HELP! Advice required by newbie

seatman

Hi everyone. Could do with some advice. I currently am in debt to the tune of 8K. This is split down as follows:

1. Barclayloan £1475 14% apr and 19 payments of £81 left

2. Mint credit card £3900 0% and paying £100 pr month

3. Lloyds credit card £2300 Was 0% but just gone up to 6%. Paying £150 per month.

4. Barclays overdraft -£700 but hopefully will be back in black within the next month or two.

I net about £1200 a month

How can I combat these debts. Starting to lose sleep. I thought about getting a cheap unsecured loan from one of the providers mentioned on this website. A £5000 loan over 5yrs @ 5.6% is roughly £95 a month. There are no penalties for early payment and you can pay more per month if required.

OberonSH

I'm sure the others will be along shortly to help, but you're going to need to post a full SOA (Statement of Affairs) - break down what you spend on rent, rates, food, car, etc as much as you can.

Personally I found going to the snowball calculator and seeing a debt free date really helped - it'sa nifty little thing that you pop all your debts and aprs into, and it tells you which ones to pay off first and then how long before you'll be debt free. It was a great help to me psychologically to see that date!

Ali-OK

Hi and welcome.

Don't go for a consolidation loan!!! It may be less money per month to pay, but it will cost you more in the long run and take you longer to become debt free.

Post your SOA up - the good people here will more than likely be able to help you bring your outgoings down, freeing up some cash to throw extra at your debt.

Is your credit rating good? If so, could you apply for another 0% card, or if you prefer, the stability of putting it all on a LOB (Life of Balance card). BA Amex are offering 4.9% LOB or IF at 4.95% LOB. There are BT fees, but they'll pay for themselves with the reduced interest rate vs. keeping them where they are.

Just to add, as Oberon says go to https://www.whatsthecost.com and enter your figures into the snowball calculator. It'll show you which order to pay (overpay) - highest APR first and give you a DFD date based on how much you can pay each month, your balance, APRs, etc.