help with debt strategy

Hi Junebug,

Debt is obviously a major symptom of a gambling problem and can hold us back as we try to draw a line under our gambling days.
What has worked best for myself is to decide on a sensible amount of money I can afford to pay back each month and set up a direct debt on pay day for this amount to go straight to my debts. This then takes the focus away from the debt as you will know it is being taken care of.
I would definitely caution you not to over stretch yourself to try and pay your debt off too quickly. You need to feel the benefit of not gambling with extra money in your pocket to spend on other things. Also remember being gambling free is a choice for life so there is no need to rush paying off your debts.
Try not to worry about your debts as it will only push you back into gambling. It took me a while to realise I didn't have a money problem but I had a gambling problem. Focus on taking care of your gambling problem and the debts will take care of themselves.

Hi the ghost, that's probably the best bit of advice I have ever received on this issue.

Trying not to worry about the debt is an essential component. And you are right, paying it off too quickly and not enjoying money in the pocket is another trigger to regamble.

It's finding that balance which I'm finding the most difficult, especially when all the financial decisions and problems are being analysed alone to work out the healthiest strategy.

Junebug,

I'm in the same sort of situation - 22k over 3 cards.

Whilst I don't know your exact figures I would advise you look at the following:
- close down 2 of the 3 cards you have cleared (keep the one that has been open the longest)
- take the amount from the card you have with the LONGEST 0% - calculate how long you have left on it and the balance you have, divide the balance by the time left and set up a direct debit for this ever month. So if it is 5k and you have 25 months left to run set up a DD for £200 a month, so you know when that 0% ends that card will be clear.
- split the rest of the money you can afford every month amongst the other two cards, if possible make more than the minimum payment on both. When they run out go for another 0% card. If you close two cards like I suggested earlier you could look at getting them again - they will give you a credit card 6 months after closure if you want the same card as it offers the best 0% deal.
- do not overstretch yourself because you will turn back to gambling. Only pay what you can afford and have enough spare every month to have a nice life!

Good luck

Lou

Hi Junebug1981

There has been some sound support given here. I just wanted to add that you may also get some additional ideas from a debt agency. I have attached some links if you feel this will help in any way.

http://www.payplan.com

http://moneyadviceservice.org.uk

Regards

Cade

Forum Admin

Hi Junebug

You need financial advice from the CAB and others.

That is a significant debt and it will almost certainly end up off the interest free promotions. Credit card companies dont run a charity. The promotions are the temptation.

I went bankrupt in 1990 as a result of £16000 worth of debt on about 8 credit cards. I wasnt living on planet earth and my head was somewhere far above the clouds.

You need to face some hard truths that you should only have one credit card if that. The fact you have so many cards tells me everything I need to know. It will actually worry your bank and any financial advisor you see

I dont know what you earn but high debts over long periods are not sustainable in most cases.

Quite simply the number of cards suggest you have been playing the transfer/ Peter.. Paul game which is not wise beyond a small and very calculated level.

Sorry but you must face the truth and you do need financial advice from a professional advisor.

When all said you can only pay what you can afford but remember that any assets you have can and will be taken from you. Ive been there and cars and nice homes can be a thing of the past.

So please tackle the gambling issue and face up to the reality of borrowing too much money

FACING THE TRUTH WILL REFRESH YOU so my words are actually a kindness

Best wishes

Financially, the best approach would be to make minimum payments on all cards - and then put any surplus each month into an interest bearing savings account. The interest, however small, will snowball and will be paying more than 0%.

Emotionally, that not might be ideal as having a fund building up might entice Mr Gamble. Only you can decide the most appropriate course of action.

I'd agree that it would be unwise to throw all money at debt, it's very important to enjoy some nicer things too.

Hi Junebug. I'm in a sort of similar position with a loan of 4 years left to pay and an oustanding CC balance which the 0% promotion rate expires next year. I'm simply paying the minimum on the CC and will balance transfer when the promotion rate is finished. By the time the loan is finished my CC debt should be halved and quickly paid off. I don't worry too much about the debt at present as it will take care of itself so long as I stay GF!

Do you have a part time job as well? I work in a bar 2-3 nights a month to supplement my income and it really helps

Thanks everyone it's really good advice from different people.

I definitely agree the amount of credit cards open at the moment is a bit absurd. I almost have it so that I'm down to 3 cards that have a balance on (one large, one medium, one small).

My current plan is to play the balance transfer game until all the debt is eventually down onto one card with a long 0% rate on it. Then it's a matter of shutting down the other cards ASAP, leaving just two open to transfer balances back and forth.

