Firstplus

BRIGHTHOPE

I am thinking of taking out a Firstplus loan for £40000.00 over 9yrs. As far as I'm concerned,
I'm fast running out of options and this, on the face of it, doesn't look too unreasonable.
I'm secure in my job so don't have concerns there. The APR is 7.7%, and I've told them that I'm not interested in their PPP.
Is there anyone out there who may be able to point out a pitfall which I'm overlooking??

BRIGHTHOPE

Further to my previous post......I've just noticed the following in respect of early settlement.............. we will apply the formula set out in the Consumer Credit ( Early Settlement) Regulations 2004.
In practise what does this mean??

tipsychick

Brighthope, as you're online, there's a separate thread on the BBC1 expose on this type of consolidation loan that was aired last night.

If you're quick, it's about a dozen or so threads down on the "New Posts" from this one - at the mo, I was the last contributor! Sorry - don't know how to do the link thingy. You're looking for the "BBC1: Real Story at 7.30 p.m." thread, originally posted by pigeongirl.

Have a look at it, it might not be right for you after all.

BRIGHTHOPE

Thanks for that.......I've read the thread, but I still can't see that it's such a bad option for me. I need to get rid of some horrendous credit card accounts, some of which are attracting 4 x the rate of interest that's being offered by Firstplus. My spending is now totally under control, I simply want to manage the debt.

tipsychick

I'm glad you found it after my less than crystal clear instructions! I've just looked at how to do the link and it's beyond my comprehension and computer skills at this time of night!

The thing is, if you go with one of these consolidation loans, you'll secure the credit card debits to your property. That is a HUGE commitment. I'm sure you're not anticipating declaring yourself bankrupt down the line but if you were to need to at some point, you'd now lose your house, which you wouldn't do so without a secured loan.

I don't know your circumstances but have you tried transferring your existing credit card debits to 0% credit card(s)? If you haven't and your credit score is okay, it's simple enough to do. It's what I've always done in the past. Your credit card debts remain as not secured to your home and you don't pay any interest for six/nine/twelve months or however long the interest free period is for. Have a look at some of the links to Martin's articles above (the bright yellow writing above the "Post Reply" bit at the top of this page).

Apart from not securing it to your home (which is a massive commitment when you think about it), with a consolidation loan you'll end up paying a lower rate of interest over a much, much longer amount of time.

Also, I don't want to be patronizing about it when you're in a fix already but you did run the debts up in the first place. If you take out the Firstplus loan, are you absolutely sure you won't carry on spending at the same kind of rate and be in an even worse situation (with possible eventual bankruptcy, etc.) further down the line? This is when the secured bit really kicks in!

tango

Excellent advice tipsychick:D

lynzpower

please look at the DFW board there is a thread about this started by someone who has one. It looks like an absolute nightmare.

Seriously how bad are your credit cards, an unsecured consolidation loan would be much better unless you want to go the DFW way, and manage it without ( there are people on DFW who are paying off more than 50k on CCs) the so-called help of consolidation, certainly not secured.

Josie64

I don't know your circumstances but have you tried transferring your existing credit card debits to 0% credit card(s)? If you haven't and your credit score is okay, it's simple enough to do. It's what I've always done in the past. Your credit card debts remain as not secured to your home and you don't pay any interest for six/nine/twelve months or however long the interest free period is for.

hi,

at the moment both mine and hubby's credit cards except for one are on reduced payments and Barclaycard is saying on Experian that I haven't paid it for 4 mths which is a lie, I've been paying £10m , anyway would it be possible to transfer any of our cards to 0% balance transfers?