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

Primrose

NO NO NO to your girlfriend getting a loan to help you out. Of course you can afford to say "No" to her offer. It's your debt. You earn more than she does. Take responsibility for it yourself. You're not married to her. You might even split up and then she would be lumbered with your financial burdens. What happens if your girlfriend loses her job, has no money at all and is still lumbered paying off a loan to settle your debts? The economy is going to get much worse. No job has a guarantee these days so that's another reason for not expecting somebody else to shoulder the financial responsbility for your debt. Sell your car and if you need transport for getting to work, get a bike or a cheap motorcycle. Cut out the budge for presents and entertainment. As long as you've got a roof over your head, food in your stomach and a job so you can be repaying your debts, all the other desirable "nice-to-have's" should take a back seat until you're solvent again. What's does the "Other Travel" consist of if you've got your own transport? The £60 a month you spend on it could go a useful way to paying down the money you owe.

Percy1983

I will keep repeating that I do not expect my other half to pay any of my debt, any transfer to her will be to reduce interest rather than to get her to pay it. On the same basis if she was to take £X from me off a credit credit card then if she did did it back then it would go back onto my credit card, same to go if we split up etc (I am an honest person) as mentioned nothing like that will be happening for at least a year. The me earning more arguement goes around in some ways, yes it my debt and yes I should pay it, on the other hand we both agree that one we have a mortgage etc I will be paying more of it as such, so for her to help me now is quite an investment as I will probably be paying more of the bills for the rest of our lives together.

Thanks smartpicture, you have just made me see sense, I do need to stop thinking like an accountant with this. I will go through and literally just see what I still use, If I don't use it, its gone.

As much sense of just sell everything including makes from a debt clearing point of view, but I do need my sanity. same for entertainment etc £12 for a cinema card get me 10-12 night out a month, yet another cheap way of keeping my sanity, it has also cut my DVD purchases right down as I see them first time around.

The other transport is me using the bus to save money, my petrol and other transport go hand in hand as my work keeps me moving about. In a few weks I may end up using the car more and the bus less etc.

I don't want it to seem like I am not taking it seriously, but if I have the choice of be debt free in 2 years and have nothing and do nothing in that time or keep living and be clear in 3-3.5 years then I take the second option. I really can't sit at home for 2 years doing nothing, some may manage it I can't. So I am keeping a budget for entertainment I don't think its a lot to reward myself, and with that I will be sticking to it, so if I want a game or dvd etc I will save for it within that budget.

Thinking about it there is one last game I want to play on my 360, that may be the next purchase as once I have done that I may aswell sell it.

GeorgeUK

I think you are looking at this in exactly the right way Percy. People here will offer any idea at to save money that may have worked for them, which is great as it gives more ideas and allows you to look at things you may not have otherwise. As most people will be paying their debt for quite some time though, it must be remembered that it is a journey, not a race. The final destination is more important than the time taken to get there.

Keeping motivated on any budget can get old very fast so it is important to have occasional distractions and rewards. We'll throw every idea under the sun at you but it will be down to you to find a balance that you can live with that will also allow you to make a dent in your debt.

Until the loans are paid off you do not have much money left at the end of the month so you will need to be careful until then.

Never spend on a card you do a balance transfer to and set up direct debits so that you do not lose the promotional rate and get put on the standard rate.

Good luck with this.

Percy1983

Sorry if I do seem to dismiss some advice instantly I hope I don't offend the people who offered it.

My loan amount is actually 2 loans, the first is £200 a month and the final payment is May, the second is £250 up in October.

I think the first few months surplus (as such) will probably go against my overdraft, as mentioned sometimes I get close to it and end up putting transactions back on a credit card (never more than £25 in a month) but ideally it would be better to have that buffer. Past that I am going to then give everything to my mint card.

In a strange way I am actually starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel, it may be distant, but its there.

Percy1983

Got an update which should clear things quicker.

We have looked at my OH's finances, basially credit cards will be paid this month which leave car finance, on the car finance it seems if we pay early we get hit for the full interest so we may aswell let it trickle out.

