Getting a lower interest rate loan to move CC debts

Katharine

I wont bore you with the whole story of how I got here but basically I have 6 CC's near the limit, 4 of which are 15-16% and two are 10% it's a scary situation and my min repayments now mean I don't have enough to live off each month so end up having to dip into the drabs of the cc's for food petrol etc, meaning they aren't getting paid off!

I really long to be debt free and think the best way to do this would be an unsecured personal loan meaning I could be debt free in 6 years or less rather than eternity with the CC's! My problem is I tryed to contine with my card tarting as I did before but now get told something along the lines of "due to current credit commitments we cannot off more for your salary". While I don't want to get into further debt, I wan't to pay off my CC'c and pay an amount I can afford, I fear that a loan provider will take the same view, despite allegedly having a good credit rating.

Please help me!

Annie_Fanny

Hey Katharine

Well done on posting. Are you able to post a 'Statement of Affairs (SOA)' here so that we may be able to help you make some savings which could then be thrown at your debts? Have a look at this post by Southern Scouser on how to prepare an SOA:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=107280

Generally speaking those of us on this forum are not big fans of consolidation loans as they take a long long time to pay off and end up costing you a small fortune. I'm sure someone will be along later to show you the maths - it is scary how much additional money the banks can squeeze out of you!

Good luck!

Annie

Katharine

Thanks for answering Annie, ATM I really feel I need a plan to sort myself out but its hard to find the right idea, I'll feel a hell of alot better once I have a doable plan. I've worked out my statement it can vary alot tho so this is my current situation, when my partner is between jobs it can be twice as much outgoing which it partially what got me into this state in the first place (his current contract ends in August) that and me being unemplyed for most of the last two years.

My income £1200

My half of the bills etc:
Rent £180
Internet, phone line, and 1000 free UK mins on phone £35 (I pay all this and he pays for the TV licence)
Electric £50
Council Tax £60 (this month and next month paying another 2x£260 for last 5 months since me moved in)
Petrol £80
Food £100 (was cheaper when I had a freezerand could buy lots when good offers where on!)
Car basic running costs £50 (plus more when things break, need two tyres soon!)
Smoking £20 (I know I need to stop)
Beer £20 (yes another vice)
Work birthdays & leaving presants £5
Pet food £5

Total £605

Currently paying £600 in CC bills :eek:

Total £1205! :eek:

Probably more I haven't thought of and every month theres always something unexpected which makes it more than that.

Debts (in order of priority)

Mint card £6900 16%
Egg Card £3900 16%
Egg money £3900 16%
HSBC card £6300, £1400 at 1.9% £2700 at 5.9% remainder at 15%
BOS card £2550 10%
HSBC other card £2650 10%
Over draft always starts at -£300 and ends -£1500 each month

As you can see I need some good advice please!

lynzpower

Ok so, let me see

My income £1200

My half of the bills etc:
Rent £180 ( thats cheap!)
Internet, phone line, and 1000 free UK mins on phone £35 (I pay all this and he pays for the TV licence) ( not entirely fair as tv license is 10.99 a month. You could shave this down to line rental, broadband 13.99 and a free call plan, such as talk talk or what ive got primus 2, which is a call carrier, you get free evening & weekend calls for up to an hour & a half for free)
Electric £50 ( cor,thats high...)
Council Tax £60 (this month and next month paying another 2x£260 for last 5 months since me moved in)
Petrol £80 ( do you absolutely need a car)
Food £100 (was cheaper when I had a freezerand could buy lots when good offers where on!) ( is your OH paying the same? Only 200 a month is double what me & oh are spending on food)
Car basic running costs £50 (plus more when things break, need two tyres soon!)
Smoking £20 (I know I need to stop) ( is that only 20 fags a week?)
Beer £20 (yes another vice) ( not that bad)
Work birthdays & leaving presants £5 ( every month?)
Pet food £5

Total £605

Currently paying £600 in CC bills

Total £1205!

Probably more I haven't thought of and every month theres always something unexpected which makes it more than that.

Debts (in order of priority)

Mint card £6900 16%
Egg Card £3900 16%
Egg money £3900 16%
HSBC card £6300, £1400 at 1.9% £2700 at 5.9% remainder at 15%
BOS card £2550 10%
HSBC other card £2650 10%
Over draft always starts at -£300 and ends -£1500 each month


With your CCs you might want to ask for a low Life of balahnce with one of the cards you currently have -see if they can do you a good deal. Have you asked? I closed a co-op card as I transferred my balance to egg on a 0% and then the co-op offered me 0% for a year.