It's truly a high risk strategy because that temptation to pull the trigger is always there and pile on debt onto one of the ccards again with gambling. This can only work if I stay gamble free.

For the next 12 months, I have enough income to knock off ВЈ500/month (whilst maintainig an ok living) which should get my balance down on to one long term card, hopefully around 12k with 0% interest for 2-3 years. I plan to change job in a year though and that will significantly reduce income. But then I'll just pay little bits as I go through life, 12k over 3 years will be £300/ month which I hope i can handle.

I'll keep you posted on how I go, god willing slowly closing cards as i go.

Current situation:

Card 1 - 0
Card 2 - 6190 (interest free til Feb 17)
Card 3 - 201
Card 4 - 68
Card 5 - 13423 (interest free til Nov 16)
Card 6 - 0
Card 7 - 950 (interest free til April 18)

Card 3 and 4 should be paid off by the end of the month and a good £500+ dent taken out of Card 5 (i worked some extra weekend shifts)

Thank you all for listening, at the very least it helps unburden my finances and strategy rather then keep it all locked in my head where it can get lonely and sad.

June,

The biggest problem I have with your above is that the 13k card 0% expires shortly.

What is the limit on card 7?

Cards 1,3, 4 and 6...what are the limits?

Previous experience has taught me that barlaycard and MBNA are good for offering 0%'s to existing customers when they keep a card open but don't use it for a few months.

However, you have to think about this; when card 5 expires it's 0% what other credit card is going to give you a limit of say 11k to cover it at 0%. My honest guess is none - I am purely saying it because you have so many credit cards open so are going to be seen as a risk to lenders.

Get cards 3 and 4 cleared on payday. Then decide out of 1,3,4 and 6 which one has the highest limit and keep that one open...close all the others immediately. Then hope that the remaining card with 0 balance offers you a 0% to clear card 5.

If you cannot transfer anything else to card 7 set up a direct debit to this one of £50 a month, it will have it clear a couple of months before the 0% ends and will be more than the minimum.

Do you have to change jobs in a year? Can you not stay where you are so you have the 500 a month every month spare? I just don't want you to fall into the trap of having a reduced income to think you can win money back by gambling.

I know exactly what you mean about it all being in your head and feeling lonely and sad.

Big hugs

Lou

I have quite a large credit limit on a number of the cards - and with balance transfers ranging from 0.4-3% transaction fee which then extends the 0% rate for another 2 years.

So as soon as one 0% deal is running out, I will transfer it to another card (the one with the longest 0% deal) and pay the small transaction fee. Granted I take a little hit but it extends the balance for another 2 years.

For example barclaycard has a 0.4% transaction fee available for a 2 year 0% rate this month. That is one of the cards that is soon to be cleared at the end of the month. So at the end of the month, I will transfer 5k across for a £20 charge and then 5k of my balance breathes easy for a other 2 years.

I anticipate over the course of 2-3 years I will have to transfer my balance once or 1.5 times. So I will take a 3% hit on my balance every 2 years, whilst I try to take out 30% of my balance every year .

It's a total minefield. I'm pretty vulnerable right now but if i can just whittle it down to two cards - one with 0 balance and one with my debt - and then transfer between the two every time one time expires.

With my 7 cards open, I currently have the credit limit of well over over 60k. I'm extremely confident that I would never relapse into blowing that kind of balance - but I desperately need to cut out the mini relapses.

Within 3 months I want to get down to 5 cards and by this time next year down to the 2.

OK here is an end of month th update on where I am with all my card juggling (the important thing to note is I'm gamble free since the last post) - just another approx 36 months to go! Lol

Card 1 - 0
Card 2 - 6120 (interest free til Feb 17)
Card 3 - 0
Card 4 - 0
Card 5 - 13277 (interest free til Nov 16)
Card 6 - 0
Card 7 - 900 (interest free til April 18)

Total debt: 20297 (last month: 20832)
-£535 improvement 🙂

So the good news is im down to 3 credit cards as i hoped for last month. My work still owe me £500 which I was hoping they would pay this month (which they havent) - which should take another chunk out of the 13277 at some point.

I have a couple of decent balance transfer deals available on a couple of the cleared cards so when my interest free period on the 13277 comes up, I'll make a balance transfer and extend my interest free length on a different card. As anticipated, I'll probably have to transfer my balance a total of once or twice during the course of this long pay off.

