First post... Big debts... How to move forward?

jamtart6

google music magpie and see if they take old games for cash

chevalier

ignore the above reported as spam

good luck on getting this sorted. I too would look at trying to balance transfer some of your debts on to your existing cards before taking the fiancee up on her offer
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GeorgeUK

Also, as an aside to this - if she were to get a virgin creditcard (if she doesn't have another MBNA account), it is 0% for 16 months and minimum payment from 2nd month of £25. This may help her or you and although she may not get £6k as a limit, she may be able to get a decent limit without resorting to getting a loan.

I'd take cards over loans any day as they are more flexible.

Percy1983

Would payplan or CCCS help me? I am currently making all payments so not actually in trouble, if they did help would this affect my credit rating?

People do seem concerned about keeping my OH's credit rating good etc but I can't see any reason why mine would be bad, as mentioned I don't miss payments. Yes I agree that I have a high level of debt right now so lenders won't give me much. I actually spoke to my bank about 8 months ago and they where willing to give me £13.5k in a loan despite my level of debt, as it is it didin't really help so I didn't take it. But surely this must point to a strong credit rating? So if I clear my debts and don't miss anything then I should be in a good position?

Also would egg be worth a try for another loan once I ahve paid what i owe to them, would being a previous customer and never missing a payment help.

I know a lot of you are saying don't consolidate etc but getting a 3 year loan to clear my 30%+ debts would save me a lot of money would give me payments less than £240 a month and by the nature of it be gone in 3 years which is my target.

As you may guess my main goal right now is to get rid of my high interest debts as the snowball calculator made me see it is somthing which will have me £1000's and cut a considerable time off my 'debt free' date.

I actually took another step before, I get e-mails from hmv, play etc etc etc, I have unsubscribed to try and avoid temptation.

crazyaboutsaving

Percy1983 wrote: »

You have all made some good points about keeping my better halfs finances separate, there is kind of a problem. I was talking to her before about this and explained that it is better to leave me too it as if it goes wrong etc (what you have told me) but now she feels I am shutting her out and I don't want her help. So we talked about how she could help, now hear this out.

Basically if she can get a loan to cover £6-7k to basically get rid of my high interest stuff, if we go for 3 years which is my target anyway the the amount of interest that will save will be quite a lot, as you would imagine this involves me setting up a standing order to her to cover payments. Now yes this does put her at risk with my debts as such but she is aware if my finances get worse she is stuck with it but she is happy she can afford to pay it if that time came. I will add if this is the plan it won't be happening until my loans a paid freeing £450 a month in my cash flow.

I will add I haven't sugested this it is her idea, now I know in many ways some of yo don't agree with this but on the other hand you have to see this has a huge potentially a huge money saving. I did sugest she starts saving etc but she actually used my owen advice against me which is why earn 6% on savings while paying 30% on the same amount elsewhere, she doesn't see it as mine and her money.

Yes she may need her head testing but I love her to bits.

Hi Percy,

I think it depends on how strong you feel your relationship is with your fiance and how comfortable you are sharing the debts. You can always draw up a written agreement/repayment plan with her if it will help you to feel better. My DH and I have been together 8 years and I have always known about his debt. We share the debt, as quite frankly, he couldn't manage it without my income support as well. But we had decided to pool all our income into one pot and dole it out from there. We felt that if it was left to him to pay it off on his own, it would affect us even more in the long run as it would be longer and more difficult for him to pay it off, leaving me to pay for everything else. It's our money and our debt. I do the money management, but always keep him informed of what I'm doing and ask his opinion on all major money decisions. This works well for us and we've been able to live within our means and reduce our debt at a steady rate (and even take a few nice holidays!)

dlb

You can enter a dmp even if you have never missed a payment, try the cccs debt form on their website and it gives you a basic idea of how they could help, i am with payplan and have been on a dmp for 3 years but life has got so much since i did, all creditorss getting back the debts i ran up just over a longer period of time but all have stopped interest so the debt is falling not raising.
A dmp isnt right for everyone but worth looking into.

