We’d like to remind Forumites to please avoid political debate on the Forum.

This is to keep it a safe and useful space for MoneySaving discussions. Threads that are – or become – political in nature may be removed in line with the Forum’s rules. Thank you for your understanding.

📨 Have you signed up to the Forum's new Email Digest yet? Get a selection of trending threads sent straight to your inbox daily, weekly or monthly!
The Forum now has a brand new text editor, adding a bunch of handy features to use when creating posts. Read more in our how-to guide

Consolodation loan - advice appreciated

chris163
chris163 Posts: 51 Forumite
Part of the Furniture 10 Posts Combo Breaker
Hi guys

I am interested in trying to get some sort of a consolodation loan and wondered if anyone can give me some advice?

Basically 7 months ago I was forced to setup my own business due to the recession and thankfully its been a real success to date - however when I initially started I borrowed £4000 on a card (I needed money quickly to buy some stock after a good opportunity came up) and I had another card with approximately £7000 on it from home improvements. This started as a 0% offer when I was in employment but has since rocketed to about 18% APR. I planned to pay it off before it hit the interest, but as I said, due to the circumstances couldnt.

I am in a situation where I have built my business to have lived off my profits and also banked £35,000 for stock which is building up well each month. Although the combined interest rates of both my credit cards comes to about 19% APR, I am reluctant to pay it off as the £11,000 works much better for me per month in stock than the interest rate affects me - i.e. I can make approximately £2-3000 a month from my £11,000.

I am interested in trying to get some sort of a consolodation loan to make the interest rate more tolerable over say 2-5 years.

As I said, I am now self employed and have been for about 7-8 months however when I set my business up I accidently missed 2 payments on my mobile phone when changing my direct debits over and it seems to have had quite a bad affect on my credit rating! I have always used credit expert and used to have scores of 900-980 out of 1000 but the last time I checked 4 months ago it was something like 400.

I am 24, a home owner with equity of approximately £40,000, I have 2 other loans which are half way through which add up to about £7000 left so I guess my total debt is £18,000 counting my cards and this. I do not have a car loan. Each month is managable but if I can say decrease the interest rate by 5-10% on my cards that would be welcomed. (my loans are ok at about 9-10% averaged).

Obviously the other option is to pay more off per month which I could do, but at this early stage would prefer just a more managable interest rate and then potentially pay off my debts in a years time.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Many thanks
This discussion has been closed.
Meet your Ambassadors

🚀 Getting Started

Hi new member!

Our Getting Started Guide will help you get the most out of the Forum

Categories

  • All Categories
  • 353.7K Banking & Borrowing
  • 254.2K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
  • 455.1K Spending & Discounts
  • 246.8K Work, Benefits & Business
  • 603.3K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
  • 178.2K Life & Family
  • 260.8K Travel & Transport
  • 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
  • 16K Discuss & Feedback
  • 37.7K Read-Only Boards

Is this how you want to be seen?

We see you are using a default avatar. It takes only a few seconds to pick a picture.