Hi ,
I , as a lot people did around 2006 , believed whole-heartedly in the Celtic Tiger , that the good times were rolling and life was sweet .
Now a lot of us are learning that in the land of milk and honey the milk can go sour and the honey can stick to your shoes !
My debts now amount to a mortgage of €215k , €195 outstanding
3 credit cards amounting to €20k , €9,500 , €6,400 and €4,100.
And a personal loan of €20k , €12500 outstanding.
I am 29 years old and have been working in the same profession since age 15 so am safe enough in employment as I work for one of the rare companies that is actually faring quite well in ireland .
Saying that , wages have decreased by around 10% and workload has also dropped off slightly since taking out the mortgage and other debts form 2006-2008 (all our work is piece rate so reduced workload has it's downside ) .
The mortgage is probably the life saver for me at the minute as its an offset mortgage taken out with First Active now run by Ulster Bank , so the interest rate is linked to ECB +1.15% .
The personal debt has really enslaved me over the past few years , working 6 days a week , worn out and missing out on time with my partner and my son trying to keep up minimum monthly payments on the credit cards. I was able to get some periods of reduced interest but they all came to an end too ( maybe because i was always paying on time) . It came to be too much for me and early 2012 I signed up with a debt management company . My payments were reaching €900 p.m. for personal loan and cards so with the DMC it's down to €500 . It's hard at the minute to know how well the DMC is working out as there are a few changes going on at the minute but its given me a bit of time to breathe financially .
Now , after all that , to my question ... In relation to one of my credit cards which has a balance of €9500 , on the last few statements it has had a "minimum payment warning" which says that if I continue to only make the minimum payment , which is €250 p.m. , then the debt will not be paid off until 2054 ! Works out about €123,000 !
Have any of you come across this before ? What are your opinions on this ?
P.S. I know it was extremely idiotic of me to run up so much debt and i have learned a very harsh lesson from it .
Thanks for reading this far,
Regards,
Paul.
I , as a lot people did around 2006 , believed whole-heartedly in the Celtic Tiger , that the good times were rolling and life was sweet .
Now a lot of us are learning that in the land of milk and honey the milk can go sour and the honey can stick to your shoes !
My debts now amount to a mortgage of €215k , €195 outstanding
3 credit cards amounting to €20k , €9,500 , €6,400 and €4,100.
And a personal loan of €20k , €12500 outstanding.
I am 29 years old and have been working in the same profession since age 15 so am safe enough in employment as I work for one of the rare companies that is actually faring quite well in ireland .
Saying that , wages have decreased by around 10% and workload has also dropped off slightly since taking out the mortgage and other debts form 2006-2008 (all our work is piece rate so reduced workload has it's downside ) .
The mortgage is probably the life saver for me at the minute as its an offset mortgage taken out with First Active now run by Ulster Bank , so the interest rate is linked to ECB +1.15% .
The personal debt has really enslaved me over the past few years , working 6 days a week , worn out and missing out on time with my partner and my son trying to keep up minimum monthly payments on the credit cards. I was able to get some periods of reduced interest but they all came to an end too ( maybe because i was always paying on time) . It came to be too much for me and early 2012 I signed up with a debt management company . My payments were reaching €900 p.m. for personal loan and cards so with the DMC it's down to €500 . It's hard at the minute to know how well the DMC is working out as there are a few changes going on at the minute but its given me a bit of time to breathe financially .
Now , after all that , to my question ... In relation to one of my credit cards which has a balance of €9500 , on the last few statements it has had a "minimum payment warning" which says that if I continue to only make the minimum payment , which is €250 p.m. , then the debt will not be paid off until 2054 ! Works out about €123,000 !
Have any of you come across this before ? What are your opinions on this ?
P.S. I know it was extremely idiotic of me to run up so much debt and i have learned a very harsh lesson from it .
Thanks for reading this far,
Regards,
Paul.