GeorgeUK

Percy, if you were to enter a DMP, it would trash your credit rating. You are managing to keep up with all your repayments and will soon have more money to throw at the cards as the loans are about to be paid off.

Can you post up what the credit limits of your cards are? I know i keep harping on about not getting a loan, but my debt is similar to the amount you have and i have looked at the various scenarios as to how much interest will be paid out in total by the time i'm debt free. It takes a little more work, but i am saving thousands in interest payments by juggling the cards rather than getting a loan. Also bear in mind that many of the loans advertise x.x% typical APR, so there's no guarantee this is the rate you will be offerred.

If your girlfriend is happy to take on some of your debt then that's up to the two of you. Just make sure that she understands that if something were to happend to you, say a number 42 bus not braking, then she would be soley liable for the debt. Make sure she knows there is a chance she will need to pay the debt off herself if it is in her name. We will offer advice when we can and explain the rsks, but the decision is up to you.

Percy1983

" We felt that if it was left to him to pay it off on his own, it would affect us even more in the long run as it would be longer and more difficult for him to pay it off, leaving me to pay for everything else. It's our money and our debt."

I think this is how we are looking at it, we basically want to get a mortgage but until this is sorted its not happening as it is she has spare cash every month and tecnically credit which can be utilised so as risk as it may be the quickest route would involve using that. She admits she has a lot of spare cash and to a point wastes it (fair enough shes earned it). I will sugest to her that she clears her own debts first and actaully advise her on how much she will save if she start using more of her spare cash to clear debts, she says she has £400 spare a month so she could be debt free in a year. Past that if she then wishes to give me any of that '£400' every month to help out then she is free to do so, Meanwhile I can juggle cards etc try and keep rates down and keep attacking the most expensive cards with everything I have.

My CC limits are as follows...

Halifax Classic CC.............11000.....140.......16.95 £11050
Halifax One CC.................3000......40........17.95 £3100
Virgin.........................2000......50....... .29 £2100
Lloyds CC......................6500......125.......30 £10000
Mint CC........................850.......20........35 £1250
Citi............................0.........0........35 £2500

As you can see I am keeping the 2 halifax cards close to the limits while working from the bottom of the list upwards in clearing them.

Will try and bring the Citi card back into action, if they won't move on a balance transfer and give me a good rate should I just close the account?

GeorgeUK

I would try asking twice for a balance transfer deal, a month apart - if one isn't forthcoming, then close the account. I would also make overpayments towards the Virgin card before the Lloyds card as they offer more BT deals to existing customers (0% for 9 months was one i heard a few months back).

I think getting her to clear her own debts before assisting with yours is the right call - even if the interest rate is not as high. It will give both of you the incentive to continue paying off the debts together without complicating the transfers - then in about a year you will have a much better idea of what is required and how to tackle it, especially with the loans out of the way.

smartpicture

Percy1983 wrote: »

Will have some bits on ebay soon. I am having trouble with some of it, I have many computer games I don't really play too much anymore but as I have found in many cases I would be lucky to get £2 for some of them when I paid £30 for them. I know it sounds silly but to a point I have debts but I do have something to show for it and I feel if I just sell everything regardless of value then I will have nothing and still have a large amount of debt. I just feel its bad enough I have spent to much to get in this situation so to now sell everything at an absolute loss would be yet another mistake.

You're looking at this the wrong way. The fact is, the money spend (£30 a game) is already lost - it was lost from the moment you bought the game. The £2 you would get from selling them is all profit, all gain, at this stage. You're looking at it like an accountant, and you need to start looking at it like a Debt-Free Wannabe. These are not business assets or shares with a profit/loss figure attached, they are a means of you acheiving your current aims in life, they will improve your overall cash credit / debit figure, and that's all that matters.

If you are determined to involve your girlfriend in this (which I don't recommend) then if you care about her, you will make absolutely sure that you sign a written agreement with her clearly spelling out how much you owe her and how and over what period it will be repaid. From experience I can tell you that even if you both think you know what you've agreed, when things go bad people 'remember' things differently and that would not be fair on her.