Taking mortgage payment holiday to pay off debt?

Petal_3

Hi all

I'm getting really impatient and v fed up with seeing not much change to the debt situation.

I was thinking about taking 3 months mortgage holiday and clearing one of my credit cards with it.

What do you think?

~x~

System

What is your debt situation? BTW like the signature! LOL

Chortle_2

Depends on how much it'll cost you in interest over the term of your mortgage - have you done the maths?

nomoneytoday

Petal wrote:

I was thinking about taking 3 months mortgage holiday and clearing one of my credit cards with it.

What do you think?

~x~

If there are no charges involved from your mortgage, they are happy to do it, and the APR is lower then fine.

However, you really need to resolve the underlying issues.. i.e. Why can't you pay the card? Can you transfer it to a 0% etc etc

You don't need to tell me the answer, only your inner self.

Petal_3

Hi there lennymfo - Well, that's how I tend to live....hence the debt!

I've done all the right things (I think) - got 2 x Texaco credit cards for LOB 3.9% totalling approx £12,500, just used my Egg anniversary to transfer £2k making payments of £400 over 5 months, got a N/West 0% for 9 months for emergency spending (car servicing etc), got a Tesco c/card for food spending which is paid off in full each month....

BUT

I'm just so impatient! I just paid the last payment of a 5 yr loan the other day so that frees up another £279 pm to chuck at the debt but waiting for the last 6 months of payments on the loan was agony.....I almost paid it off early with my overdraft! How daft is that???? I know it doesn't make sense but I just can't seem to wait to clear one debt and then another...etc.

Thing is I (we) have been fooling ourselves really.....we've got this great LOB deal and I'm ploughing everything I can into paying it off...but...with our 0% "emergency" cards we're building another debt to be repaid....so, on the left hand we have our Texaco debt reducing and on the right hand we have our 0% debt increasing...... :eek:

Oh.....where did all that come from!
~x~

Petal_3

Well, the APR isn't lower but all I know is it would add another £10 or so to the monthly payment over the next 16 years.....that looks soooooo appealing.

Chortle_2

If your debts are on 3.9% and 0% deals, then you would be MAD to transfer the debt to your mortgage (which is what you would effectively be doing by taking a payment holiday to clear some), on what would surely be a higher interest rate - not to mention a MUCH extended term!!

I know it is frustrating, but if by your own admission, you are building your debt back up anyway, taking a payment holiday will not only increase your mortgage, but probably won't help you become debt free anyway!

Chortle_2

Petal wrote:

Well, the APR isn't lower but all I know is it would add another £10 or so to the monthly payment over the next 16 years.....that looks soooooo appealing.

In simple terms - 16 years is 192 months - £10 a month for 16 years is £1,920. That is how much this'll cost you long term.

How much would you be able to clear off of your debt by doing this?

Petal_3

Thanks - I know what you're saying makes sense. I'm a good girl really! Part of the problem is that I'm soooo impatient to get debt free that I'm chucking too much money at the debt therefore leaving us with not enough for anything other than food therefore building another debt - make sense? I find I'm looking at my debts/spreadsheets etc EVERY day and I think about it most of the time.....I think I'm obsessed! I just want it to be over. I've already planned what I'm doing with June's bonus, OH's commission payment due and our Christmas bonuses......HELP!

~x~

Petal_3

Mortgage payment pm is £1185 - 3 x that! I'm just so keen to pay a large chunk off a card and get rid.....I recently sold a car for £3800 planning to use that to clear a chunk....got a pain in my front tooth one afternoon, was in the dentist's chair at 8am next morning....that'll be £3800 to sort out that one tooth please! How's yer luck?

So, I guess the answer is No then! Sit tight, keep paying it off best I can and p'raps reduce the repayments so we've got enough to live on!

~x~