My Journey To Financial Freedom Begins

A question about : My Journey To Financial Freedom Begins

I Would First Off Just Like To Say, You Guys Are All Amazing!

I Have Been Reading Lots Of The Threads Over The Past Couple Of Weeks And I Am Very Taken Back By The Levels Of Support People Offer.

I Guess My Main Reason For Starting This Thread Is I Want To Get Away From The Feeling Of Isolation My Situation Has Given Me. I Have Very Good Friends And A Loving Family However Maybe Through A Combination Of Pride And Shame I Have Found Myself Unable To Tell Them.

Like Most I Have Suffered From The Self Inflicted Mentality Of Sticking My Head In The Sand And Hoping It Would Be Gone. This Has Now Come To And End! I Want To Face Up To This Siutation And Beat It Back To Where It Came !

My Aim Is To Maintain This Thread Till The Completion Of This Task And Hopefully Benefit From Support When I Am Low And Offer Support When Able, Even If This Is Just Showing That There Are Others In The Same Position And It Gets Better!

Apologies For The Lenght Of This, Kinda Started Flowing !

Will Come Back With Some Figures And My Thoughts On How I Think I Should Deal With Them....

Best answers:

• All the best with it, and keep updating us so you don't feel all alone.
• Hi Kingsg welcome on board. Sounds like you've had your LB moment. Well done and I look forward to your posts
  L
  x
  Ps...why all the capital letters lol!!!
• Thanks guys, i know it going to take a while but i am going to do this.
  As for the capital letters, not really sure!
  Cheers
• Hi guys,
  Been mega busy and haven`t had a chance to draw up a definative figures yet, would like to make sure i get it right before i shout it from the roof tops.
  I have however got a question which i wondered if anybody could help me with in the interim. To set the scene, i have got a loan (Ј10,000) with Lloyds TSB for a period of 60 months(currently 25 months in). I have approached Lloyds today with the aim of removing the loan protection which totals Ј59 of the monthly payment (Ј306), i intend to replace with a seperate policy which i have been quoted Ј4.89 a month.
  They have have however refused to remove the insurance as i am outside the first 30days of the aggreement, is this normal?
  They have however told me that i can re-negociate the loan to remove this insurance but as i have a very poor internal credit rating as my current account in the past has been run poorly, they would remove the insurance but the APR would go up from the current 16.9 APR .I have checked my external credit reference with experian in the last week and i have a score of 999 out of 1000, which i have been led to believe is prity damn good.
  so which option do you think makes the most sense?
  1. wait it out for the next few months maintainig the current account and hope i can change the aggreement and remove the insurance, i am not really sure if a couple of months will make a difference to this internal rating!
  2. look externally and try to find a loan at a cheaper APR without insurance.
  If i was to go for option 2 how would this work when coming to settlement of the current aggreement, would i only pay insurance until the settlement date?
  Any help you guys can offer would be whole heartedly appreciated.
  Cheers
• Hello and welcome to the site!
  It's not easy to advise you without the full picture, however, I can safely say 16.9% APR is appalling! Once you have a full idea of what your figures are, perhaps you can consider taking your loan elsewhere as If your credit worthiness is good, as you say, you should have no problem getting a much lower APR.
  I have two loans at 6.5% each - just to give you an idea of APRs.
  Good luck!
• Welcome to the Money saving board!
  Provided you haven't been refused loans previously, I would go ahead and see if you can obtain another to move the loan across at a more reasonable rate and minute the PPI. However, if you have ready been refused or are refused this application, don't do any more applications as it will further damage your credit rating.
  I think your first step though is to post your SOA up online - there are lots of people here that can help you out - they are all fab!
  For example, if the good people on here help you save on your monthly outgoings by reviewing the SOA, you could decrease the payment period for the new loan or switch to a flexible loan where you can pay off more when your position allows, etc to shift the debt sooner.
  Good luck with your quest.
• Hi,
  Please excuse my ignorance but what is a SOA?
  Cheers
• A statement of affairs - basically it lists your current situation - all your incomings, and all your outgoings (all of them including magazines/sweets/smokes/trip to the pub/train ticketetc) and all your debts so we get a full picture. Have a look at Southern Scousers sticky at the top of the board for new posters and this will tell you how to do one. Good Luck
