advice would be appreciated, really worried

gary_pacha

Hi everyone,

I don’t know what to do and would appreciate any advice anyone can give. I have a debt of approximately 5647.12.
I don't own my own property and am currently earning 985.00 per month after tax. I am thinking for an unsecured consolidation loan to pay off this debt. This would clear up the debt,

The debt arose from bad management of finances in the past. I was a lot younger then but i realise that is no excuse. There were other circumstances that made it hard to deal with my finances but overall i accept responsibility for this situation. I just want to find the best way of dealing with it now. Hopefully i will increase my salary soon but for now it is what it is.

Any advice would be appreciated. I've read some of the articles on this website. I don't think i would be able to get a loan from the Nationwide at this point in time, although they look good. My other bank felt it was a bad idea to do a credit check for me right now as it would come up bad and then this would make my record worse. They suggested an outside loan company.

Thankyou for any advice you can give. I'm hearing about people having huge debts all the time and still managing to get credit and live their lives. I have a relatively small debt but am struggling to get finance to sort it out.

Thanks
Below is an outline

IS SNOWBALLING THE BEST FOR ME?

3387.12 virgin credit card – 0% balance transfer runs out on the 14 feb.
I have a Barclaycard where I have 0 pounds on with a limit of 1000 pounds a balance transfer for life of 6.9%
And I have 500 pounds in my a+l account with a 1000 overdraft facility interest free for 11 months

I was thinking off paying the 1500 from the a+l account to reduce the virgin credit card debit as well as doing a bt to my Barclaycard of £1000 6.9% for life of balance.

However I just rang virgin and they said to ring them back on the 14 of feb and I can do a balance transfer back to them for another 9 months interest free but I am sure Barclaycard will charge for me to a bt to them from virgin, and then virgin will also charge for a bt back to them.

Also if I do a bt to Barclaycard and pay the 1500 from a+l to virgin, it will leave my virgin credit card 887.12, now the question is can I do 2 bt in the same day
Bt 1000 from Barclaycard to virgin
And bt 887.12 from virgin to Barclaycard

And them bt 887.12 back to virgin to take advantage of another 9 months interest free

My other debits are 1300 overdraft with Halifax 0% for 2years still my student account my max overdraft is 1650
And 960 to Barclays overdraft also 0% for 2 years student account, my max overdraft is 1000

Also I am owed £1120 which will come in instalments but I am going to throw all this at my debts

I am on my year out at the moment earning 985 after tax per month, I have cut all my outgoings down to a minimum, in the process of cutting my mobile phone tariff which is currently at £55 per month, but they told me I have to wait 3 months before I can downgrade, I currently have the phone 3 months so 6 months in total before I can downgrade the tariff, is there anyway around this, I am with orange


What should I do

Thank you in advance I greatly appreciate it

Halifax -1300.00 (overdraft)

Virgin -3387.12 (credit Card)

Barclays -960.00 (overdraft)

Total 5647.12

Cherrs

Thefunkygibbons

An unsecured loan does not clear the debt, it just moves it and because they are longer term, you pay more interest over the life of the loan. A life of the debt card would be a better idea than a loan, not least because of the flexibility of paying it down quicker

The balance transfer fees are usually capped so you need to see how those fees compare with the annual interest charge, I would expect that this would be a better idea for the larger amounts

Do you have the opportunity to get a second job, hard I know that would help you elinimate some of the debt quicker

Little_Miss_Winner

Hi Gary,

I have just read your post and you don't actually say how much out of the £985, you can throw at the debt each month. After food and living expenses what figure do you have left?

Your main priority here semms to be the Virgin card. Forget about the overdrafts at the mo, as they are 0% for 2 years. I would throw most of your money each month at Virgin, and they ring them in Feb and get your 0% extended.

But let us all know asap, what figures you have left each month to repay, then we can take it from there?

Regards
pot

gary_pacha

Thank you

At the moment my out going is 55 mobile phone bills
And 80 pounds on diesel
And 30 pounds on food

Excluding the payments to virgin.

I am also paying £10 per month to reduce my Barclays overdraft

But that just till the end of Feb., I am living at a friends

Should I take advantage of the 1500 pounds I have in my A&L account and the 6.9% life of balance with barclaycard
And then snowball the debt

Little_Miss_Winner

So you take home £985, and pay out £175. How much to Virgin?

gary_pacha

I have been in this situation since the start of jan, previously i was payin rent of 167 per month and paying virgin 50 pounds per month, however i am going to take advantage of this and throw all money in jan that i have at this card also i shold be getting the money owed totalling almost 1200 at the card as well.

Little_Miss_Winner

If I was you here is what I would pay;

£500 from your A&L to virgin.

Then £600 per month to virgin, will only take you 5 months to clear and last payment of £487.12 (this is all providing they let you stay at 0%)

Then you will only have your 2 o/drafts totalling £2,260
Use the money you are owed to reduce them as and when you get it that will leave £1140.

You will have cleared Virgin by June, so use Jul/Aug and any additional monies to clear the £1140.

You will still have a least £150/month between now & june for emergencies. I you dont use it, you can always throw this at your debts.

You really don't need any more loans, or switching cards from one to the other, it's perfectly do-able to do without all the aggro.

You can have all this cleared by summer.

regards
pot