delurking and fessing up on my debt

iVillage Member
Registered: 12-04-2006
delurking and fessing up on my debt
Sun, 04-13-2008 - 1:29am

I have lurked around here for at least a year or so. I find it helpful to read about others successes.

My debt situation is as follows at present
Credit Card $1000 with an interest rate of 21.95%, min. payment $20 per month
Bank Loan $8419.07 with an interest rate of 10.70%, min. payment $49.93 per week
Hire Purchase $415, min. payment is $23.31 per month
Student Loan $24838.23
Overdraft $2000.00 - currently interest free until May 2009
Which combines to a debt total of $36672.30

The credit card is the primary target to pay down at present. The interest rate on it is normal around here. If I were to change to a low rate card, I would be paying $29 every six months for having the card in comparison to $25 every year for the current card.
The bank loan is only having minimum payments paid at present - the current pay off day is mid May 2012.
The hire purchase is currently being paid at $25 per month and will be paid off in October 2009.
The overdraft will be the priority once I have the credit card and hire purchase paid off.
The student loan is interest free (gotta love the NZ government), and I paid what is required out of my wages with the deduction of my taxes each week. Since this is interest free, I feel no hurry to pay more than the minimums on this.

The fact is having this level of debt at 24 disturbs me. I can't make excuses for it as I chose to take on this debt, however I will say that the banks in New Zealand make it extremely easy for young people straight out of high school to get into a lot of debt.

While I currently pay more that the minimum on my credit card, I could pay more if I wasn't saving for a car.
In my case a car isn't a need but it is a fairly high priority want as I am part way through training as a mechanic, but don't have a lot of confidence in my driving - the aim to be afford something cheap that will allow me to get from A to B.


iVillage Member
Registered: 11-17-2007
Sun, 04-13-2008 - 10:07am

Welcome to the board.


Mary Ann

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-10-2003
Sun, 04-13-2008 - 1:32pm
Welcome! It sounds like you have a solid plan to handle the debt. I wish you the best of luck!

Bex -

"Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift -thats why its called the present."

Bex -

Avatar for cl_phocid
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Mon, 04-14-2008 - 7:58am

Hello and welcome to the board.

All my best,