Time to shine

Hi Jam,

may today run smoothly for you and well done on setting up a diary and for tackling this once and for all, I wish you well on your journey.

Wilsy

Thank you, Wilsy for your kind message of support.

Well I have navigated the somewhat surprisingly calm waters onto day 3. Still beeen checking sports results and talking to my mates about gambling but I feel firmly the other side of the fence now. Been to buy some bananas from the market for £1 at lunch. Usually, £1 on anything other than gambling would seem excessive and I would literally go without any extras just to plough it all into betting. Maybe turning over £1-2000 per day and sometimes up, sometimes down. I feel serene and relaxed with the amount of time I seem to have to do things already. Usually, a good 12 hours if not more of my day are taken by gambling in some form. Having taken a step back, I already feel that I am out of the haze, the air even feels clearer. Financially I am buggered at the moment. I have no savings, my credit rating is actually zero. If anybody knows how to improve that other than the basics, I'd like to know please. Also, stupidly, I have a credit card with Aqua, payday loans with both Quick Quid & Mr Lender who have been great actually in setting a repayment plan. My biggest bugbear is a £1000 Loans2go loan that I have. I am paying the £227per month for 18 months, paying almost a whopping 2k in interest. The day I went to their shop to get this loan, I went straight into the bookies about 10 doors down and spanked the lot. I do feel different this time and feel like I am going to not go back to giving the bookies my money. Half way down day 3 and so far so good. Thanks for reading and sorry for ranting.

Jam

Keep going Jam, you are doing great. Remember the good points, the time on your hands, the desire to keep hold of your money. You can do this and we are here to help you.

Thanks, Burko. Definitely trying to remember the good points. Day 4 drawing to a close. Quietly satisfied to get to this point. Today was a long day but I felt like I wasn't going to bet. My mind wandered to the future and what possibilities lie ahead. I have 2 ccj's from late last year but I know I I stay gamble free, my reward in 6 years time could be a new house for me and my mrs. Now wouldn't that be swell? A long road ahead before we get to that stage, but get the feeling, maybe, just maybe, there might an unbelievable future out there!

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Day 5 today Jayjam, push on through to a full week and each day that passes it will become easily and you will feel more and more satisfied.

Well done.

Wilsy

Hope day 5 is going well Jayjam. Keep up the positive mindset, visulise that house with you in the garden in a deck chair

Hi jayjam,

Just wanted to offer my support, I’m a week in now to my recovery. My vice was online slots; the good news is I’m almost entirely self excluded from all available sites.

Best thing to do is to ask them to ban you from their shops, especially if you are local to them, that way you are not tempted to gamble. Place blocks on your mobile, tablet, PC etc... then create a budget spreadsheet for all outgoings and income, and work out exactly when you will eb debt free. I have also done this and have worked out it will be January 2020 if I stick to my budget. It means living frugally for a while, but if that’s what it takes to get gamble and debt free, I am committed to the cause.

All the very best in your fight and keep posting.

Hi JayJam,

Welcome to the forum.

I believe that the burden of debt often acts as a stark reminder of our betting lives and a good deterrant for when the urges hit. That said, having dealt with some of the companies above I'd like to share my experiences.

If you are making payment plans with creditors then don't be scared of making token payment offers. Satsuma Loans are currently getting £1 a month off me for a £2k balance and Moorcroft (debt collectors) much the same for a £900 debt sold to them by Barclaycard. I battled with the morality of it as I am a firm believer in dealing with the consequences of my actions, however, not having large repayments to worry about has allowed me to focus on my recovery and, if I want to increase my payments once I'm more comfortable, I can do so.

I had never heard about Loans2Go before but, given their interest rates, all morality goes out the window when it comes to repaying £3k for £1k borrowing. Personally I'd get them to cancel my CPA and wait for them to start chasing payments. This will give you a bit of control as to what to offer them. I'd suggest a token payment offer for 6 months then, if you can, make a Full and Final offer (f&f) to close the account of something approaching the original loan amount (i.e. they get their money back). If you pay a tiny monthly payment for a while they are likely to bite your hand off when the chance to get their original outlay back comes knocking.

Caveat 1: Defaulting and offering f&f's will absolutely knacker your credit score but it sounds like that ship has already sailed

Caveat 2: I'm NOT a financial advisor and this is based on my experiences, you should, ideally, get proper financial advice

Caveat 3: That approach with Loans2Go won't work on a logbook loan as they could realistically just repossess your car

Caveat 4: I am not condoning a 'clean slate' approach as I believe we are responsible for our own actions but, in the instance of L2G, their terms are SO immoral that I would happily play them all I could.

Most importantly, however, is concentrating on your recovery. This has to be your primary focus and getting as many blocks as possible in place should be top of your to do list.

All the best

Phil

Thanks Wilsy, Burko, CG1980 & Phil.

Was nice to hear those messages of support. Thanks for the loan advice too Phil. My only worry with not paying Loans2go is that they also have the phone numbers of 4 of my family members and they checked that they rang out whilst I was in the shop. The amount to pay back on £1k is actually £3800. Mkes me feel sick as like you, I don't mind paying back but that is literally disgusting. Worst thing is, they gave me cash there and then and I went straight into the bookies and blasted it in an hour! Does anyone know that as my credit rating is knackered anyway, should I just get an IVA to pay of these b*d's a bit by bit for 5 years and then have done with it that way? Thanks again guys. Today is day 5 and I'm plodding along ok. A lot to sort out it feels at the minute so can't wait til I'm a couple of months down the line. To get there though, I have to stay strong. Feel mentally solid at the moment and my defensive technique is watertight at the moment. Long may that continue.

Have a good, strong day everyone!

Hi jay jam well done on your gf days and really glad your feeling strong. I know just how you feel about the loans my credit rating is terrible so over the years gambling I got a £500 loan on my car from Varooma robbing b******s I’ve paid about £3,000 back then the had the nerve to charge me all the late payments interests etc etc over the two years which amounted to £324 that alone is nearly the original sum I borrowed! I hate them for preying on vulnerability. I’ve nearly paid it off and will NEVER go to anyone like that again. I also have a Vanquis credit card that though is manageable but they sting you so much too because it’s a bad credit credit card, all of these companies should be closed down. I’ve also pawned my jewellery and the buy back interest on that is disgusting. All because of gambling. For your question of IVA I’d definitely give it more thought it could really be useful, best wishes 🙂

Ive a debt management plan mate with Stepchange, might be worth looking into. I had about 9K on there to start now down to about £5.9K I pay £153 back a month and it ends June/July 2021, you can also cancel payments up to 3-4 times a year should something expensive come up or look into an IVA, it all depends on the total amount of debt you have I believe.

Good luck with it but defo make them wait for the money back just get the interest frozen and fast

Wilsy

Morning Jayjam, hope that Friday is treating you well. Keep up the great work. One day at a time buddy, we can do this.

Hey JJ, Thank you for taking time to reply me on the other day. Just like you, you would make a bet on sport game for 1k but we only spent on food for 1. I am really sick of me gambling and losing. Now I am trying to enjoy my life again on regular things before gambling but it is very hard to enjoy. Also my friends are worries because I don't go out at all lately.

Hi mate, thanks for your kind words, keep safe, keep fighting and most importantly, enjoy your weekend as you deserve to putting so much effort into remaining gamble free. Well done mate

Wilsy