can’t add it to the mortgage. I’m so worried.

DH agrees that we need to prioritise clearing the debt, but he also thinks that I’m catastrophising based on the following facts..

we earn a good joint salary of £110k
we can afford the repayments plus an overpayment
we’re on track to clear the 30k in 30 months.

30k is shit in anyone’s eyes, but am I overthinking it?

I think it depends on how secure your income is. If it is unlikely to change in the next 2 1/2 years then you will be fine. If it is insecure/likely to decrease due to mat leave etc you will still probably be fine but I could see why you would be worried (although worrying does nothing!)

30k isn't much in the grand scheme of things. You have a good plan
Stock to it :)

110 between yoy as earnings and 30 grand of debt on top of your mortgage is a lot for those earnings, I’d be very uncomfortable , especially as some,of it is credit card.

Wow, daddy warbucks has joined mumsnet,

110k as joint? How joint? Is a huge proportion of that 1 salary? Split equally not so worrying, one person on 90k the other on 20k more so.

You have a plan.

Stick to it.

Live your life.

Hi, it’s 70k 40k

You are catastrophising.

£30k is the same as a moderate car loan. £110k/yr makes this easy to pay back.

Renovation projects always increase in cost, it’s why the rule of thumb is add up costs and then add 20% buffer for the unexpected and you then have a 50/50 chance of not going over that. So you’re being too hard on yourself- this is a routinely common occurrence.

They are ok track to repay it in under 3 years.

It isn't much.

Stop being passive aggressive.

Strangely that’s almost exactly the same as what my sister said! She was shocked that we didn’t owe more 😂

🤣🤣🤣

I wouldn’t be too concerned. You have a plan. It would be worth prioritising the debt with the highest interest rate for overpayment first.

Yeah, talk to anyone who has renovated or built an extension or house and it’s true. They always end up costing more and it is always due to the unexpected, couldn’t be forseen. You’ve probably done really well.

Just try and consolidate the credit card debt into a personal loan if you can get lower interest rate that way.

Also, if the renovation has increased the house value, you may be able to remortgage and cash out some of the increased equity to then pay off the £30k?

Might not be worth it, but depends. Some people renovate and a house goes up several hundred k in value, so a remortgage means a lower LTV ratio, so lower % interest rate, and then you cash out a bit to pay off debt and still end up with around same monthly mortgage payment.

If it makes you feel better at least you’ve finished your renovations! We have a 10k kitchen still sitting in a box 16 years after we bought it😂. Not sure it will be installed before I die!

On the upside the delay has meant we can install underfloor heating as the kit has improved and less depth is needed for the underfloor heating compared to 16 years ago. Cheaper too as more competition.

I have learnt to just go with the flow and don’t forget to live your life with some joy.

I’d assume you’ve added more than £30k to the value of the house so just work through paying it off with as much over payment as possible. Can you move any to an interest free card? Yes it’s debt but you can afford it and it’s a one off rather than a gambling habit.

move it to a 0% card as soon as poss

I'm assuming you've settled the CCJ debt now OP?

Contact the county court who issued the CCJ (probably the bulk operations centre in Northampton), and ask to have your judgment marked as "satisfied".

This will then have your CCJ marked as satisfied on your credit reports, so until it drops off your file potential lenders are able to see you have paid it.

You are also able to contact credit reference agencies individually to add a "notice" to your credit report that will be visible to anyone conducting a credit check. You could use this to explain the circumstances around the CCJ, it can make a difference, especially if the non payment was obviously a one off.