Girlfriend in too much debt....

arambol

Well the car is a large thing to sell but it's on finance so it doesn't really count. I'm actually just checking the paperwork on that one.

Says she can terminate at anytime and must

"return the car AND half of the total amount payable under the agreement that is £10,202.25". If you have paid at least this amount and have taken reasonable care of the goods (car), you will not have to pay more".

By my calculations she paid a £5750 deposit, made 6 moths of payments totalling £1056 = £6806.

So she'll have to pay more.... an extra £3598.50 .....plus she looses the £5750 deposit.

I'll look into it more but I hope I'm not right !

arambol

Her credit score is 813 with Experian. Listed as " Fair".

She has no defaults at all but hight unsecured borrowings.

With this is she likely to be accepted for balance transfer to life of balance cards or 0% cards?

I see Barclays listed on here are offering a fairly low rate life of balance which maybe be better than a temporary 0%?

MrsTinks

813 or "fair" isn't actually great... but they are only a "guide" at any rate
What will matter is the amount of available and used debt and if she's always paid on time... Will sh eget accepted? Hmmmm how long is a piece of string? It could depend on what someone had for breakfast to be honest

Anyway... The tenancy contract - I would see if it's something that CAB can have a look at as to my eyes that sounds like unfair terms and conditions - it's certainly not a standard tenancy contract (I used to be a lettings negotiator in a former life...) and I'm not sure if the landlord would have a leg to stand on should she give 1 or 3 months notice... Laws could however have changed since my day so it may be worth trying to get a free 30 minute consultation with a solicitor to have a look at it...

Rental prices... whilst I am well aware that Londinium is far more pricey than most other places I still think it's incredibly high - but it's what we need to work with or find a solution to and that's what you need to focus on.

The car plan thingy... pass... without reading the wording I'm honestly not sure... It may be that she'd be better off selling it privately...

euronorris

If she has a high amount of unsecured borrowing, her chances of a 0% deal aren't fantastic, but they're not dire too.
I don't think she will be able to get one of the best deals, but she should be able to get at least one. But as said above, it really depends on the lender and their decision making process, each one is different.

It's likely that if she is accepted, they will want to see bank statements and payslips to prove her income etc, so be prepared for that.

Any 0% deal you can get will be good as it's removing the interest, so worth a try. But don't go applying for card after card if rejected as this will only damage her credit record.

Please don't go down the consolidation loan route. It very, very rarely works as you don't really learn your lesson. Trust me, I've been down that road 3 times before I learned my lesson. Each time I was adding to the debt due to the interest and length of time require to repay. The temptation to use the CC's again was just too much to resist as I hadn't really paid them back, I just got new debt!

I am now using the snowball calculator and clearing the debts the hard way. BUT, I have become much better at sticking to a budget already and resisting the tempation to buy things I don't need.

Cosmetics for example, can be very expensive depending on the brand, but I have cut that right back and only buy one or two items that I need every other month. I bet if your gf looks at what she already has, she will have masses of stuff that she's never used. She will have simply bought it to try it, decided it was rubbish but didn't want to part with it because she paid good money for it! lol It can be a difficult habit to break thanks to all of the advertising for this stuff, but if she can, then she will save loads of money!

Do you have any friends who work in the legal sector? I agree with one of the previous posters, the contract doesn't sound quite right and I'm wondering if it is entirely legal / enforceable. I think it would be well worth having someone with legal knowledge look through it just to be sure.

Another idea is to sell stuff. I know someone mentioned this before, but I mean all kinds of stuff, not just the big stuff. You'll be surprised at what people will buy on Ebay really! Maybe she can have a clear out and start selling a lot of the stuff she doesn't need / use. Every little helps after all. And if she can clear one of the credit cards, then she will have more money to start clearing another and so on.

Caroline73_2

She could sort through her cosmetics. I sold a shoe box full of half used make up and samples on ebay and made £50! I couldn't believe people would buy it but they did!

MoneyMagnet

Please do NOT feed cats on tuna (or any other fish) alone - yes they like it, but it's not a balanced food for cats, and won't give them all the nutrients they need. Fish should be a treat, not a staple. Pets are dependent on their humans for care, and it's simply not fair to feed them a poor quality diet to save money. Plus you're likely to end up with huge vet bills in the future when they become ill as a result of inadequate nutrition or the rubbish ingredients that manufacturers use as filler in their bad quality foods.

As for consolidating - personally, I used a low interest unsecured loan (a regular bank loan - not the kind you see on late night commercials!) to consolidate my debts (2 credit cards, an overdraft & a small loan), and it has saved me thousands in interest. But by that point I had had a light bulb moment and was in complete control of my spending, so I've never been tempted to run up more debt. I'm not saying your girlfriend should go that route - she certainly shouldn't if she's still overspending - but I wanted to put across an alternative view of consolidating, since most people seem to be very against it here. It can work very well, in the right circumstances.

arambol

She was chuffed to bits when I told her about these posts. She'll come say hi soon but she was actually working till 11pm last night and didn't get the chance.

She's agreed to get rid of the car, half her food bill with my guidance and take pack lunches to work. Part of her food expenses was 2 take away coffee's per day @ £1.80 each. That's £20 a week in coffee!!

She said she'd forget about colouring her hair and just get a half decent cut. I've looked into switching her gas and electric supply to a cheaper option and asked for a meter reading.

Her laptop is on eBay with 1 day to go at £540 which will go to her Virgin card.

I've ordered some cat food in bulk from Vetuk as suggested and by my estimate should cost around £22 per month to feed the two cats.... that's half the cost of what she was paying which is a start.

At the weekend I'll sit her down and apply for a life time balance card hopefully around 5-6%. Fingers crossed they will give her a decent limit and she can transfer most if not all her existing cards across.

Failing that I might look into a loan from Sainsbury Bank at 7.9% and put her card debts in that and then cancel her cards.

She's also going to sell some clothes.

She's happy with all the suggestions and really wants to make this work. The only thing she doesn't know is that I spoke to the car finance company this morning and it's a mess.

If she terminates the contract she has to give the car back and it'll cost her just over £10,000 overall and she's only had it 7 months.

If she settles (as in buys it off them), she owns the car and it'll have cost her approx. £18,000 but she'll have the car to sell. She might get 13-14k in autotrader, which is around a £4000 saving over terminating the contract.

It makes sense to buy the car and sell privately so the finance company don't sting you for their lost interest but she's not in the position to do that.

Messy !.... but that's the way it is I guess.

euronorris

Well done Arambol!

I'm glad to hear that she has taken on board the suggestions and is getting involved.

I can't offer much advice re the car unfortunately, but I'm sure others have experience in this area.

What a fab bf you are! She's a lucky girl to have someone like you helping her out! You should get her to treat you to a nice home cooked meal as a reward (very MSE see! lol).

Keep it up, together, you'll have this sorted in no time!

i1189

Apologies if these ideas have already been suggested, I just skimmed the thread:

Could the gym membership be transferred? Maybe for a little less than its cost, but if your girlfriend is working nearly all the time she may not use the gym much anyway so it could be worth it.

In London, a lot of the posh hairdressers have training schools - could your girlfriend go there for her hair cut/colour? I've been to one outside London and the haircuts were really good.

KME91

One thing to check, she lives alone, is she getting the appropriate discount on her council tax?