Help - Debt advise needed

cwiz

Hello all,

I have gone through several years of bad spending habits after already being in slight debt paying for university some yrs ago.
Currently i owe 17k on a personal loan that my parents took out (i couldnt get one) and i'm paying the monthly payment - about 380 quid into their acc each month.

i also have 2 x credit cars both with 4k credit owing. its bad and i can only afford tp pay the minmimums each month, which is about 120 quid each as they both have me now on 20% + apr.

I have tried to move onto a zero percent card but my rating is poor ish..

this month i cannot afford to pay one of the mimimums and also have a car MOT and tax due next month. Although i make ok money and have not been out of work since finishing uni i'm very worried as to how to get out of debt so that i can start living properly - i'm appraching 30 and dreams of a house or even a holiday seem way way off.

I have headr talk that an IVA might be my best route. The question i have is how long does this stay on your credit profile, and how do you live when on one - can you get a debit account still, will my employers need to know (i work in event sales)

also could i travel ok if say in 4 yrs under the arrangement i'd saved enough to travel somewhere for a month..??

also and most importantly - if i was to do it, would they take into acc the loan under my folk's name?? i'm guessing not, but as this is my main debt is there anywawy around it??

i hope someone can suggest possible ways. i am claiming charges back and have cut my spending dramitically. My problem now is i have so many repayments there simply isnt enough coming in.

WV3

Well it sounds like you're going to have to try to find an extra income for a while to get a head with your payments? Would an extra part time job be totally out of the question?

fatbelly

Hi cwiz

Well an IVA isn't the way forward...and it almost always isn't

If you post a statement of affairs we can see if you can continue to make the contractual monthly instalments on your debts and pay 380 pcm to your parents.

http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html

If you can't then you should look at a debt management plan in the first instance - and your parents will have to take advice regarding their debt

Stupidly_Skint

Hi Cwiz,
I am in a smiliar position to yourself, my dad took out a loan for me which I repay each month at £500, only now I have also racked up more credt card debt and cannot always afford the minimum repayment.

I have looked for a debt consolidation loan but have been refused, the loan company did however refer me to a Debt Management company (I wasn't too sure what this was at the time)

I have since been advised to use the CCCS website which offers free advise.

I am yet to decide what to do as I have applied for a second and a third job (I also work full time and go to college 2 nights a week) as I would prefer to repay repay the minimum payments on time, and give my credit rating time to repair in the hope of applying for a loan in the future.

Tixy

Hi Cwiz and welcome (hope you are still reading these replies even though you haven't been back online)

An IVA certainly doesn't sound like it will work for you. You need to work out a detailed financial statement using the link in post #3.
Then you need to look really carefully at everything you spend to see what you can do without and what you can get cheaper elsewhere. Also think about what you own that you could sell to start reducing the debt. Perhaps you could look at ways of earning more money such as doing overtime, a second job, or something else.
If you then post your SoA on here we will look if we can find other ways you can save money or advise you on how best to tackle your debts.

Hope you come back and post more and we will do our best to help. If you are still considering an IVA (I agree with fatbelly this isn't right for you) or a DMP do get free impartial advice from one of these organisations rather than paying for advice (which will never be impartial) - http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/loans/debt-help-plan#help