Debt advice....

Lucifer

Hi all, I posted on Friday that I had finally told my husband about my debts (well actually wrote it all down in a letter then went to work). £23,652 to be exact :eek:!!!
Well to cut a long story short, he was gr8, knew I had debts but no idea how much. To be honest I have paid off loads since my lbm a few years ago by slowly and steadily chipping away at it. Anyway he has now decided he has to rescue me from myself and put it on the mortgage at 3.9% (9 yrs remaining). GRRRR!! He has told me I have to cancel all credit cards and have a basic account so cant have an overdraft. He said I need to save for a new car though as mine has been costing us money!

In some ways I know I should be flattered but i'm not........ I really wanted to do this myself I know it may have cost me more, but I am in control of my debt now and kinda wanted to finish it. My other half is excellent with money and now the only debt is the mortgage £70k (including my debt) and will be gone in 9 yrs.

I have a suggestion.... what do you think? (I don't want to upset him tho cos he is such a poppet). BUT I want to pay the mortgage, I mean not just my bit but overpay the mortgage to get it gone in say 5 yrs. I intend to save some for emergencies as I have learnt my lessons a long time ago, but I really wanna chuck every spare penny at this. Am I wrong - is this just my pride taking a bashing?

mad_bad_spender

Hi there

Not always the best option to add to the mortgage but if paying off in only nine years then may not be too bad.

you have obviously been trying hard to combat this yourself and have every right to be proud of the effort you have made so far so well done :T

it was a good thing to make him aware of the situation and you should be happy that he is so supportive. i can however see why you wanted to do this yourself and the sense of satisfaction would have been amazing, however he is only doing what he thinks is best.

if you think it would be possible to throw money at the mortgage then i would say that would certainly be for the best. the shorter the term the better obviously so just talk to him, he has been supportive so far so just go for it, maybe advise you tackle it together so as not to hurt his poppet pride

Willow_K

Sounds like a good plan.

Rather than suggesting that you pay the whole mortgage and risk upsetting him, why don't you tell him that you will continue to pay the same each month to the mortgage that you were paying to your debts until the mortgage is back to the 'right' level?

This will mean that you are paying your bit, but because the interest is lower it will effectively be an overpayment - when you've cleared your 'extra' bit of debt, you can then suggest that you carry on to get the mortgage paid down quicker.

RAS

Hi

You need to explain to him that securing debt is never a good idea - bascially he is giving you a charging order without going to court.

I suggest that you tap in your existing debts into thwe snowball at www.whatsthecost.com and see how much interest you will pay and how long it will take.

Do the same with the mortgage and compare.

Also explain that this is likely to get more expensive, whilst you can refuse any attempts to increase the cost of the unsecured debt, as long as you cease using the card/account.

The remind him that is things hit the fan, you get the basic mortgage paid on benfits but NOT the cost of the extra mortgage he is suggesting. And you can deal with unsecured debts but risk losing your home isf the debt is secured.

Lucifer

Thank you. I was in a pickle from 18 to be frank. Because I never missed a payment, defaulted etc - I could get credit whenever I wanted it. One day added it all up and i owed £38,500. LBM then tackle it head on. I have paid every spare penny I could lay my hands on at it and 4 yrs later have paid off over £14.5K. Work more hours now and can pay more so was planning on being debt free the good old fashioned way - hard work in about 2 yrs time. He is very old school and the only borrowing you have is a mortgage. He pays cash only!! I will try and talk him out of it later - I know money not in place yet although agreed because I haven't signed. He says with over £220k equity its the best way to go.

I will have a go at the costings and show him. I am cancelling cards etc as soon as I pay them off and am most definitely cured of the keeping up with the jones!!