Want to be debt free - newbie

helenmcneill_2

Hi all - new to this forum, so hi again.

I am £15,000 in debt, been trying to get loans to consolidate all my existing debts, but no one will give me a loan. The thing is didnt realise i was in this much debt.

I have now accepted this and need to try other angles, i have decided to try and pay these all off myself - but need guidance.

Do i start by paying off the smaller amounts first, then use the extra to pay off the rest. Any help would be greatly appreciated?

Many thanks

saintly_2

hi

if you complete an SOA (statement of affairs) not sure what the link is, someof these helpful lot will be able to advise ya.

SOa is basically your income and all your outgoings per month.

dont be stressing out these lot are brilliant!

madmich666

Hiya and welcome.

If you post your statement of affairs (SOA) then the fantastic people on this site can give you better advice.

clarab_3

just wanted to add that getting all your APRs together and using the snowball calculator (http://www.whatsthecost.com/snowball.aspx) can really help you see how you can most effectively pay stuff off, and how you can expect to see things come down.

JWF

I've been where you are in the past and unfortunately I have had 2 consolidation loans - they didn't help as I carried on spending money i didn't have and eventually got into a right muddle!

Anyway, as already pointed out, use the snowball calculator and also post a SOA, as you can receive some sound advice from people on here about how you could cut down some of your other expenditure too.

doodledo_2

Hi and welcome to the forum you are definately in the right place.

Please think carefully before you consider a debt consolidation loan. As many of us on here have been there done that and unfortunately carried on spending and are now in even worse debt.

Best place to start is by posting your SOA this is a list of all your incomings, outgoings and debts. If you click on this link http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html it will take you to a site where you can input your details and then copy a code to paste on to here.

Once people can see your situation clearly lots of advice will come your way.

Good luck with your debt free journey.

scottishniki

Hi there,
I have so been where you are and so has my husband. After getting into loads of debt after I left Uni they just snowballed to about £25,000. My (now) husband was going through a divorce (not because of me!!) and had a mental breakdown and had started to hide his head into the the sand, and was in serious denial.
I decided that after trying to consolidate loan after loan after loan and spiralling out of control I would go to a company that specialised in dealing with my creditors etc. I have done this for 4 years and will do my last payment on the 1st Jan!!! It's not been easy but I decided that I needed to be debt free by the time im 32.
This website is great infact scrap that..amazing! So far we have also managed to transfer all of our credit cards to Virgin and Abbey to get the interest free payments, transfered our utlity bills over and have just recieved a cashback of £200 today. I have also just written all my letters in order to get the bank charges as well.
All it takes is to sit down use the budget calculator and be realistic about what you can and cant live without/classify as essentials, as well as what you can live off per month.
Good luck
x

Kmac_Edin

Hi there.

Well done for making the first and hardest step you'll find that here we are all very friendly and try our best to help.

Once you get your SOA up I'm sure we'll all pop back to review it xx