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[amigov6]

A while ago now i posted the mess i got myself in with personal loans, topping up, swapping the balance from one lender to another etc. Well the BIGGER of my two loans finishes in March 09. Less than a year to go now on a 5 yr repayment.....I've struggled to say the least, resisted offers of more money from Loan co's, the bank, the mortgage co. (Huge equity) house doubled in value since i bought it & after 6 years i owe considerably less than i borrowed. Stick at it, throw the loan offers in the shredder, ignore the canvassing calls from 'loan co's.
   I'm nearly done now, i can see how easy it is to go under but i stopped in time (just) If the house got reposessed i could never afford another.
    Don't be tempted, it's a slippery slope. Do without the holiday/new kitchen'till you can pay for it yourself.
    Luckily the only debts i have are agreed & i've no arrears on anything. A light at the end of the tunnel at last & a lesson learned.

[waspy]

Bang on advice. I work by- if i cant afford to pay cash, i don't have.
I've saved for what i have  
Loans are ok if you pay them off quick, but if you have them over a long time, all your doing is linning some elses pocket  
Just look at your mortgage, half of my payments every month are interest & my mortgage is only small

[Jay w]

its a situation a lot of people have been in, and because you see others changig cars and buying nice TV's and items you follow suit.

I had a loan for a Zafir, paid it off well over 3 years ago, and still they mail me offering finance, the last one was offering £8000  

If i want finance again, which i wont i will go and find someone who can loan me the money at a reasonable rate, the moer junk mail i get from a company the less likely i am to deal with them in the future.

I have now got into the habit of saving for what i want, and i know more and more people who are going down this road as well, they are tired of being tied to a finance company, tired of paying someone else interest and so are taking control of finances.

[Kevin Wood]

With the current financial climate I think that is very sound advice which everyone would do well to follow (our government included - although I suspect it's a bit late for them).

Something doesn't feel like it's "mine" if I've borrowed to get it so I haven't tended to get into debt, except to buy the house. I'm looking forward to the day when that feels like it's "mine" too.

Kevin

[Martin_1962]

I have refinanced all of the CC debts but have kept the car money rather than pay off the HP as the interest is stupidly low, so I'll pay off the HP out of the money.

I reckon I paid £200 interest over 4 years!!!!

[ians]

Great advice mate.

By not buying all that optional stuff like new TV's, holidays etc (houses, food is different) today on credit, you'll be able to afford a whole lot more tomorrow with the interest that your not paying.

[Jay w]

the problem that is starting to arise currently is that people are not only using their credit cards for the little extras in life, they are useingt them for things like monthly loan paymrent and morgage, this is a very dangerous situation to be in and makes things very unstable, all they are doing is ofsetting the issue.

[TheBoy]

Glad to see you're almost there AmigoV6

Whilst there are things most of us will always need to borrow for - mortgages and cars probably - I've always been a firm believer in if I can't afford it, I will go without.  TVs/HiFi/new kitchens and so on are not essentials, and not worth getting in to serious finacial trouble for imho

[Kevin Wood]

Whilst there are things most of us will always need to borrow for - mortgages and cars probably - I've always been a firm believer in if I can't afford it, I will go without.  TVs/HiFi/new kitchens and so on are not essentials, and not worth getting in to serious finacial trouble for imho

And speaking of essentials, if you really end up in the mire, just remember-

You can sleep in your car.

You can't race your house.

 

Kevin

[tunnie]

Glad to see you're almost there AmigoV6

Whilst there are things most of us will always need to borrow for - mortgages and cars probably - I've always been a firm believer in if I can't afford it, I will go without. TVs/HiFi/new kitchens and so on are not essentials, and not worth getting in to serious finacial trouble for imho

Good news mate  

Same here, I have never taken a loan to buy anything. Only debt i have is my student loan.

Its just under 12K, I have been working 8 months, and i can already pay off 40% of it if i chose too!  

I own my Omega completely, no money to pay there either.

What happended to the good old method of saving up, then buying! Not the other way around!

[Danny]

its really good to hear you've come out on the right side of debt even after struggling so much

at 27 years old (only just) i have no debts and never have, I'm not made of money either and have always bought only when i could afford, its purely due to a relatively poor (financially) upbringing, never having pocket money as a child meant i valued every penny i had, my only outgoings are my cost of living, and maintainence of my car, i'm even back on pay as you go on my phone!

quite soon i plan to be living with my girlfriend, and thankfully she's as financially minded as me and will also make do with bare minimum necessities if it means we're not losing money!

[bertiecbx550]

thats the advice i should of listened too when i started getting loans for this and c/cards for that and store cards caused i could not say NO... now i`ve got the iva and no debit or credit cards or loans if i aint got the cash it has to wait...

[mars]

Don't have any finance. Every car I have ever bought has been with cash. I am careful with money but my wife is so careful she makes me look reckless!!!