Now she basically wishes to pay as much as she can off my debts every month, we are looking at £300 a month. I have made it very clear that for any reasons she doesn't have to give me anything, she doesn't want the money back as such but to be honest I will keep track of everything given to me.

Now before you all say this isn't fair, its your debt, etc, I will pay it back. The basic idea is we need to sort this so we can get a mortgage, with our current finances I can basically give £700 a month towards a mortgage/deposit where as she can afford £300 a month. You can soon get the idea that at those proportions all money will technically be paid back and likewise I will probably pay more for the rest of our lives together, but by this point who cares who paid for what.

Also on the balance transfers front, I have just noticed I have an anniversary 0% offer on balance transfers on my halifax one card, So I will transfer the balance tot he Citi card (regardles of rates) and then transfers whats left of mint + as much of lloyds as I can fit on it to get it at 0%, hopefully i will manage to get a good rate on the citi card too.

Happy days.

clearing_out_my_pockets

Hi. Thought I'd add a bit of perspective to this one.

Several years ago, when I was young and naive, I started going out with a 'man' I thought the workd of. I earned less than him, but he had a relatively large amount of debt plus two CCJs that had not been settled. Because I loved him and wanted us to be able to get a mortgage, I paid off his CCJ and loaned him (quite probably) several thousand. He always said he would pay me back and that he was an honest person. When we split up two and a half years ago, I was lumbered with the debt. In fairness, not all of the balance was directly his debt, but incurred because I didn't have the money in my current account because I was supporting my ex and paying his debts. Viscious circle.

Anyway, we did not part on bad terms (the old saying - we just drifted apart) but things got nasty when I asked for a contribution towards credit card repayments. I'm still not debt free from the ex-era.

smartpicture

Thank you for coming back and giving an update, it's nice to know how things were resolved.

I appreciate your good intentions and the fact that your finances will equal out over time. However, I stick by my view that you should have a written agreement to protect your girlfriend, because no matter how much you believe you will still be together in x years, you don't know that for sure and she could end up hugely out of pocket simply because she chose to support you through a difficult time. And whilst you may be determined at the moment that you would pay her back regardless, the fact is that if there was a difficult breakup and you felt hurt and cheated, you wouldn't feel the same way. She's taking a huge risk on you, so just make sure you repay her in every way, not just financial!

The most important thing though is that you have faced up to your financial issues and taken steps to address them, so congratulations on a huge step forward. Well done.

GeorgeUK

Percy, just incase you missed it previously, i would try to clear the Virgin card before Lloyds as Lloyds are not known for their existing customer offers whereas Virgin are.

Good luck to you and 'the missus' with all this.

Percy1983

Yes I do agree that I am not the one at risk if she is giving me money, I can say i would sort something out in the event of a breakup and will see if she wants to sign something on the 'what if' basis.

Personally I have been stung by an ex as her mobile phone was on my contract, eitherway I ended up out of pocket and I was the the innocent party in the break up (cheating !!!!!).

Will look at that with virgin, not done anything yet will call at weekend, would you think I was mad if I forgot a had an egg card with no money on it, will have a look and come up with a plan.

Out of interest would a schedule work, as it won't be an exact amount she is giving me every month, so like update amount and date with a signature or something.

Anyway we are never spliting up, we are too good together. :-)

Percy1983

Time to bring back on old thread, everything is going to plan!

I have a final payment on one of my egg loans in 6 days and that will will free up a £200 a month, only 5 payments left on the second egg loan of £250 which will then free up some more cash.

I may have secured myself permanment job which will mean a cut in income but will offer much better security and due to the above loans I can afford to take a pay cut.

I haven't made too much progress on the credit cards but I wasn't expecting to until I got rid of the loans.

I am in the process of selling a lot of items I own on ebay, currently up to about £700 and still going.

I have also been making myself useful in the techie and ebay sections on here, doing some volutary work with a local primary school and just generally feel good.

Happy days