At a turning point. Can I leave the country?

Firstly apologies if this is the wrong place for this post. If so let me know and I'll take it down.

So I'm looking for a bit of advice and people's thoughts on what to do about my financial situation.

Currently I'm employed earning about £2,200pm after tax.

Over the past few years I've been struggling more and more with keeping on top of my outgoings, to the point where I now have just shy of £30,000 of unsecured debt through 3 loans, my overdraft and a credit card. Initially I took out a loan of £15,000 for a car and it has just spiralled from there. I've since sold the car and have a cheaper car now, the other proceeds have gone to my living expenses and managing my other payments.

I'm not behind on payments but I'm at a turning point now where I realise the monthly payments between them are killing me and I'm very tight on funds after my wage of £2,200 a month to the point where I'm not leaving myself enough money to pay for groceries etc. I've just had a big eBay clear out and managed to claw in just shy of £1,000 but obviously its not made much of a dent... I don't want to take out another loan to consolidate as the APR's I'm getting are far too high.

Outstanding ballances roughly broke down as:
Card - £5,000 / 130pm
Overdraft - £2,500
Loan1 - £12,000 / 300pm
Loan 2 - £4,000 / 130pm
Loan 3 - £1,500 / 100pm

In my eyes I have 3 options. (I might also add that if I want to keep my job in the UK declaring bankruptsy is out f the question due to the nature of the position. I also have a car worth around £7,000 which I am currently in the process of selling.)

1. Sell my car (I would be able to manage without one) to free up some funds to pay off overdraft and some of my credit card, go on a Debt Management Program and pay a single lower monthly overall... (I have reservations about this as it is going to negatively impact my credit file meaning I'm going to struggle getting a mortgage for at least another 10 years. Also this feels like I'm just prolonging the pain; as I have less than 5K on 2 loans and a credit card each I could potentially have them paid off soon one by one to clear payments of around £130pm each. One loan with the most by far outstanding with an overall of £12,000 is £300pm which is manageable on its own.)

2. Sell my car, pay off my overdraft and some of my credit card lowering the monthly payments overall and being super super tight on living expenses until I can get the Credit card, then loan 3, then loan 2, paid off. (I'm leaning towards this as my credit rating will still be OK but it's only going to leave me about £130 per week to live on.)

3. Declare Bankruptcy, leave my job (which I'd have to), stop making payments on my Card and Loans, take the money from selling my car (around £7,000) to move to Sweden and get set up).
(This seems brash on the face but my partner and I have often talked about moving to Sweden. I understand that my credit rating over here would be ruined for some time? and I wouldn't get a mortgage over here but would this follow me to Sweden and cause issues for me over there?)

Either way I'd really like to hear people's thoughts on my situation, I feel like I'm going mad keeping this between my partner and I. To have an outside take on it would be really helpful and enlightening.

Many thanks in advance.

Not Jeffery Johnson.

Comments

  • Marcon
    Marcon Posts: 10,657 Forumite
    First Post First Anniversary Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    The 'outside take' which might be of most help to you would be to discuss the situation with one of the excellent (free) debt advisory services. Plenty of reliable info here: https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/debt-help/

    Very best of luck.
    Googling on your question might have been both quicker and easier, if you're only after simple facts rather than opinions!  
  • fatbelly
    fatbelly Posts: 20,483 Forumite
    Name Dropper First Anniversary First Post Cashback Cashier
    Hard to advise without the numbers.

    If you could do a statement of affairs (link is to a calculator) we could see if maintaining your credit history is possible.

    It does sound like you're leaning towards the 'go bankrupt/bu99er off to Sweden' option, but I should point out that the car will be an asset and you will not be allowed to keep the proceeds, though the OR may return £1000 to allow you to buy a cheaper car. If you mess the OR around you are likely to remain undischarged for a long time.
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