£28,000 debt,maternity leave and frightened!!!

goldrush1984

Hi just wondering if anybody could give me a bit of advice!!!

basically i have roughly £18,000 of debt on credit cards and 2 years left on a £20,000 loan which is roughly £400 a month.

the credit card debts are spread over numerous cards and interest free periods are running short!!
unfortunately we have bad credit due to 3G mobile company and the will not get rid of the problem, even though we recon it was their fault, we have also contacted equifax to see what to do NOTHING!! what im trying to say is basically i think we may need another loan but cannot get one due to this problem!!

my partner earns £36,000 a year and i earn £15,000 but now im on maternity i only receive £100 a week, so as you can imagine were struggling! ive tried everything and really need help, especially now i have a baby, we know that we earn enough not to be in debt, but it's obviously too late, we no longer spend on things, all our cards have been cut up, and we have been this way for over a year, so where are we going wrong!!!

please if anyone has any feedback it would be greatly appreciated
thanks

ms_london

goldrush1984 wrote:

Hi just wondering if anybody could give me a bit of advice!!!

basically i have roughly £18,000 of debt on credit cards and 2 years left on a £20,000 loan which is roughly £400 a month.

the credit card debts are spread over numerous cards and interest free periods are running short!!
unfortunately we have bad credit due to 3G mobile company and the will not get rid of the problem, even though we recon it was their fault, we have also contacted equifax to see what to do NOTHING!! what im trying to say is basically i think we may need another loan but cannot get one due to this problem!!

my partner earns £36,000 a year and i earn £15,000 but now im on maternity i only receive £100 a week, so as you can imagine were struggling! ive tried everything and really need help, especially now i have a baby, we know that we earn enough not to be in debt, but it's obviously too late, we no longer spend on things, all our cards have been cut up, and we have been this way for over a year, so where are we going wrong!!!

please if anyone has any feedback it would be greatly appreciated
thanks

Hello Goldrush1984. Welcome to MSE!!!!

What you need to do is prepare a SOA (statement of affairs), listing your incomings and outgoings - this includes basics like rent/elec/gas/tv licence/car insurance/car tax/council tax etc etc, and then a list of your debts - the name of your creditor, the balance, available balance (if any), the APR, and your minimum repayment.

It sounds as though your partner is on a good wage which will help. Are you returning to work after maternity leave? How long does the £100 carry on for until it stops? What will you do after this money stops?

Chances are that the CC are a higher interest rate than the loans, and with the CC's you can be flexible on your repayment. Once you have done your SOA you can see what you can/cant afford to repay each month, and then you might need to contact your creditors to renegotiate your monthly repayments.

You have come to the right place!!!

Ms_London xx

nej

One thing that we've done whilst my wife is on maternity leave is put our mortgage onto interest-only repayments for a few months. This frees up quite a large sum each month and enables us to get by (although only just!). The bank also put us onto a cheaper rate at the same time which was nice.

If you've got a mortgage it's worth a look, but make sure you put it back to repayment as soon as you can.

goldrush1984

THANKS for the feedback, going to wait until my partner comes home, tell him that things need to be done!!! ill give the mortgage ago and ill see where things are adding up!!!

my only concern is phoning up cc companies, what can the actually do for me and will it show on my credit rating???? what do i say to them, thats one of the main reasons why i havent done anything like that!

thankyou for thequick response, and if anyone would like to help me futherit would really be appreciated and taken on board fully!!!

davilown

goldrush1984 wrote:

THANKS for the feedback, going to wait until my partner comes home, tell him that things need to be done!!! ill give the mortgage ago and ill see where things are adding up!!!

my only concern is phoning up cc companies, what can the actually do for me and will it show on my credit rating???? what do i say to them, thats one of the main reasons why i havent done anything like that!

thankyou for thequick response, and if anyone would like to help me futherit would really be appreciated and taken on board fully!!!

The cc companies should be able to help and it shouldn't show on your credit rating - as long as they know it's a short term thing until you return to work.
:beer: monster

Bestthingsinlifearefree

HI Goldrush,

I would recommend a spending diary for 2 months write every penny you and your OH spend down to see where the money is going.

On a joint income pre-maternity of 50K you should have been able to pay of debts / be debts free and have a good standard of living.

Even on just one salary of 36K with discipline you should be able to turn things around.

You need to post all your incomings and out goings here so members can give you the best advice.

The way forward is definitely do NOT take another loan.....getting more into debt / more loans is not the solution living within your means is.

Good luck !!!

exil

Yes - do the standard thing of posting yr debts, income and outgoings on here. Include mortgage and rent. Embarrassing I know, but no-one here knows who you are!

With a single 36k income, it should be possible to service 400 a month of repayments.

goldrush1984

thanks for the advice,

ok here goes!!

we have £10,500 remaining on alliance and leicester at 5.9% loan

credit cards!!
-barclaycard £2699.15 2.9% life of balance
-lloyds tsb £803.71 15.9%
-morgan stanley £2774.76 5.9% life of balance
-virgin 1 £1350 15.9%
-virgin 2 £4702 15.9%
-sky card £5722.00 0% till july
-texaco £2500 15.9%
-egg £1900 15.9%
-mint £2000 14%

also a mortgage of only £150 and endowment of £100.

p.s. thanks for the feedback already feel better dont feel so alone, im going to start my spending diary today and sort out the endowment policy.

was wondering though what do i say to credit card companies, that i want interest free periods for a while?? and i take it clear that particular card off as quick as possible??

thanks for all your help!!
really dont know how we are struggling!!!!

Bestthingsinlifearefree

HI Goldrush,

Well done for taking the first few positive steps to getting back in control.


Pasted below is a post from a thread started by you in september 2004.

The reason I am posting it is to show borrowing more money is not the way to get out of debt and the only way to reduce debt is TO SPEND LESS and EARN MORE !!!

Hopefully you and your other half have had your light bulb moment now !!!

Keep posting and now is the time for real change before things get out of control.

Good Luck !!

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05-09-2004, 8:10 PM #1
goldrush1984
Regular MoneySaver



Join Date: Mar 2004
Post Count: 163
Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts £15,000 loan at 20yrs old??!!!

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Hi,

in a bit of bother, me and my b/friend are in a bit of bother, basically we need a loan of about £15,000, we have recently done up the house and maxed creditcard after credit card, we have lowered our interest rates as best we can and have a 2.9% on barclaycard, but all the other cards are offering around 7.7% for 6 months, after that they''l be huge!! problem is his credit history aint that good, where as mine isnt too bad.

we want it to be unsecured, but were unsure about getting a loan because it's a huge resposibility, but seems to be the only way we can watch our finances closely and budget with the rest- between us we earn around 50k so it should be a problem and we are- finally careful with money thanks to all this debt!

does anyone have any info or views on this idea?????

thanks k

uptomyeyeballs

Hi goldrush,

I've started my own rehabilitation by joining here and also starting a blog with my progress and tactics, based on the help I've received here from reading posts that other people have made. When the penny finally drops, you then feel ashamed that you've got yourself into that state and that people will judge you. On here, people don't judge you, they just offer solutions, which takes a lot of the weight off your shoulders and makes you realise you don't have to cope alone.

uptomyeyeballs.

jules1973

Hi, could you take a 6 month break on your mortgage and direct it at some other debt. I did when I was on maternity.