Help clear £10k on credit card!

dip_4

Hi guys

I'm appealing to all you geniuses out there to help my friend clear her debts!

The bottom line is £10k on a credit card - Halifax I think.

She's 24 been travelling for 15 months or so and got a bit of a debt. Some is from uni but mostly gtom travelling.

She got back in January, and did some temp work, and got a permanent job at a building society in March.

She did apply for a 0% card while she was away, December 2005-ish. but got rejected, and has applied for one more since being back and also got recjected, around Feb 2006.

She also got rejected from an egg loan and no she is scared it'll affect her credit rating. We checked her credit rating and it was quite good I think. Egg said they'd give her a loan in August/September time and that she has to be working for 6 months!

She is currently paying arounf £150 a month. She's looking to get a loan to cover the £10k, plus the £2k she owes me, but i told her not to worry about the £2k for now.

I was thinking either a low-interest loan or at least moving her debt to another CC at 0% for however long she can find but bith seem to be impossible at this time.

Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance guys

dip

ms_london

It sounds as though she wouldnt be able to get another card or loan is it is anyway (especially if she hasnt been in her job for very long). What she needs to do is work out a budget & see what she can afford to pay off her CC each month, and then call the CC company to see if they will accept this. Perhaps tell them that she has been offered another card & would like to close her account - perhaps they will offer her a lower interest rate to stay, or she could just tell them she's having a few financial difficulties & ask them to stop interest/charges. You dont ask if you dont get??!!

I go travelling in Aug (see sig) and I am not going to be getting in debt again over it - it will be bad enough having to come back & start from scratch, but to be in debt too!! (plus I've already run up debt so have learnt my lesson!!).

I think your friend needs to hang on in there until she can get a 0% card or loan, not much else she can do. I was in the same position when I had my lighbulb moment - just had to pay one creditor off at a time & pay the horrendous interest!!

moozie_2

I think Ms_London has made very good points.

There is no easy solution to your friend's problem. It is not surprise she's not being accepted for loans/low interest CCs as she has not been working long enough to prove she will be a reliable customer.

It would help her if you could do a budget with her and then pay off as much as possible off her CC. Maybe they will agree to reduced payments and freezing the interest but that will definitely affect the credit rating so she will still find getting a loan/low interest CC hard after she has been working for a while.

Patience and hard work is the answer Good luck!

dip_4

hi guys, thanks for the replies.

ms_london:
I suggested to her to phone them and ask, but she's worried that if she threatens to close her account it'll affect her credit score. also, I was wondering what would happen to the debt? She has two other CCs i think - a HSBC which she got with her student (now graduate) account and a Dorethy Perkins card, whcih she got because they convereted het store card to this. So you reckon changes of getting a loan/new CC are low?

moozie:
Thanks, moozie - patience is not her strong point (shh, don't tell her!).So, reduced payments/interest freezing will affect her credit score?hmm. She gets quite worried about her credit score being affected by all this but i'll ask and see.

I'm waiting for that one poster who will after me £12k, and possible some cake....

Cheers

southernscouser

She should phone the tow other companies she has credit cards with and ask them if they can offer her a special balance transfer deal. If they can't cancel the cards.

This could part of the reason why she is being rejected. Lets say for example that between those 2 cards she had available credit limits of £15,000 together! Thats is £15,000 of potential debt! By cancelling them she will look more appealing to potential lenders!