My finances are shocking

I can honestly say I'm 100% debt free, I pay my credit card off in full every month and always have money left in my account at the end of the month.

The problem is this year has been the only year Ive ever managed to be like this and I'm 43 years old :(, in the past Ive been like most, fill credit cards up> get loan to pay cards off> get more cards etc etc.

Its a never ending circle that is very hard to get out of and probably harder for young people these days with student loans and expensive mortgages.

If your in your early 20's think about what your spending now, otherwise you could still be paying for it in 20 years time like I have been.
 
Almost 33 now, i have

500 on my cc (but i will finish off paying for this when i get paid this month :D )

3500 overdraft!! With a bit of luck (ie not made unemployed) i will pay this off by Xmas

and about 3500 in a loan that i am paying off monthly, it still hass 2 years on it. Now my plan is to clear my over draft by xmas then save for a bit. then try to pay off the loan early with a but of luck i will be debt free on or just after my 34th birthday
 
I managed to amass a debt of £15k in the space of 4 years, the majority of it being urinated away.

I was at a stage where, given the interest on my 4 credit cards and loan, I would not be debt free for another decade.

As a result, I opted to go the route of an IVA.

Debts were consolidated, interest frozen, and a 5 year payment plan based around my living expenses drawn up.

1 year down, 4 to go, and I am still able to live a normal life with the money I earn.

Woot to being debt free at 30!
 
was really silly with CC and loans until a few years ago, when my mrs went off with another bloke i got lumbered with all the debt cos I was the one that worked and im still paying for it now, but in 4 years I will be debt free and at present its 2 days before payday and I still have money, its a hard lesson to learn with money but im never having a credit card again.
 
21 and no debt :)

I'm going to get a credit card and just use it for small purchases every now and again, and maybe for my car insurance just to i've got a credit rating.

I understand in some situations debt is unavoidable for some people, but the majority of times it's people spending beyond what they can afford. It's part of this buy now pay later culture we have, everyone thinks they are entitled to live a certain lifestyle, regardless of how much they earn.

If I don't have enough money for something, or I can't afford the repayments etc I wont buy it.

It's good to hear people facing up to it though and doing something positive about it :)
 
It's shocking, i firmly believe in personal responsibility, but you have to say something about CC companies a couple of years back, they were handing out CC like sweets. Now the one's in real trouble are one's that have more than 1 CC,

One credit card is all you need, if you feel you need more one than you have problems.
 
I've built up a fair bit being a student. Especially this year. My student funding is all messed up too so my loan doesn't even cover my fees and rent!

Luckily I got a pretty good placement for a year and it starts in a few weeks. So i'll be going from having no money to having a fairly good amount!

I've got a 3k interest free overdraft. 1K on a credit card and another £400 in another interest free overdraft. I'm hoping by this time next year all that will be gone or at least only be left with a few hundred in the overdraft. Hopefully it goes to plan. :p

EDIT: Also got the student loan. Forgot about that. :o
 
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I made the genius choice to grab a nice two-bedroom flat to myself. My rent is £650 a month, not including bills, and my wage is just about £1000 after tax. Should be a tight year! :P Not to mention the fact that my car just failed its MOT (£420!!) and my car insurance ends in two days. I'm going to have to watch my financing very carefully!

That said, I'm still going to buy a NAS (4TB) and a PS3 and surround sound within the next couple of months... ^_^
 
Stupid amounts of capital secured against assets which aren't worth as much as they once were.

As far as unsecured debt goes, I pay off my CC at the end of every month from a debit account, basically what they recommend you should do.

Getting a decent credit rating is pretty easy these days.
 
Here's a question for you lot. I currently have a CC with about £2500 on there and a loan which finishes in November. I currently have a DD set up on the card for the minimum each month then at the end of the month I'd put some more to it. The loan is £180 a month. I was toying with the idea of getting another loan to cover both and spreading it over 2 years, but then I thought that because my last loan payment will be November I could use that spare £180 to pay of the card to save the hassle of another credit application against my name.

What would you do?
 
yeah, don't take out yet another loan, ties you in to much

just keep going and then start using the £180 to pay off the CC, but you really need to pay in a lot more than the minimum payment to get anywhere on your CC, a recommend at the very least £300-£400 a month. I had almost £4000 on my CC and paid in £500 a month, took me over nine months as i was still spending on it. I had to put it away completely (take it out of my wallet and stick it a draw and forget about it)
 
robgmun said:
yeah, don't take out yet another loan, ties you in to much

just keep going and then start using the £180 to pay off the CC, but you really need to pay in a lot more than the minimum payment to get anywhere on your CC, a recommend at the very least £300-£400 a month. I had almost £4000 on my CC and paid in £500 a month, took me over nine months as i was still spending on it. I had to put it away completely (take it out of my wallet and stick it a draw and forget about it)
Click to expand...

Unfortunately I've just moved into a new house so am sinking a lot of money into bills and the mortgage, hence why the direct debit for the minimum is set up and anything left at the end of the month goes on it also.
 
I have a few debts here and there, none of which are unmanagable.

I'm currently trying to save really hard (well I keep saying that, then buying random crap), to pay off what I owe (credit card and car). Not too sure what my best way of doing this is, but I'll get Money and try to see what it says :)

Ideally, I'd like a house, but for me to get one I'd need to get a big deposit together, I save a bit each month towards this, but if I can pay of my debts quicker I can save so much more per month.
 
I employ the multiple accounts method..

Majority goes in savings account where DDs are billed from
Agreed % goes in joint account (50-50 split with mrs)
"Spare" % goes in personal account to cover day-day things

Never keep more than £250 in my personal account, and I can't access the savings unless online or in a branch so it removes temptation.

E.g.

Paid £2000

£1250 in savings
£500 (each) in joint
£250 in spare
 
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Its the small things which add up as you don't mentally acknowledge them.

At the minute i am spending £20 a week on all my food. Thats breakfast, diner and tea. Vegetables and pasta are cheap and bulky! I also stopped snacking

I stopped smoking cigs so only smoke rollups which saves me around £60 a month.

Bring my own coffe/milk to work. The brew machine here is crap anyway.

I don't drive around in my car randomly like i used to either.

No expensive beers either. No Vedett, No Kopperberg, No Chimey, No Chouff, No Erdinger. House Ales all the way.
 
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