January Update

Well, things have gone good and bad for January, good in that I have managed to pay off £777.13 of my debt bringing the balance down to £11,834.09. This is made slightly better as I have been able to pay a futher £79.08 off my only active credit card but wasn't able to credit the card until February.
So it all looks like this:

Credit Card 1 £0.04(cr)

Credit Card 2 £3832.00

Credit Card 3 £759.08

Flexiloan £4245.37

Bank Loan £3070.64

Current Account £0.00

Total Balance £11834.09

The bad news is that I should have paid off about £850.00 in total but have spent £773.00 on course which I will not be able to really take advantage of until next year when I am free of my debts. I feel it is money well spent and when I see how much money some people have paid towards their education, I think it is nothing. In the past I have wasted money on correspondence courses I have never completed and have finally learnt that lesson well. For me, a class environemt is the only way I can get motivated to get on and finish any course. With all the best of intentions I can not do it alone, I need to compete with others.

The course I have signed up for is only for three days and is quite intense - because of my dyslexica note taking will be a problem but I will not let that worry me too much. I know I will be getting lots of written and reconded information also and am hoping this will help.

Okay so you have added the course charge to my total debt balance for the month and you get the same figure as I do;

Total debt £12,607.09

Yes, my grand deduction for January is now only £4.13 - whip-di-do!!

Therefore the £79.08 and a futher £76.63 I have paid towards my credit cards so far this month do make me feel a little better. Also, the fact that my tax bill for Januray is paid in full and my little jaunt to Rome latter this month is also accounted for and will not add to my total debt amount makes me feel I am getting somewhere. I am learning how to look after my finances but

I still need to keep my weekly spending down to my limit of £50.00.

Something else I am looking at is refinancing my Flexiloan into a normal loan. The Post Office look to have the best deal for what I need but I am waiting for a reply to my request for a 0.0% credit card from them. I should have waited, just applied for a loan and not worried about the credit card deal at all. I had a call last week from HFC Bank trying to get me to take out more credit - like I really need it! We are in a credit crisis and the newspapers are all saying how the banks are now cracking down on bad debt and turning down more loan applications than they are accepting and I get a bank ringing me up to offer me credit? How weird is that? I have never been offered credit over the phone before.