In the brown stuff

4grand

Morning all.

I'm a self employed home owner, and I've just been away for a month - in which period we didn't earn anything.

My fiancee and I are actually both self employed, and between us we have the following debts:

My bank overdrawn: £3000
Her bank over drawn: £2700
My credit card: £1700 (they really want the money asap!!)

total: £7400

Our combined outgoings are about £1300 a month, including bills, food, mortgage etc.

Now, our car has just died on us, so we are effectively without transport too!

We want to get a low rate loan to pay off all of the above, get a car and just be in credit but because we are self employed and behind on credit card payments it's been really difficult to find a loan less than 50% interest!

So basically, to clear everything we need £8500 and we need it fast!

Have tried moneysupermarket and a few other sites but not getting anywhere.

What is the best way for us to clear the amount? We CAN afford monthly payments of £100 but divided amongst the banks this wouldn't cover the interest.

Really bricking it right now, can anyone offer any advice?

GeorgeUK

Not got any advice for a short term loan - you could try joining a credit union, but i believe you need to be a member for 2/3 months before you can apply for a loan from them.

consolidation is not usually advised but as we don't know your income or what you are spending on, have you though of going interest only on your mortgage or having a mortgage holiday if possible? Just as a stopgap?

You could post up a SOA and we'll see if there are any savings you can make from your expenditure.

4grand

Not sure what a soa is?

We can't have a mortgage holiday and we ARE paying interest only!

Being a self employed Web designer I do not have a set income each month, but my outgoings are roughly £1300 a month.

McKneff

soa is Statement of Affairs

MrsTinks

SOA calculator - firstly if you've already been turned down for loans then more applications are just going to reduce your credit rating further - either that or it's loan sharks which is a route I would NOT recommend!!!

You'll have what is called "priority debts" that is mortgage, secured loans and council tax and utility bills. Everyone else come last.

Do the SOA so we can see what we're dealing with - I suspect the best option is a DMP or Debt management plan - either you can go it alone or through one of the FREE debt charitied in my signature DO NOT go through the scamming weasels that advertise and charge you a management fee! They are nothing more than lying vultures!

As for income... so long as you regularly earn more than £1300 a month then you should be ok - however if you don't then you need to seriously think about a change of career I'm afraid...

4grand

anniehanlon wrote: »

soa is Statement of Affairs

What is a "statement of affairs"?

To be honest, the outgoings I have are pretty rigid and they don't include anything such as going out etc, adn the savings I can make on that are pretty limited.

We don't spend money on crap either, so it's all about getting £8k and paying off the debts, whether that is by saving for a year by which time the debt would be HUGE or we would have gone to court or had the bailiffs round or something much more scary, that's why I asked about a loan and whether that's the best way out?

MrsTinks

4grand - as it stands YOU WILL NOT GET A LOAN - at least not one at an APR that won't land you in more trouble than you are. It's not a solution in any case so stop thinking it is Give up on that idea because chances of you getting a loan right now is very very low.

As for the SOA - you'd be amazed about where you can save money...

Obviously getting £8k isn't as easy as holding your hand out and it dropping into your palm or none of us would be here.

Bailiffs... will only come out for council tax, parking fines and unpaid CCJs as a general rule (ok that's generalised but still) - they do NOT come out for credit cards unless it's gone through a CCJ. as for things going to court... yes they might. No point telling you they won't because they might. But if you set up a DMP and stick to it then you should be fine. Yes your credit rating will be shot but honestly that's not such a bad thing.

And you need to look at how you ran up nearly £8ks worth of debt? Because otherwise it's likely to happen again...

Jacks_xxx

I agree with everybody who posted before me.

You're in a mess through borrowing and it's pretty messed up logic to think that the solution is *more* borrowing. :rolleyes: :eek:

What was s'posed to happen regarding the bills while you were away? Did something go wrong? Can the car not be fixed?

The rules of debt repayment are basically

1. Reduce your outgoings,
2. Increase your income,
3. Make sure the debt is costing you as little in interest as possible.
4. Try not to live in denial.

If you're not ready to look at 1. yet then try 2. Do your self employed bit to the max but also get a job. (any job)

If both of you could earn an extra £100 a week for the next 8 months that debt is gone.

What's that? About 16 hours a week each at minimum wage? That should still leave you up to 82 hours a week of awake time to work on your self employed job assuming you sleep for 10 hours a night.

What have you got that you can photograph and bang up on eBay right now to generate some cash? The mirror over the fireplace? the spare telly? Jewellery? Clothes? Gadgets? Kitchen stuff you never use, things people gave you as gifts that you don't really want?

Don't start it too low and maybe stick it on for a Buy It Now and emphasise in the listing that you post fast to catch the people who will pay more for not having to wait another 7-10 days for an auction to end.

Honey, you need to be proactive and creative and dynamic about this if you're going to get out from under it. You must be as "self starter" to be self employed so apply that discipline to sorting out your money problems.

You can't do much about 3. right now cos it sounds like your credit rating is in the toilet so nobody is going to give you a 0% or low for life balance transfer rate, but 4. involves doing a SOA.

Just do it for yourself if you don't want to post it up on here - but of course it'll be more helpful if we can see the whole picture.


Good luck,

Love Jacks xxx

DoWhatULove-LoveWhatUDo

I don't have a great deal to add to what has already been said but I can offer my perspective.

You are thinking short term and looking for an instant fix solution when the problem of living beyond your means and having built up substantial credit card debts or overdrafts is a long term problem usually, and so must the remedy be.

Although, having said that, it is a heck of a lot easier to get into debt quickly than it is to get out of it.

I think Jacks is correct that the solution is to earn some money by what means you can, because as MrsTine so rightly says it will take some time for the situation to escalate to the bailiff stage, which is time you can put to good use earning the money to pay them.

Judges don't authorise CCJ's and bailiffs if you are offering to pay, even if there has been a significant delay.

One last thing. If the car is truly dead as a door nail the you may be surprised by how much money you can get for it as scrap since scrap metal prices are through the roof at the moment.