Annie_Fanny

Just ideas to throw into the pot...

Could you get a part time job?

You say that you don't have a freezer. Have you heard of https://www.freecycle.org? You may be able to get one from here. You basically join your local group and people give stuff away that they don't need anymore - sports equipment, kitchen equipment etc etc. You could post a plea for a freezer on there. As long as people don't go on constantly asking for stuff it is generally ok to ask for an item. Someone in my local group (Manchester) gave a car away once!!

You say that you are paying £600 in CC bills but are you targeting your repayments successfully? Have a look at this website http://www.whatsthecost.co.uk/snowball.aspx which will help you pay back the debt in the most 'efficient' way.

Do check the apr of your overdraft as well as people often leave this out for some bizarre reason! It is still a debt! Have you thought about moving to an Alliance & Leicester ONLINE account - they offer you a £25 joining incentive and an interest free overdraft for 1 year - definately worth checking out.

Hmmmm what else? Have you any goods you can sell on ebay/amazon? Then when you have sold what you can on there take the rest down to a car boot sale?

Are you still spending on the CCs? If so then try and cut some of them up to stop you increasing your debt!!

Good luck missus! Let us know how you get on...

Also have you ever had any bank charges imposed - late payment fee etc. You may be able to claim them back.

Phew!

Katharine

My income £1200

My half of the bills etc:
Rent £180 ( thats cheap!)
Internet, phone line, and 1000 free UK mins on phone £35 (I pay all this and he pays for the TV licence) ( not entirely fair as tv license is 10.99 a month. You could shave this down to line rental, broadband 13.99 and a free call plan, such as talk talk or what ive got primus 2, which is a call carrier, you get free evening & weekend calls for up to an hour & a half for free) Well the line rental is the same as the TV and the broadband is mine, he's a technophobe, calls are all free apart from non UK ones, could do cheaper on the broadband but so far have found my current provider to be the only one who is any good (have tried 5 in total)
Electric £50 ( cor,thats high...) I live in a cold old house haven't had a summer bill yet, and have storage heaters. Old house was twice that!
Council Tax £60 (this month and next month paying another 2x£260 for last 5 months since me moved in)
Petrol £80 ( do you absolutely need a car) Yes, I live in the countryside near nothing, plus I love my car
Food £100 (was cheaper when I had a freezer and could buy lots when good offers where on!) ( is your OH paying the same? Only 200 a month is double what me & oh are spending on food) How do I cut down without eating cack? I cook from scratch most of the time anyway
Car basic running costs £50 (plus more when things break, need two tyres soon!)
Smoking £20 (I know I need to stop) ( is that only 20 fags a week?) Nope rollys
Beer £20 (yes another vice) ( not that bad)
Work birthdays & leaving presants £5 ( every month?) Yep everyones puts in a fiver and there are 12 people so on average, then theres someone leaving this month so very temped not to, CBA with the leaving meal either)
Pet food £5

Total £605

Currently paying £600 in CC bills

Total £1205!

Probably more I haven't thought of and every month theres always something unexpected which makes it more than that.

Debts (in order of priority)

Mint card £6900 16%
Egg Card £3900 16%
Egg money £3900 16%
HSBC card £6300, £1400 at 1.9% £2700 at 5.9% remainder at 15%
BOS card £2550 10%
HSBC other card £2650 10%
Over draft always starts at -£300 and ends -£1500 each month


With your CCs you might want to ask for a low Life of balahnce with one of the cards you currently have -see if they can do you a good deal. Have you asked? I closed a co-op card as I transferred my balance to egg on a 0% and then the co-op offered me 0% for a year. Will try that thanks.

Katharine

Could you get a part time job? Basic is 40 hours a week and I can be called upon to do overtime at no notice so that would be tricky

You say that you don't have a freezer. Have you heard of https://www.freecycle.org? You may be able to get one from here. You basically join your local group and people give stuff away that they don't need anymore - sports equipment, kitchen equipment etc etc. You could post a plea for a freezer on there. As long as people don't go on constantly asking for stuff it is generally ok to ask for an item. Someone in my local group (Manchester) gave a car away once!! Thanks will look into it how do I find UK groups on the site?

