Drowning in debt - please help

Woodie127

Thanks very much Laura - much appreciated. I think I should easily be able to cut down on the things that you have mentioned - just a question of being more disciplined about it!

Am interested to hear your advice about the credit card. I had my statement today and at the moment I am paying £50 a month interest, and that's with paying off £100 each month. Do you really think it is better to focus on paying that off with the interest each month rather than taking out a new loan? Would I be spending more if I took out a new loan in the long-term?

laura2481

hi! I have found the link : http://www.whatsthecost.com/snowball.aspx
If you put your credit card information and your loan information in and how much you are willing to put towards paying it off it will tell you how long it will take, and what the interest will be. You can then compare that to a loan.

eg, at moment it would take you to about 2012 to clear the credit card if you make some cut backs and put an extra £50 towards it (£150 total) you could be done with your credit card by 2010!! How long a term would you have to get on a loan to get a decen rate and monthly charge, 5 years? longer? I'd get rid of your credit card pronto.... but that's just the way I'd approach, perhaps other people would advise you different!

Anyway, have a play with the calculator, and see what a difference it makes!

laura2481

Woodie127 wrote: »

I have tried to take action by transferring this balance to a 0% interest card, but I was only given a £250 limit, which is obviously not sufficient (presumably because I have a bad credit rating.)

And i would transfer £250 to that credit card, and get it paid off. It's not much but at least it's £250 your not paying intrest on...

Don't know why my quote isn't working right! I must have deleted something I shouldn't have!

judi24

I think that the general concensus(sp??) with consolodation is that, although it seems like a good option, ie less money going out each month, in reality most people end up using credit cards again on top of this resulting in higher debt! I know this is true for me - many times! By struggling to pay off credit cards etc you learn not to rely on them and so do not get into debt so easlity again!

paybacktime2008

Oh it's not bad at all. Your not drowning you've just stepped in a deep puddle. Put your legs down straight and you'll touch the bottom then you can slowly walk up the slope until you get the hang of it then you can run.


What an absolutely lovely way of putting it. From a fellow puddle dweller!