£35k+ in debt and not coping please help!

butterfly_in_debt

hi
does anyone have any ideas on how to move forward with credit card rates? ive been able to get in touch with a few and they have 34.9% apr and 16.9% APR so very high! the others i am still trying to get in touch with. i have applied for new 0% credit cards and been refused and ive tried to do the credit card shuffle which has also been refused, any ideas please? x

SazM030306

Good luck Butterfly you're doing a great job. Saz x

jackieb

butterfly_in_debt wrote: »

hi
does anyone have any ideas on how to move forward with credit card rates? ive been able to get in touch with a few and they have 34.9% apr and 16.9% APR so very high! the others i am still trying to get in touch with. i have applied for new 0% credit cards and been refused and ive tried to do the credit card shuffle which has also been refused, any ideas please? x

Have you tried Tesco? My dh got approved for one of these just a fortnight ago.

butterfly_in_debt

ill try tesco, thank you x

ged1980

chrisfreelander54 wrote: »

BT line rental £17? we were paying out to BT aswell as sky untill we got a letter from Sky saying they can do line rental for £10.

So we have now switched hope this helps.

ask sky also about there sky talk pack £5 per month for landline calls i did i got sky talk free for 6 months and also line rental free for 12 months

dont worry if they dont offer it you can say no and you dont lose nothing


ment to say ask sky if they have any deals on line rental / sky talk you may be lucky

firesidemaid

have you asked your current credit cards to lower your current rates - explain that the rates are just too high at the moment. others have done this and been successful, it's worth a try x

butterfly_in_debt

hi firesidemaid
i have asked some credit cards and they've all said no. feel at a bit of a dead end with credit cards as need to lower rates to free up some money to be able to start paying some off.x

jackieb

Butterfly, if you try Tesco you can do it online and they'll tell you right away. It's 0% until 2010.

On second thoughts, you might not be able to do it on a Sunday. Worth a try though. x

firesidemaid

i do feel for you. where you can save money/reduce spending as much as possible and ebay like mad to find money that way instead.

i was also just looking at your credit cards - maybe you could target one of the lower £ / high rate balances to throw a bit more money at and clear so that once clear you might get a good rate on it.

i don't know what the deal with the barclayloan is (and i would normally say don't consolidate) - but would they perhaps offer you another loan/deal once paid off if it would work for you?

i also can't remember whether you've considered either a payment holiday or going interest-only on the mortgage for a while to throw the extra at the debt? x

bathgatebuyer

Hi - you're in a roughly similar situation to the one I was in 4 years back as I had £34K worth of debt and I've now got it down to about £4K!! It is possible but it is not easy and you really do have to be prepared to make some harsh choices. It can be done.

I was quite lucky in that I was able to get rid of a third of the debt by reclaiming back all the bank and credit card charges which had accumulated on the accounts in the preceeding 6 years. I also claimed back my mortgage exit fee and I changed every insurance that I had until I got the bext deal through the comparison websites. If you have charges on these accounts then look at getting them back. Do you have any miss-sold ppi? Ask for it back, nay, demand it back. I had to play these guys at their own game.

Your APR rates on the MBNA cards are unbelievably high. Like you, I can't seem to do balance transfers to other cards and have been rejected to try and get rid of this last £4K onto better offers. So far, no luck. Problem is that the more applications you make, the more of an impact it can have on your credit record by making you appear desperate for credit. Even though that's not the case, that's the way it tends to look on your report.

Your car insurance is exorbatant. Are you both driving rollers?!!! I pay £29 a month for my car which is insured at just under £6K (It's 7 years old :undecided but even when it was insured for £11K, my payments were £35 per month) and that's fully comp. And you have Sky - so there are two areas where changes could be made. I love my sports more than anyone, but it really is possible to get by without it. I switched to BT Vision and get Setanta Sports for £14 a month (including the Premier League games and SPL Matches on repeat) and find that is more than enough. If there's a game on Sky that I really really want to watch, I go to the pub armed with £3 and that lasts me!

Same with the mobile phones. I must admit that my mobile is an ever present in my hand, and it is difficult to give up on the habit, but there are so many deals around for free texts starting at around £15 a month, that my bills have come right down to about £35 a month from (erm) £80 a month

Given the amount of debt involved, it would definitely be worth speaking to one of the FREE debt services listed. Like I said, it is definitely worth it, but you will have to make sacrifices. My figures were similar to yours in that I earn about £1900 a month on a single salary so no second income, and my mortgage is £760 a month, so we're not a million miles apart. What's really killing you are the cars in petrol and insurance terms every month. If there's really no changes you can make on that front, then double check gocompare or some of the othere comparison websites to see if you're getting best deal possible on these.

Also check with the Council whether you can adjust your payments for council tax to a 12 month rather than a 10 month year. It does make a little difference and whatever saving you make, put it onto your cards - nothing else! Any savings must go on reducing your debts. Sorry - that sounds incredibly stark, but as someone who has been in the same hole as you and can see myself nearly out of it (debt-free date is before the end of 2009 :j) you're going to have to be hard on yourself too. No extra splurging, no new DVDs or CDs or Books (join the library), check the 2nd hand shops and ebay for clothes and Xmas presents from survey site profits.

Miserable isn't it?! But you can get out of it. It will feel awful right now, but it will not last forever - consder it a small sacrifice to getting the life you want.