Struggling with debt? Ask a debt advisor a question

Angeldelight77

Hello,
My boyfriend has around £15k debit on 2 or 3 credit cards. He's looked into getting balance transfers but has been refused new credit cards on a few occasions. He's just about managing the make the monthly repayments on the credit cards but can't continue to do so for much longer.
Would it be a good idea to take a loan out to repay the credit cards? If not, any other ideas? Any advice would be very, very appreciated - I don't trust his banks to give impartial advice! Thank you.

scattie2

Hi There

Can anyone help? My husband earns a good wage, we have 2 small children and i have a parttime job, a few yrs back we went bankrupt because of loans we couldnt afford to meet, we now have no loans but cannot afford to pay all our house hold bills, petrol food ect. My job is zero hours which means i only do the hours they can offer me which has been none since june. We have arrers on our mortgage which means we are paying £1000 a month instead of £850. We are in arrers with council tax, water, tv licence. gas and electric. Please can anyone give advise on what we can do as our debts are not loans??

CIS

We are in arrers with council tax

Have you contacted the council ?, what stage are your arrears at ?

scattie2

yes as we only pay 10 months of the yr we have agreed to pay for 12 months

CIS

yes as we only pay 10 months of the yr we have agreed to pay for 12 months

Has a summons been issued ?

scattie2

no not yet

s-l-h

Hi, I am new to this forum so hope I am posting to the right bit..!!!

I have 5 credit cards ranging from 6.9% and 38% apr, plus a loan, all together totalling approx 30,000. Apart from the loan which I am repaying, most of the cards are all minimum payments barring one.

My outgoings are more than my incomings so I am struggling to meet the payments each month, getting further into debt.

I have been in touch with a debt helpline and they have suggested a consoladation loan rather than a IVA for various reasons.

They said they will speak with my creditors and get the interest frozen and said I can pay just £350 per month (cutting my payments from £800) and I will pay the total off in 8 years 7 months. I would also have the option of overpaying if I have the extra funds available. Total repayments based on £350 per month will be approx £36,000 (approx £6000 interest 2.9%apr to the debt company over the 8.7 years) however 17% was mentioned...dont quite understand apr's, which is why I am posting this query...

Is this the way to go...I know credit cards will take years and years to pay off especially at minimum payments so 8.7 years seems good, however, this seems just too good to be true, should I just keep juggling my credit cards to 0% apr's and also pay off the loan as I am doing now or is this option that they are offering credible? All they want is £70 one off admin charge plus the first installment of £350 and all my creditors details etc to get the ball rolling...
Surely there has to be some negatives to this???
Please advise if possible

StepChange_Pavan

Angeldelight77 wrote: »

Hello,
My boyfriend has around £15k debit on 2 or 3 credit cards. He's looked into getting balance transfers but has been refused new credit cards on a few occasions. He's just about managing the make the monthly repayments on the credit cards but can't continue to do so for much longer.
Would it be a good idea to take a loan out to repay the credit cards? If not, any other ideas? Any advice would be very, very appreciated - I don't trust his banks to give impartial advice! Thank you.

Hi Angeldelight77 and welcome to the forum

If he’s recently been refused credit cards, it’s unlikely that he’ll get accepted for a loan either. We wouldn’t normally recommend consolidating existing debts into news ones as it can make the situation worse in the long term – especially if it becomes unaffordable further down the line.

I’d recommend that he contacts us so that we can look at his situation in more detail. He can visit our online debt advice service Debt Remedy (http://www.cccs.co.uk/ref/drcu) to help him find a solution quickly or he can call our free helpline on 0800 138 1111 to speak with an advisor.

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,
Pavan

StepChange_Pavan

scattie2 wrote: »

Hi There

Can anyone help? My husband earns a good wage, we have 2 small children and i have a parttime job, a few yrs back we went bankrupt because of loans we couldnt afford to meet, we now have no loans but cannot afford to pay all our house hold bills, petrol food ect. My job is zero hours which means i only do the hours they can offer me which has been none since june. We have arrers on our mortgage which means we are paying £1000 a month instead of £850. We are in arrers with council tax, water, tv licence. gas and electric. Please can anyone give advise on what we can do as our debts are not loans??

Hi scattie2 and thanks for your question.

This can be tricky as the only solution is to get more money coming in.

I’d recommend that you look at ways of maximising your income, which could mean looking for a different job which guarantees you more hours.

It’s very important that you keep communicating with your providers and offer something towards the arrears as and when you can. Put together a budget to show what you can afford at the moment as this will help you to work out how much extra you need coming in to be able to afford your living expenses.

You can also go through your budget with a fine tooth comb to see what cutbacks you can make in order to afford your priorities.

You might find our blog useful to get ideas about how to maximise your income: http://moneyaware.co.uk/2011/01/need-to-make-extra-cash-in-2011-10-ways-to-increase-your-income/

If you need some more detailed advice and some help with compiling your budget, you can call our free helpline on 0800 138 1111.

Kind regards,
Pavan

StepChange_Pavan

s-l-h wrote: »

Hi, I am new to this forum so hope I am posting to the right bit..!!!

I have 5 credit cards ranging from 6.9% and 38% apr, plus a loan, all together totalling approx 30,000. Apart from the loan which I am repaying, most of the cards are all minimum payments barring one.

My outgoings are more than my incomings so I am struggling to meet the payments each month, getting further into debt.

I have been in touch with a debt helpline and they have suggested a consoladation loan rather than a IVA for various reasons.

They said they will speak with my creditors and get the interest frozen and said I can pay just £350 per month (cutting my payments from £800) and I will pay the total off in 8 years 7 months. I would also have the option of overpaying if I have the extra funds available. Total repayments based on £350 per month will be approx £36,000 (approx £6000 interest 2.9%apr to the debt company over the 8.7 years) however 17% was mentioned...dont quite understand apr's, which is why I am posting this query...

Is this the way to go...I know credit cards will take years and years to pay off especially at minimum payments so 8.7 years seems good, however, this seems just too good to be true, should I just keep juggling my credit cards to 0% apr's and also pay off the loan as I am doing now or is this option that they are offering credible? All they want is £70 one off admin charge plus the first installment of £350 and all my creditors details etc to get the ball rolling...
Surely there has to be some negatives to this???
Please advise if possible

Hi s-l-h and welcome to the forum.

You have posted in the right place and it looks as though you’ve already been given some really useful advice from Tixy

I’d just like to echo most of the advice you’ve already been given – it’s likely that this company is a debt management plan company. They will charge you for a service that we and other organisations can offer for free. They can’t guarantee that interest and charges will be frozen and it’s best to go somewhere for impartial advice to see if there are any other options available to you.

If you’d like us to look at your situation in more detail you can visit our online debt advice service Debt Remedy (http://www.cccs.co.uk/ref/drcu) to help you find a solution to your debt problem quickly.

Debt Remedy will assist you in completing a financial statement with information on your household, employment, income, expenditure and debts. From this the service will automatically determine your options.

To help you fill in the form, it’s best to gather together information about:
• Your income
• Your expenditure
• The creditors you owe money to

You’ll receive a downloadable advice booklet providing a tailored solution for you based on your current circumstances and advice on ways you may be able to improve your situation.

If you’re not confident with computers or would like to speak to an advisor then you’re welcome to ring our free Helpline on 0800 138 1111. We’re open Monday to Friday 8am - 8pm.

If you phone us it may be possible to refer you directly to a counsellor for immediate advice. Alternatively, we will arrange for an appointment to be booked at a time convenient for you.

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,
Pavan