Young and confused

lilsarahlou

I am 22 and currently rent a property with my partner. I have a few store cards, maximum of £100. I also have a credit card of the same amount. My partner has two credit cards with a sum total of £500. My hours at work have now been cut to part time and the past two months we have been caught into our overdrafts to pay off household bills, rent and above debts. I am looking for some advice as to what to do for our next step.

We are looking for somewhere cheaper to live, have done all the steps to cut costs in household bills etc. I have thought about taking a loan out, clearing our cards and finishing with only 1 debt as apposed to several. Is this a good idea? Please help I dont know what to do

Burlesque_Babe

The next step is to come and post on the Debt Free Wannabee board.

The next step is NOT to get any kind of consolidation loan. The only time that would possibly be good is if you can move it onto a 0% credit card, close all the other accounts and then pay off the debt before the 0% runs out (or have another 0% card ready to move it on to).

As you have debt in your name and he in his, you need to work how to clear the debt without getting any joint debt at this point in time. I'm not saying you'll split, but if it should happen, it could get messy.

bms1972

Perhaps the first thing I would do is total up how much the individual monthly payments on all these cards add up to. And also how much of that is interest (store cards often carry huge interest rates). Finally, what is the total amount outstanding.

You can then work out how much you could save with a loan or balance transfer and whether you and/or your partner would qualify for that loan.

It may not be a sensible move to consolidate, i know people who have done it successfully and others that have been much worse off through doing so.

bms1972

Burlesque_Babe wrote: »

The next step is to come and post on the Debt Free Wannabee board.

Erm, that sounds like much better advice than mine :T

Nomad25

It might help to complete and post one of these, soa link:

http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html

hopefully, we can then make some helpful saving suggestions.

anniecave

if your current job is now part time, would it be possible to get another part time job as well ?

Burlesque_Babe

^^^^^^^^^^ also very good advice by Nomad. Do your SOA and then start a thread on DFW and everyone will give you help and support.

The sums you are looking to clear are relatively small and if you put a plan in place now and join a few challenges on the DFW board, you'll have it paid off in no time and you can approach your mid-20s debt free and planning a future together.