Refused More Credit several Times - What next

Moustacheman

I earn 15000 a year. To try and get myself out of the situation I find myself in I tried to Get a new Credit Card to do some "shuffling" Refused several cards I thought about getting a loan to cover the lot but also got refused a loan. The total of my debts is £21,945.53

I owe £11,137.99 of a £13000 loan repayments are £255.55 a month

I owe £1100 to the bank for my Overdraft

I have got £9707 on The Following Credit Cards:

Natwest
Balance:£2939.53
Credit Limit:£7300

Capital One
Balance: £368.00
Credit Limit: £1000

Barclaycard
Balance:£2316.08
Credit Limit: £3100

Virgin
Balance:£4133.93
Credit Limit: £4200

I am currently paying back in total each month approximately £425 off these debts. But apart from the loan this is mostly interest. The balances of my cards don't really come down as I can only afford to pay the minimum amount. Paying the £425 a month is right on the limit of my budget and I can't afford to pay anymore. The rest of my money is taken up on Rent, bills and food.

I really could do with some suggestions on what I can do to start getting the balances down rather than paying just interest. I am really starting to worry and want to try and sort out the mess I'm in. Please help

Debt_Free_Chick

Moustacheman wrote:

I earn 15000 a year. To try and get myself out of the situation I find myself in I tried to Get a new Credit Card to do some "shuffling" Refused several cards I thought about getting a loan to cover the lot but also got refused a loan. The total of my debts is £21,945.53

<snipped>

I am currently paying back in total each month approximately £425 off these debts. But apart from the loan this is mostly interest. The balances of my cards don't really come down as I can only afford to pay the minimum amount. Paying the £425 a month is right on the limit of my budget and I can't afford to pay anymore. The rest of my money is taken up on Rent, bills and food.

I really could do with some suggestions on what I can do to start getting the balances down rather than paying just interest. I am really starting to worry and want to try and sort out the mess I'm in. Please help

Difficult. It looks like "shuffling" to lower interest rates is out. It could be that lenders simply consider that you cannot afford more debt, as you are at the limit of what your budget will allow. Or it could be something on your credit record. Have you had copies of your records from Experian & Equifax?

You say you're at the limit of your budget. Have you really cut back on all unnecessary expenses - and that includes stuff like Sky, mobile phone, gym membership, going out etc? And have you got the best deals on necessary expenses - getting the most from your food budget, switching utilities etc?

Your only other option to find extra income. Could you do another job like bar-work or stacking shelves at the supermarket? Do you have stuff you can flog on eBay?

Unfortunately, there are no magic solutions to paying off debt. You need to free up as much surplus income as you can, knuckle down, and simply pay it off. Shuffling to lower interest rates can help, but finding savings in expenses to use to pay off the debt is another option - often, a better one.

HTH

pickle

The first thing i would do would be to talk to an expert - try the Citizens Advice Bureau in your local area - they might know of a strategy to lower the outgoings and keep up with the payments, especially if interest rates increase. I think the banks etc. are probably tightening up their credit overall at the moment as i think just from listening to various economic reports that things could be toughening up economically in the future. The most important thing, if you own a house, is to never secure an unsecured debt against your house - a lot of people mistakenly do this apparently but it then puts your house at risk.

peachy1964

If i was you, i would not get any further in debt
contact the consumer credit counselling service(cccs) via the internet and they will reduce all your monthly outgoings and you will pay a reduced amount to each creditor each month but it will leave you with a larger surplus each month.The debt will reduce slowly but most of the companies will eventually stop all interest so you will in fact pay it off quicker.
good luck

Sugar_Junkie

I think Debt Free Chicks advice pretty much covers it. I am in a VERY similar situation so don't feel you're alone. I can't recommend this site enough though. It has loads of useful stuff on here if you spend some time looking about. I would also really recommend Martins Book which I know is a plug but it really was that helpful for me. (http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cgi-bin/viewnews.cgi?newsid1080008766,75670) Unfortunatley I've a very long way to go before I can clear my debt, but I'm working at it. Good Luck.

Debt_Free_Chick

Even if you don't want another person to help you with your debts, the Self Help Pack from the National Debtline is simply brilliant. It takes you through creating a budget, defining priority debts, identifying how you can pay against your debts, dealing with your creditors, sample letters and tactics for dealing with arrears, defaults, CCJs etc.

From this link, select Debt Advice from the menu on the left, then choose Eng & Wales or Scotland, then look for the Self Help Pack. Download it and work through it. You can also call the National Debtline for help on any little issue.

If you have debts and Wannabe Debt-Free you NEED this pack.

https://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk

HTH

Toomuchdebt

peternorth wrote:

Has anyone heard anything about this - sounds good...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/whatson/beonashow/shows/bailiff.shtml

Is this all you have to offer?You have posted this several times so far on various threads.

climbgirl

Credit card shuffling isn't really going to help much in this situation anyway - you owe 133% of your annual earnings, shifting this by card tarting and making cutbacks on an income that is already very tight isn't going to work.

Stop applying for cards and loans. The more applications you have, the worse it looks. And I'm afraid nobody is going to give you more credit when you already owe 133% of your annual earnings.

I'm sorry to be so blunt, but you really need to call either CCCS, Payplan or CAB to talk about your options here. Unless your income can increase in the very near future, then paying more than the minimum is going to be tricky and these debts will only increase with the interest that's being added...

alecpr

You haven't posted APRs but you have capacity on three of the cards. I would advise shuffling between the cards you already have to minimise payments.

You could try negotiating with the CC companies for a deal on a balance transfer? Taking a new card isn't the only way to reduce intrest rates.

I would stop applying for credit, one you start getting turned down it just spirals!!! You need to stop for at least six months to let those pesky credit checks drop off your credit record.

CLAPTON

why not post full details of your spending ...maybe people might be able to suggest ways of cutting back.

do you have PPI on any of the CC...you may want to cancel these

can you increase your income. maybe overtime or a parttime job?

jobbingmusician

peternorth wrote:

Has anyone heard anything about this - sounds good...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/whatson/beonashow/shows/bailiff.shtml

Reported as spam. ALL this guy's posts say the same thing!