After being ill in 2009 the first thing that I wanted to do was to get rid of all my debt. I had not realised how much it had impacted on my health and caused me stress. Studies have shown that high levels of debt are linked to poor mental health, in fact one study showed that 46% of those with debt problems suffered from mental health issues as well. Poor mental health can also cause debt as people are more likely to try to buy happiness and take out loans or bury their heads and not deal with creditors when things go wrong. I know that I would buy clothes and presents for myself to try to make myself feel better.
The stress and worry when people find themselves in trouble often leads to mental health problems as well. Embarrassment seems to stop many people finding help. I found out just how much debt a friend was in when I visited him and saw a massive pile of unopened envelopes. He did not want me to know even though he was scared stiff and didn’t dare answer his door. Apparently those with problem amounts of debt are 3 times more likely to consider suicide, and over 100,000 of them attempt it every year. I know he thought about it. The constant stress was leading to heart problems, he was comfort eating and became diabetic, and he was having breathing problems and panic attacks.
There are charities and apps that will help you manage your debt and behaviour. Some banks like Monzo can even block payments for things such as gambling. There are also apps that can help you budget and track spending. My friend got help from an organisation called Step Change in the UK and they contacted his creditors and got the interest frozen and worked out a budget of what he could afford to pay a month. They then negotiated with his creditors. It took his stress away instantly. These payments stay as they are and are reviewed once a year. The letters stopped. The knocks on the door stopped. The best thing is that this is a free organisation. There are other charities that will help in the UK as well, including National Dept line, Citizen’s Advice, Turn2us and The money Charity. Be aware though, that there are organisations that will charge for debt help.
I was not in as much debt as he was and was able to deal with it myself as I was making the payments, but had been told I was losing my job. I tried not to panic and went through my bank statements and identified where I was spending the money. I also identified direct debits that I could cancel and were not needed such as my washing machine insurance. I made a budget and worked out the minimum that I needed to spend each month and used the rest to start to pay off my credit cards, loans and mortgage. I changed everything to interest free credit cards and re-mortgaged my house. Luckily I managed to get an Offset mortgage that was flexible, knocked off interest for any linked savings, and let me pay more off it without incurring penalties. This took away the stress as I knew that I could lower my mortgage if I needed to.
I had interest free credit cards, but if they had charged interest I would have paid off the debt with the highest interest rate first (but not my mortgage as that is classed as good debt). I tried to make more than the minimum payments on my credit cards and focussed on the credit card with the lowest amount owed so that I could finish with that card. I made sure that I had the minimum payments set up by direct debit though, as if you miss a payment they charge interest for the lot on an interest free credit card.
I also worked over time and found things that I could sell to reduce my debt. I reviewed my budget monthly and any monies left in my bank at the end of the month I would put into my savings, or pay more off my credit card debt. I made sure that I had some savings for an emergency for the times when things went wrong, My boiler breaking but this buffer meant that I didn’t have to use my interest free credit cards. Many of the interest free credit cards charge you interest for later transactions if you use them after the initial balance has been transferred to them.
It took me about 5 years to become debt and mortgage free. I did do without things during that time, for instance expensive holidays, new clothes and other luxuries, but my health really improved. I was happier generally and so I did not feel like I needed those things, and no longer went shopping to fill a void. I worked lots of extra hours. It actually became addictive seeing my debts go down each month. Previously I had shopped because I was depressed and stressed, and my self esteem was low. As the debts reduced my self esteem improved.
Times are hard at the moment and many people are getting into debt who have not been in debt before . This is often through no fault of their own. If you are struggling to keep up with debt, feel your heart race every time some one knocks on the door, or you just feel like you can not manage your money and are drowning, please ask for help from one of the organisations mentioned, or some thing similar if you are reading this in another country. There is no shame in asking for help. It will be so scary to make that call, but you will really thank yourself later, and you will feel as if a weight has been lifted. In the article ‘Get out of debt’ I give a step by step way that I did it without help if you would rather tackle it alone. Please don’t just leave it as stress really impacts on your physical health, as well as your mental health. Good luck and take care.
excellent article!
Aww that is kind of you to say. Thank you
Thank you for this this article, I related to your story quite a bit.
I’ve used a combination of the methods you’ve mentioned to help me get started on my debt clearing goal at the begining of 2023, firstly using the snowball method for catologues, and smaller balances so I could get that initial encouragement from clearing those debts, and shutting down the accounts, through to switching to the Avalanche method afterwards for my higher interest credit cards, and PayPal Credit account once the many smaller balances had been cleared.
Thankfully I had repaired my credit score to such a level earlier this month that I was able to take out a short term loan which will cost me less interest overall to pay off most of my credit card balances and all of PayPal. So again I changed tact a third time once I was able to make use of the consolidation loan, however the balances remaining that the loan doesn’t cover (I couldn’t get a full amount loan without the interests rate being higher than what my cards were, so I didn’t see the point) I’ll still be using the avalanche method, and should be able to say goodbye to all credit cards by November even after paying my loan repayments monthly. The consolidation loan was really for me to save a few hundred pounds on interest over the next few months and to prevent further interest rises as I’d seen the credit cards do everytime the Bank of England raised rates this year. For example one of my credit accounts had moved from being 17.9% APR to 25.9% APR in just over 12 months with the real possibility of rising further which in turn hampers my ability to clear the debt quicker and costing more money.
From my own experience I would advise to close down any credit accounts as soon as you’ve cleared the balances to stop the temptation of going back to that old credit line in a moment of weakness. I’ve done that with my PayPal to stop myself being tempted by the Pay in 3 offers I got everytime I checked out a transaction even if it was for a take away! Plus it immediately removed the high credit limit I had on the credit account. Straight away I removed nearly 3k of temptation. I mean what is the point in taking out a consolidation loan to clear your debts but then still having access to the account/s that leads you (triggers you) to trouble in the first place? Far better to let them go.
One of my credit cards I was only able to pay half off of but once that payment goes through tomorrow I will be going in through my app to reduce the available credit limit. In this case I will be removing my access to a further 2.5k worth of credit just by that act alone, preventing me from undoing my hard work, & sabotaging myself.
These tactics are very good for emotional and frivolous spenders or those with addictions / lack of self regulation.
Everytime I pay down a balance I will reduce my access to further credit or shut the account down until not using credit becomes the new main habit.
Finally as someone who has had their data leaked on the interwebs, make sure that once you become clear of debt, or even as your credit score improves once you started clearing it, that you are not vulnerable to scammers. I’ve used the credit agencies to lock my credit file when not applying for credit and there are lots of extra steps I have to go through to prove my identity if I want to apply for anything. It is worth considering those steps especially if previously you thought no one will be able to get any money in your name because your credit is bad. It will not be that way forever. Once you start paying, your future ability to obtain credit makes you attractive to these scammers. Plus with those extra security steps in place it will also give you more breathing space and time to think between applying and the extra security by lenders to approve your application. All round a win win.
Lots of brilliant advice there, thank you for sharing and commenting x