Anyhow, thanks for listening. It's just therapeutic for me to type all this out even if no one reading 🙂

An improvement of £535 is something to be happy about and report thus far!

Hi guys, I'm just now using this thread to articulate my debt and progress. I find it therapeutic to post and I have been gamble free for a few months now. So here how I am doing with the juggling:

Card 1 - 5045 (interest free til Nov 2017)
Card 2 - 6053 (interest free til Feb 17)
Card 3 - 0
Card 4 - 0
Card 5 - 4044 (interest free til April 2017)
Card 6 - 3650 (interest free til Aug 2018)
Card 7 - 870 (interest free til April 18)

Total debt: 19622 (last month: 20297)
-£635 improvement 🙂

Slowly surely.. it's a real drama having to make sure in making the minimum payments and worrying I don't miss a payment and mess up credit rating.

I also now have £1975 savings with my wife (she has no idea about the credit card debt....) but we are saving now and a few months we had 0 in the savings - we have both been continuing over the last few months. Hopefully after a year, our savings may be equal to my credit card debt

Hi all, a positive debt reduction month for me. I remain gamble free and managed to get some debts down. It's still huge, and the next few months won't be as productive, but I'm trying to put my debts here as it allows me to keep track and air my thoughts before my mind goes insane number crunching on my own. I'm trying to battle all this without family involvement since I have let them down so many times.

Current card debt and when interest free period ends:

Card 1 - 4971 - Feb 2017
Card 2 - 3954 - April 2017
Card 3 - 4941- Nov 2017
Card 4 - 795 - April 2018
Card 5 - 3564 - August 2018
Card 6 - 0 (no good balance transfer options currently )
Card 7 - 0 (no good balance transfer options currently )
-------
Total debt: 18225.

That's a reduction of almost £1400 this month which is amazing.

In the savings account with my wife we have now 2k saved (she knows nothing about my credit debt).

Hoping to knock off about 400-500/month over the next 6 months or so.

Thanks for letting me post. I know this thread is really just for me and documenting my own progress.

Morning,

Firstly congrats on starting to shift the debt. All sound advice from other users and my God doesn't it feel great seeing the numbers go down?

So from what I'm reading, you have five cards that work for you eg balance transfers and the like. You also have two that don't. I strongly recommend that you close account on the two that don't. That way there isn't a negative impact on your credit rating, no temptation and no ability to put tiny purchases on the card. Also easier to track your payments so you don't accidentally miss one and get a charge or negatively impact your credit rating.

I had eight cards at one point. Two with just over five grand, one with three grand and maybe two with a couple of hundred off each. I looked at the "snowball" effect by paying off the cards in order of amount owed. I did this for the smaller ones. I left the £3k one as it had a very long interest free rate and tackled a £5k one. As a result I am now down to one cars with just over £5k and the £5k one paid off with just under a grand left on the £3k one. Total debt from around £16k to just over £6k since early Feb. Still interest free.

I realised a couple of things on this journey. One, don't leave the door open to gamble. My cards are currently without their three numbers on the back and frozen in a block of ice in my freezer. Dailey extreme but they haven't been thawed out once. I also realised that as comforting as it is to have high massive credit limits, it will never be needed. So I dropped them all with a decent buffer of maybe £500 available if needed. Credit rating shot up, also getting rid of surplus cards it also did. I think I had over £100k available to me at one time and only ever used £16k of that. Finally, I must stress that my debt was not caused by gambling but personal reasons. I turned to gambling as a quick fix. When I first tried I made some noticeable inroads, discovered gambling and got back to square one. Gambling set me back three months of debt payment plan but enough to know it's always gonna have the same outcome. Also gambling activity on accounts is a big no no to future lenders so really six months clean and you see big changes in credit rating. Also banks don't care what you spend your money on. My creditors want to increase my limits above what I had before.

Finally, I am under the impression you don't want to tell your wife as you haven't. I'm not saying gambling will return if you haven't but I told my partner the lot and the support has been incredible. The difference was this debt appeared two years before I met my partner so I went through the personal reasons why it accrued. I did confess about the gambling as a quick fix but the underlying problems needed to be addressed first. Now they have and I'm happy, I don't gamble, in fact hate the very thought of it. Only you can think what the consequences of telling your wife might be but t might be a supportive option.

Congrats on progress, see it as a marathon and not a sprint. Set small goals and more importantly, don't ever gamble again. The debt will never go. Also treat yourself and your wife as a reward for progress and don't live in a tight limit.

All the best 🙂