help with loans please

thetaj27

Hi All

Kind of feeling really stuck at the moment & dont know which way to turn.
Over past 10 yrs or so i have got 3 credit cards & never been able to pay them off & now after getting a house 2 1/2 yrs ago im only payuing the minimum amount every month. In total i owe just over 7K between them.
Enough is enough & they need to go.

Now on the the bit im having trouble with.
I wanted to get a loan to pay them off - 7.5K over 4 - 5 yrs, the repayments are less that what i currently pay & after 4 - 5 yrs obviously ive paid my debt & can move on. Great - or so i thought.

I have a 999 score on experian which is excellent, never mist or been late with a payment - everything is great.
Ok so i thought i need a debt consolidation loan, so i got read the advice on here & went to one of the companies recommended for it.
Spoke to them & they said No! i have a good credit score & im not in trouble. - who says im not in trouble - i owe alot of money & want to sort it, but they did not help. - try a normal personal loan from the high street they told me.

Ok i try A&L my own bank, again told them its to get rid of c.cards. - they say No. Ok ok, what the hell is going on here, why is everyone saying no to me? In the letter from A&L they say they recommend freedom finance - so i try them.

Again go through it all with them, seemed helpful for once. Next day i get an email - No they cant help me either. Have i got something wrong with me, why the hell cant i get a loan - do i have to spend 80grand & be in major debt, not pay bills & ignore debt collectors before i can get help or what.?
I have a good cred score on experian, the loan is less p/month than the c.card repayments & its no problem for me to pay it. so what do i have to do to get a loan?
Its just stupid that no one will lend money to someone who WILL pay it back with no issues.
What can i do? :mad:

kaisersoze_2

I wouldnt get too hung up on your credit score from experian, all lenders use their own scoring system and as experian dont lend money the score is pretty useless to be honest.

The problem is that if all your cards are maxed and you are only paying the minimum payments you will come across as a risk to any lenders. They will also have to think if they give you a 7.5K loan and you use your credit cards then you will have 14.5K worth of debt and they will look at this figure comapred to your salary.

Also it sounds as though you have made 3 applications for loans, were they quite recent and close together? If they were you will need to wait at least 6 months before making another application as numerous searches on your credit file will make you look desperate to any potential lenders.

thetaj27

thanks for the reply, appreciate that. Why have a credit score if it means nothing to them? this is really annoying.
As for the cards - they are only half the value to what i can have on them so no they are not maxed out at all.
Also the 3rd card - barclay card has 2K on it & is a low rate for life im paying DOUBLE the min amount at £85 p/month as this was my first step to helping myself by shifting to this card & never using it so i get a low rate of 6% for life of the balance & £500 is already repaid......
Its my 2no. MBNA cards that are taking the mick of monthly repayments of approx 2.5K p/month on each, which is the pain to pay any eaxtra off.

CLAPTON

I don't really understand your last post... is it correct?

In any event you should be paying off as much as possible on the debt with the higherst APR and only paying the minimum on the other CCs.
This way you will pay of the debts the earliest and pay least interest.

If you have a CC charging only 6% then there is no point in getting a loan at a higher rate to replace it.

Perhaps if you listed the debts, the APRs and the minimum monthly payments then it would be clearer.

In the end though, you need to spend less (do you have a proper budget?) or earn more (parttime job? and so have more money to pay off the debts.

thetaj27

whats not clear?
i have a good job - work full time, dont over spend (anymore) the debts are from years ago & were alot higher but managed to get them down, but as mentioned i have a house with my mrs & paying more than the min amount is hard.

I just want to get rid of all 3 credit cards regardless of APR & pay a loan off. The 2no. MBNA cards are A&L & Virgin at about 15.9/16% the Barclay card reduced the Virgin card by 2.5K basically halving it which i got the low apr for life which i am trying to pay off.

kaisersoze_2

The interest on a loan is going to be higher than 6%. As it is a life of balance card i would suggest paying extra onto the MBNA cards instead of the Barclaycard as they will cost you more in the long run.

I can appreciate your annoyance with been unable to get a loan, can you get a 0% card instead of a loan and shift 1 of the MBNA cards that way.

As for the credit score from experian it is a way for them to make more money out of you as most people get the free report then cancel but i would yhink a high majority also pay for a score.

thetaj27

thanks kaisersoze i will give up on a loan, & look at my cards. Will lower the repayments on my barclay 6% card & ring virgin & a&l & get a higher min paid per month & see how that goes.
How helpfull are c.card companies, i mean if i ring Virgin & say look i want to try & get this paid off, would they help me in any way?

kaisersoze_2

I beleive virgin are closing some accounts for people with a reduced APR to get them paid off (ie. you cant use the card again and just pay off the remaining balance - almost becomes a high interest loan)

I am not sure on wether they do this for everybody and how it affects your credit rating, i would give them a ring the worst they can say is no we cant do anything.

thetaj27

well thats what im after, i cant remember the last time i actually used any of my cards, like i say i just want them paid off.
Will ring virgin & say that they can cancel the card or whatever they want & see if they can sort something for me. thanks