I've done something really silly!

asandwhen

If you could borrow half that amount from family and friends would they not accept that as a full and final???

milliejon

asandwhen wrote:

If you could borrow half that amount from family and friends would they not accept that as a full and final???

Sadly this is only a tiny percentage of my debt. I'd have to have some very generous family and friends. They are lovely, but I wouldn't ask them.

The interest rate on the original debt was included from the start of the loan and fixed for the life of the loan. Therefore, I'm still paying the total of the original loan (both of the my loans are like this). I've managed to get the interest on my debit cards taken off whilst I'm in the arrangement.

I think in this case, they have increased the debt by only £183 because I have been a customer with them for about 12 years now and will be for another 5 or 6. They have always been nice during this hard time and want me as a customer in the future.

I won't of course, because we've been managing to live on cash alone for 18 months and won't allow myself to get into debt in the future. I want my kids to understand the value of money and not rely on credit for day to day items.

Sorry - just reflecting out loud (so to speak!)

westie666

milliejon,

Good to hear how you plan to teach your kids the value of money. I personally dont have any kids, but I managed to rack up £18,000 debt by the time I was 21. This has been a massive learning experiance for me, and has taught me how easy it is to get into debt. Deffenatly somthing to teach the kids (when they come along....)

W666

jobbingmusician

What's in it for them? Well, if the terms of the loan are really as generous as you think they are, the creditors are obviously at a stage where they would consider a full and final settlement figure - and they would rather get the whole amount back, at low interest. It just might be a good deal, but impossible to tell. You sound a bit dazed - have you got a good friend you could go through the offer with, to check? (I wouldn't trust ANYTHING you've been told verbally, trust only what is written down!)

milliejon

Thanks everyone. I've taken all your advice and rang them today to say that I wouldn't be taking the restructuring loan. I said that it would look like I'm favouring their loan over the others. I explained that £6k was only a small part of my nearly £24k debt and that one is already with a collection agency.

She was very lovely and said that I could come back to them at any time in the future if I wanted to take advantage of this offer again.

My main worry is that if I ever do get taken to court, then the pro-rata payments would need to take this loan into account and I'd be back in the same boat with them. No point doing that.

At least I'm £183 better off now than I would have been if I'd taken them up on the offer.

Thanks again everyone for your help and advice.

You're a lovely bunch of people!

:beer: (when I can afford one!)

black-saturn

milliejon wrote:

Therefore, my debt has only increased by £183.50 and saves me a couple of quid each month (which can go to my other debts).

Sounds wierd. Are you sure thats not £183.50 on top of the interest payable already?

milliejon

black-saturn wrote:

Sounds wierd. Are you sure thats not £183.50 on top of the interest payable already?

Yes it is on top of the interest already payable, but the interest has never been stopped cos it was fixed from the start of the loan. So my restructured loan would have been the balance now plus £183 interest. I can't work it out either! There's got to be a catch that I've not been able to find in the small print.:rolleyes: