Advice please...what to do for the best - to lend or not to lend??

PrincessJR

Hi,

Myself and my husband have been considering a loan to consolidate our main debts into 1 payment. They are:

Abbey Credit Card ( Husband) - Approx £3k
MBNA Credit Card (Husband) - Approx £2k
Natwest Loan currently under DMP (Mine only) - £2600

Both of the cards are in my husbands name as they are cards he had before we got married (the debt on them is from our wedding). We are paying roughly 17% interest on each of them at the moment, although my DMP is interest free, and were wondering if we could save a bit of cash by combining them into a loan?

There is more.......

Although I am slowly building my credit rating back up, the DMP is obviously still running, on which I have just 1 remaining creditor, Natwest. I currently pay £120, interest free towards £2600 debt. I have kept this plan for 3 years, and although I have never missed a payment, a DMP never looks good on your credit file, and it has made a mess of mine! (Nice red marks everywhere on the Natwest record).

In order for me to afford paying half towards a 'new' loan repayment, I would need to include my DMP balance of £2600, freeing up the £120 per month to go towards the loan repayment. I understand that some people may think I am crazy to be considering coming out of an interest free situation but I really want this DMP gone, and feel that while I am on it, I will never be accepted for credit anywhere!

- incidently, we know that if we do seek out a consolidation loan, it will need to be in my husbands name as he has a fairly good credit history -

So....after all of that....my question is..........

should we apply for a loan for £7500 (2 Credit cards and my Natwest loan - DMP)?

Should we apply for a smaller loan of £5k for credit cards only and keep DMP at £120 per month?

Should we not consider anymore credit and continue to be stretched each month?

I hope I have made that as clear as possible, any help would be appreciated.

cakinwande

I think you answered the question yourself there

I would get a consolidation of all the loans and pay a fixed monthly payment. The longer it takes you to clear the DMP, the longer it will stay on your credit profile and the longer it will take for it to look good again. But that's just my personal opinion.

Good luck with what you decide!

CHR15

I recall giving an opinion in the past where someone was asking for a large loan to pay for a Wedding, a few of us said "don't bury yourself in debt for a one day pi$$ up" or similar.

We all got royally slated for being nasty.

I suppose this is the upshot, struggling for years afterwards to repay the money for that single day.

Sorry OP, hope you make the right decision and find your way out of it

dfh

I feel a consolidation loan might be a good option as long as the interest rate is reasonable and you are sure you can afford the repayments.

jonesMUFCforever

What is the husband's credit files like??