You say that you are paying £600 in CC bills but are you targeting your repayments successfully? Have a look at this website http://www.whatsthecost.co.uk/snowball.aspx which will help you pay back the debt in the most 'efficient' way. Sadly thats just the min payments so I can really structure at all at the moment

Do check the apr of your overdraft as well as people often leave this out for some bizarre reason! It is still a debt! Have you thought about moving to an Alliance & Leicester ONLINE account - they offer you a £25 joining incentive and an interest free overdraft for 1 year - definately worth checking out. Not sure will have to check, £7.50 a month usually, A&L looks good just thinking if I need a loan might not be a good time to swap current accounts

Hmmmm what else? Have you any goods you can sell on ebay/amazon? Then when you have sold what you can on there take the rest down to a car boot sale? Don't think don't own alot of stuff really as I tend to have a clearout when I move house which I have done alot

Are you still spending on the CCs? If so then try and cut some of them up to stop you increasing your debt!! I would love to be in the position of doing that but when you need something essential like petrol and have no way of paying for it what do you do? Stay off work until you get paid?

Good luck missus! Let us know how you get on... Thanks for all the suggestions it isan't easy this saving money lark!

Also have you ever had any bank charges imposed - late payment fee etc. You may be able to claim them back. Have had over draft fees are they claimable?

Katharine

Oops I smegged up on the electric thats all of it, but I have paid all of it, shouldn't have to next time.

Problem is I can't be mean to my OH to save me money, he only started his FT job end of April and it finishes in Aug. And the last job he was earning £400 a month. He will help pay off the debt when he can afford to, as I'd say a 3rd of it is his really. Truth is the single greatest thing I could do for my finances would have been not to be with him and have a rich boyfriend, but I'm not an evil money grabbing woman. :rolleyes:

gabs41

In the same boat as you Katharine, very little to cut down on. But I did do the snowballing thing and it is so helpful to list your debts in this way. Then I did it again wth my debts reshuffled and lower interest rates and the it was fantastic to see the potential savings. Then I actually fantasised that I had an extra £200 to throw at my debts (second job) and it was amazing how many years and pounds in interest I could take off my total bill. Now just need to do the arranging.!!
Best of luck

Annie_Fanny

Katharine wrote:

Could you get a part time job? Basic is 40 hours a week and I can be called upon to do overtime at no notice so that would be tricky

Needs must sometimes? How often do they call you in to do overtime?

You say that you don't have a freezer. Have you heard of https://www.freecycle.org? You may be able to get one from here. You basically join your local group and people give stuff away that they don't need anymore - sports equipment, kitchen equipment etc etc. You could post a plea for a freezer on there. As long as people don't go on constantly asking for stuff it is generally ok to ask for an item. Someone in my local group (Manchester) gave a car away once!! Thanks will look into it how do I find UK groups on the site?

Go here http://www.freecycle.org/display.php?region=United%20Kingdom

Do check the apr of your overdraft as well as people often leave this out for some bizarre reason! It is still a debt! Have you thought about moving to an Alliance & Leicester ONLINE account - they offer you a £25 joining incentive and an interest free overdraft for 1 year - definately worth checking out. Not sure will have to check, £7.50 a month usually, A&L looks good just thinking if I need a loan might not be a good time to swap current accounts

You don't have to ditch the old current account though - do as A&L say and then as soon as they give you the £25 and free overdraft - switch back to your old current account! That's what I did! Sometimes you have to be prepared to claw your way out of the debt hole!

Hmmmm what else? Have you any goods you can sell on ebay/amazon? Then when you have sold what you can on there take the rest down to a car boot sale? Don't think don't own alot of stuff really as I tend to have a clearout when I move house which I have done alot

Well may be money saving lessons learnt here. If you move home again then sell all your old stuff - even getting a fiver is better then nothing!

Also have you ever had any bank charges imposed - late payment fee etc. You may be able to claim them back. Have had over draft fees are they claimable?

You mean for going over your overdraft limit?

Katharine

A loan if I could get it at 5.7% APR
£582.05 Per Month for 4 years
Total interest payable £2,939
Total repaid £27,939

If I snowball correctly paying £600 per month thats £10,386.00 in interest.

What would you do?