credit card debts - need help to break minimum repayment trap

Burnt_Rose

Hello everyone, I'm new here and to sum it up I'm at my wit's end.
I've always been very careful with money, never even had a mobile phone on contract let alone loans or credit cards, unfortunately the same can't be said for my partner. We've been together for 6 years now and during that time his debt has snowballed from nothing into £17k - (7k remaining on his hsbc loan and then nearly 10k spread over three credit cards). He has stopped spending and realises he's in debt but isn't active in trying to sort them out - which is where I come in.

I've been saddled with paying the credit cards while he tackles the loan, he's been taking £300 a month from my wages for the cards which I assumed was paying something off...in fact it's only covering the minimum repayments (I have read the article on this on the main site) and I just don't know what to do - I want these cleared as soon as possible but that £300 is all I can afford out of my (rather modest supermarket) wages. I have no credit history so the chances of me getting any kind of loan are slim and I'm not too keen on taking on the debts in my name. I just don't know what to do!

The cards are;
barclay card - £1406.16 - 13.9%APR
HSBC - £3806.54 - 21.9%APR
Virgin - £4,663.61 - (I have no idea- the statements don't tell me the APR but this is the most expensive of the three)

Sorry for the long post but I'm getting nowhere trying to figure this out alone so any help I would be very grateful!

RAS

Hi

You probably need to do a full joint SOA so we can see where the money you have between you is going.

What has he got that he no longer uses and could sell, on e-bay, at a card boot sale or on amazon.

Once you have done the SOA, hit the snowball button and it will show you what happens if you can throw say a £300 lump sum at the debt.

Tixy

Hi Rose and welcome

I would say it is very wise for you not to move any debt in his name across in to your name.
As RAS says a joint statement of affairs would be a good idea so we can see the full picture and make some suggestions. Have a look at this template http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html

Have you seen copies of all the statements now? are you sure he is not still spending on them? if he is I would ask him to cut them up (especially as you are making the repayments for him).

Happytogetdebtfree

Hi and welcome i know what you mean about minimum payments they dont seem to touch anything but slow work will get you there keep up the good work, definatley dont advise you taking on the debts yourself, can oh not get a 0% credit card or life of balance ? maybe that would help ? or if intrest rate is good on loan maybe increasing that i dont know really an soa would be useful fingers crossed and all the best x

Burnt_Rose

Part of the problem is the APR, especially on the virgin and HSBC cards - it means that we're basically just treading water.
He took out the virgin card because of a 0% balance transfer but then stupidly spent on the hsbc card he'd just cleared and racked up £3806 on top of what he'd just transfered to virgin! Later he then got the barclay card, again for a 0% deal but they gave him a small limit and said they wouldn't increase it until he started using the card so he used the card and they still didn't increase it and so this is how he ended up with three cards racked right up to their limits. He has definately stopped spending on them - they're all just a whisker off their limits so he couldn't even if he wanted to and he knows I would raise hell if he so much as looked at those cards again.

I did a budget for us not so long since and basically
I get paid about £820 a month and £450 is for the rent, £300 goes on the cardsand the left over money is our food shopping. I don't go out drinking, don't buy new clothes/make up/haircuts/etc, we share a car, I only top my phone up by £10 once every 3 months (I avoid using it if I can).
He takes home about £1000 a month (cash paid weekly). After he pays everything else plus £80 a month to his ex wife for their son he's left with about £10 that isn't accounted for.
There is no spare cash, believe me I've tried to find some but it just isn't there. We do carboot sales when ever we can, our internet connection won't allow listing on ebay (painfully slow and crashes constantly, seriously we wait for google to load it's that slow!).

I can't convince him to to look at 0% cards (this time me taking them off him) because he thinks the limits will be too small, and if he extends his loan with hsbc I'll be stuck shelling out every month for the next seven years which to be honest I can't stand the thought of more than 2 / 3 years. It's wrecking our relationship, I'm losing sleep over it and I'm tired of going without - I'm 25 and I would really like to enjoy being young while I have the chance!

Tixy

With 17k debt including 3 maxed cards and a £1k take home salary then he has very little chance of getting any new 0% cards anyway or even a loan extension.

Have you checked that you are with the cheapest supplier for gas & elec? and reduced your usage where possible, have you checked your landline/internet is the best deal? if you have sky tv can you cancel it? have you checked car insurance & contents insurance are the best deals using the comparison sites and the information on this site? have you done the 5min check to ensure you are in the correct council tax band?

Does he have any old credit card charges for late payments/overlimits etc he could claim back?

Have you checked if you can get any benefits at all www.entitledto.co.uk
Do you rent? have you looked to see if you could rent somewhere cheaper.

Are you on a water meter if not have you checked if one is likely to be cheaper?

If you have done all these and on an income & expenditure statement still show a shortfall then I think he might need to seriously consider a DMP.
A DMP will allow him to pay less each month to his creditors, and there is a reasonable chance some of the creditors may freeze interest, the downside is that it will seriously affect his credit rating for the next 6years or so.
But to do something like a DMP is better than falling behind with priority costs (such as rent & council tax) and for some people is the only option.

Does he have an overdraft on top of those debts? if his current account/overdraft is with any of the banks he owes money to he would be well advised to open a new account at a bank he does not owe money to (to protect his wages from offsetting).

You might still find it worth posting a statement of affairs here as people may spot things you haven't noticed (eg when I joined I didn't know I could get landline & internet for £20 combined when I had been paying £20 for each, a very quick and painless saving for me).

If he does consider a DMP then these are the people to talk to - https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2077631

Good luck