What's the best way forward?!

lilysgarden

Ok, I'll try to keep this short and say thanks in advance for any idea's on where to go to and what might be my best option!

At the moment, not including my student loans which are repaid straight from my wages, I owe approx £18k. On average, the repayments for these each month take approx a third of my wages. I appreciate it may not sound much, but as I have an hours commute to work each way, most of my money goes on petrol debts and paying the bills. £5k of these debts are on flexi loans and like most people daft enough to take these loans, when money's tight at the end of the month, I 'borrow' some of the money I've paid off the total amount. As a resul, these loans are not really getting cleared and I'm still having problems with HSBC who I have one flexiloan and an o/d with. As a result of the problems there, I keep getting charged for missed payments etc (long and complicated story!).

I really want to get all these debts cleared and find a way of making sure their paid on time etc. I especially want to clear the o/d and flexiloan with HSBC so I can close the account and avoid further charges (have had about £1k in charges in the past 18 months!). It looks like most people advise against consolidation loans, but what other options do I have? And if I am better getting a loan to consolidate everything, is it possible to get slightly more than I need to put to one side as an emergency fund to avoid getting credit cards or an o/d again? By the way, £1500 of my debt is what I owe my boyfriend and parents after they helped me out finincially while I was waiting to start my job so I'd really like to get that back to them asap!

Thanks again for any idea's of where to start!!!!

Nikki

immoral_angeluk

Have you done a financial statement or personal budget sheet? Instead of taking out further credit to pay off existing credit you should really be looking at what you can afford to pay them. Getting more debt will only compound the problem but if you want to serious consider it you should consult an independant financial advisor who can advise on how to make it as cheap as possible and affordable based on your circumstances.
I would recommend visiting your local CAB for advice on what the best course of action is for the debt as there are numerous possible solutions. First thing you should do though is a financial statement and work out exactly where you are at money wise.

http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/index/your_money/money_management_index_ew/help_with_debt_index_ewni/how_to_sort_out_your_debts.htm

lilysgarden

Thanks for the advice, it's much appreciated! Guess I'll try and get an appointment at CAB asap as thanks to a screw up by HSBC, this months loan payments haven't been taken, so really don't want a worse credit rating than I already have! I'll look at the budgeting stuff etc later!