Newbie in need of advice

Ceri_2

moozie wrote:

Hello there and welcome

I would not advise you to get a loan at all. The figures don't add up in favour of it. Also, are you absolutely certain that if you got a loan, you wouldn't run up debts again? Many on here, including myself, have fallen in the trap of consolidation, only to find ourselves in a worse position later on. However, we are all different and only you know what you can achieve.

In terms of payment protection, I am not sure how beneficial it is to you at the moment if you are temping. It would help your repayments if you didn't have that added on but again, your choice.

As for the SOA, it is not suggested you post it because people on here are nosey or want to identify you. IT is often the case that another person can see a saving where you have missed it. That's all. We are all here to help each other and the forum is one of the most open and helpful I have ever come accross.

Best of luck and keep posting.

Hiya

Well I don't think I would get further into debt cos "IF" I took that loan out I would have extra money each month to save. And I have an added incentive in that I have a neice or nephew on the way who I want to buy things for & if I can't afford CC payments now how will I manage if I get into more debt?

Hope that makes sense. Just don't want to be in debt when the kid is old enough to realise that auntie can't afford to take them out or buy them a b'day pressie.

But I am going against the loan idea now, just hope I can afford the egg repayment (see reply to chortle)

scheming_gypsy

first step is to tell them to sling the payment protection. As far as i'm aware it doesn't have any effect on you being accepted for the loan.
This will knock down your monthly payments and if when you build your credit score up you can probably get a 0% card to cover the repayment on the loan. Pay the loan off and when that 0% comes to an end you could be in a better position to get another loan with a lower APR or it could land nicely with when you can remortgage and take out some equity to cover the loan / credit card.
Yep you'll be paying interest on it for longer but with the amount you're saving on the monthly payments you can probably shorten the term of your mortgage leaving you totally debt free sooner.

Ceri_2

scheming_gypsy wrote:

first step is to tell them to sling the payment protection. As far as i'm aware it doesn't have any effect on you being accepted for the loan.
This will knock down your monthly payments and if when you build your credit score up you can probably get a 0% card to cover the repayment on the loan. Pay the loan off and when that 0% comes to an end you could be in a better position to get another loan with a lower APR or it could land nicely with when you can remortgage and take out some equity to cover the loan / credit card.
Yep you'll be paying interest on it for longer but with the amount you're saving on the monthly payments you can probably shorten the term of your mortgage leaving you totally debt free sooner.

No the payment protection does not affect being accepted for it, but in this unstable world, can you really afford not to have it? I have life insurance yes, so if I die then covered anyway, but my accident, sickness & unemployment cover only covers the amount of my mortgage.

scheming_gypsy

it is hit and miss but also something i've never taken out and so far i've been lucky enough to never need it. Down to personal choice really..

mjh1977

Hi. I actually think that consolidation loans can be a good idea, but you need to do some serious number crunching first. There is a good reason against them and a crap reason.

The crap reason is "you'll just run up debts again". Well - don't. But if you're going to, you'll run them up anyway. It's not a reason against changing the way you handle existing debts.

The good reason is this. If you've been paying off £x already, when you consolidate you're probably extending the life of your payments - so if £x loan was for 5 years, you've paid some interest and are signing up for another lot of it on the same amount, whereas it could be quicker to keep the original loan so you're paying off the actual balance.

BUT I've found consolidating can work well if (1) you use the loan properly, not just as an extra loan; (2) the repayments are lower and work better for you in the shorter term. I've saved £600 to date thru having a consolidation loan (£70pm less to pay) which is now sitting happily in a saver's account, which will be used to repay the consolidation loan in a couple of years. Hence I think that'll pretty much neutralise the possible extra cost of the consolidation loan.

Hope this makes sense - trying to be lucid on a Friday evening! Good luck

M

mjh1977

and personal protection - no. Waste of money. If you're worried, put the money you'd spend aside instead and pay the loan off quicker.

M

CLAPTON

as you do not wish to give detailed figures abour your financial situation its difficult to provide any detailed guidance but my observations are as follows:

your main debts require minimum repayment of about £160 per month plus what you pay to your mother....given this is very flexible you probably wont do better than this so DONOT even consider any consolidation. Do not take out any loans but pay off the highest APR as you have spare money. Think about an additional source of income...can you get an additional part time job? or work any overtime or get a permanent job ..these will significantly increase your ability to pay of the debts.
you are in debt , you dont need to save up for your neice or nephew... thats a luxury for the solent..there's plenty of time in the future for him/her.

basically main thing is to increase income...and live within your means

Ceri_2

hi MJH1977

I think I understand & that was my original thought that if I am paying a smaller amount I can save & initally save up for my car stuff, then after that each year, save & actually save!

I think once you start doing something like this, you are determind not to get into further debt. And I know everyone has to say "don't get into debt again", but finding that hard to swallow (being told that constantly & not just here). I'm trying to get out of debt & therefore want a little disposable income each month, but just can't seem to see where it is. The monies I have already managed to save over a year (800ish) are already being eaten up by min payments on card.

If only the bloody boiler had not packed up!!

I also seem to be addicted to this website/forum, I spent 2 hours here wed, 3 hours here last nite & I think close to 6 hours here tonight.....really must log off & sleep!

Ceri_2

CLAPTON wrote:

as you do not wish to give detailed figures abour your financial situation its difficult to provide any detailed guidance but my observations are as follows:

your main debts require minimum repayment of about £160 per month plus what you pay to your mother....given this is very flexible you probably wont do better than this so DONOT even consider any consolidation. Do not take out any loans but pay off the highest APR as you have spare money. Think about an additional source of income...can you get an additional part time job? or work any overtime or get a permanent job ..these will significantly increase your ability to pay of the debts.
you are in debt , you dont need to save up for your neice or nephew... thats a luxury for the solent..there's plenty of time in the future for him/her.

basically main thing is to increase income...and live within your means

Sorry but disagree about one thing. My neice or nephew is important to me. I don't intend to "save up" for this baby, but I intend to buy the odd thing like a set of babygrows once in a while, odd toy at xmas & b'day and already know which £12 cuddly toy I am buying when it is born.

Am looking for perm work & extra work, being a temp is not my favourite thing, I took this temp job to cover maternity cos if I didn't I would still be attempting to claim JSA (still actually waiting for it to be sorted when I claimed for 3 weeks in jan). I am still looking for perm work, just cos I have a temp job does not mean I am settled there for 6 months, I know having a perm job is much more stable.

Alleycat

I would suggest reading through the actual terms and conditions of the payment protection you already have on each of your debts. You may be surprised at what it actually covers. As an alternative to having PPI on each debt, you could look at taking out a policy with another financial institution. You would most probably find a better deal which would still cover you in anything untoward should happen.

Sorry if you have already done this, but have a play with your figures and put the details into this snowball calculator . You should also be careful when looking to consolidate as you could get hit with a nasty early redemption penalty.

Just one thought as well, I know when we started our journey, we found that the one area we could really cut back on was our food budget. What do you currently spend per month? If you are not already doing it, have a look on the MSE Old Style board for inspiration!