• Hi there,
  With regards to your question about cancelling PPI, if you have a look on the loans chat forum you will see threads about people cancelling their PPIs, and some people have the same problem as you. I belive there are also some templates there to send to the banks concerned.
  Hope that helps!
• Hi there
  Welcome to the forum. I am having the same problem with Black Horse (part of TSB!) regarding PPI. I am in the process of sorting this out. Look at template letters but also have a look at the consumer action group website. You will get lots of interesting information on there about claiming back bank charges. Also, I think there is a new forum regarding claiming back bank charges on this forum.
  If you say your account was not run well in the past, there is every possibility that TSB are owing you money!!!!! in bank charges which are unlawful.
  I am in the process of claiming back bank charges from TSB Scotland and also Bank of Scotland. What I would advise is dont listen to their rubbish. If you want to cancel PPI you are entitled to do so. Also, was the PPI sold to you as a condition of the loan. If so, they have missold it and you can claim every penny in premiums that you have paid back. Do a search on PPI on the forum.
  I was like you before I started reading this forum. I now feel more empowered and am fighting back. Its amazing the confidence it gives you. I lost all my confidence because of the way Bank of Scotland have treated me in the past; I felt worthless and a bit of a loser. Now I am looking for a full time job; claiming back bank charges; disputing bills etc.,
  You will find the strength to fight back. Good luck.
  Annie
• Welcome aboard !
  This site and the dfw board in particular are quite inspirational. I lurked for a long time without posting and cannot thank enough people for the amount of money that I have saved and the way I deal with my debts.
  If you have a problem, share it with the board and you will find that you will not be alone but make sure you share your good news too !!
  Anyway, welcome and good luck and just as a pointer, I received a phone call today from Amex to telling me that a cheque will be on its way later this week for my refunded charges !! If it hadn't been for this site I would never have got that money back !!
• Just wanted to say welcome. Although I do not always post this board is FAB for support and ideas. Paige
• "I Guess My Main Reason For Starting This Thread Is I Want To Get Away From The Feeling Of Isolation My Situation Has Given Me. I Have Very Good Friends And A Loving Family However Maybe Through A Combination Of Pride And Shame I Have Found Myself Unable To Tell Them."
  Hi kingsg, yep, that is exactly where I am! Best of luck, I'm in it with you! Debs.
• Well here it is folks ! not a nice picture but i am sure it could be worse. At least i now know what i am looking at in full.
  Statement Of Affairs
  Monthly Income
  Income Amount
  Net Monthly Salary Ј 1,062.50
  Bar Job Ј 156.00 (This is a very conservative figure as this is changeable on a weekly basis. This represent the minimum that i would earn)
  TOTAL MONTHLY INCOME Ј 1,218.50
  Essential Monthly Outgoings
  Outgoings Amount
  Mortgage/RentЈ 100.00
  Mobile PhoneЈ 30.00 (Begins 1/2/2006)
  PetrolЈ 15.00
  Other TravelЈ 20.00
  Birthdays/ChristmasЈ 80.00
  GYMЈ 47.00 (begins 1/1/2007)
  TOTAL MONTHLY OUTGOINGSЈ 292.00
  NET MONTHLY SURPLUSЈ 926.50
  Monthly Debts
  Debt Total Debt Min Payment Rate
  Cahoot loan Ј 8,756.04 Ј 176.00 9.10 %
  Lloyds tsb loan Ј 8,923.60 Ј 306.00 17.90 % (what was i thinking when is accepted this rate)
  LLoyds TSB Credit Card Ј 1,498.20 Ј 31.00 7.90 %
  Egg Card Ј 3,014.73 Ј 61.00 16.90 %
  TOTAL DEBT Ј 22,192.57
  Thanks for the advice on the PPI had a look at some of the threads and will be sending a letter into them shortly. I have already sent a letter to lloyds in respect to historic bank charges on my account and they now have 22 day of the 40 to return the information to me..
  Can anybody recommend a good current account, want to leave lloyds as soon as possible and feedback would be appreciated.
  Cheers guys
• I'm thinking of going over to Alliance and Leicester from Lloyds, because Lloyds are charging me 18% for my overdraft! A&L will give me this interest free for one year, buying me a bit of time to get rid of it.
• Bump for op
• OP
  a few things
  If you are about to START paying the gym, get out of it before you start paying. LIkewise with mobile phone .
  Do you seriously spend a grand on Xmas & birthdays? If so its too much its effectively you are working your bar job- just for that!
• Bump ........
• bump and bump for op not really sure what this means, could you enlighten me !