Hi and thanks

Lirin

I've surfed these boards for a while now- and had many questions answered and help given just by looking, so thought it was maybe time I joined up.
When I met my partner- now my husband- he was open and honest from the start. On our first date, he told me about his debt and said he would understand if I didn't want to take it further.
I wasn't put off by this, as he was forthright with me from the start.
He had divorced a few years prior to us meeting, and although amicable at the start, the money side caused a few problems. As there was a legal wrangle to the house he couldn't take a loan using the house as colleteral, so had taken credit cards instead- this was to pay solicitors fees. The house was duly re-mortgaged to give the ex her 'share' in the house.
At the time he didn't make a lot and could see no other way of doing it.
When I met him, he'd made significant inroads into the debt, and had a job which gave him much more freedom.
With his permission I started looking at his finances, and frankly, the amount of interest he was paying on the 3-4 credit cards made my eyes water- I worked out it would take 20+ years to clear the debt at the current rate he was paying!
Initially, very wary about taking a loan myself to cover the debt- this was still only 2 years into our relationship- I still made inquiries anyway. Lower interest rates was the binder behind this. Banks wouldn't lend as I wasn't a homeowner (at the time, I am now) and most told me point-blank there were few loans being approved in any case.
I got 2 cards cleared- they had minor enough amounts, and I dislike paying interest if I can clear them- still it made for a few months of interesting shopping late at night in the reduced section.
Now, I've been bought up not to spend unless I have the money and am in a position to end every month debt-free. This is no offence meant to anyone on here- my father's a banker and was giving good advice. I know there's plenty of situations that preclude this happening, but is leaves me uncomfortable about debt of any kind- I'd like to clear it as soon as possible. As I'm sure many of you with debt would!
My partner's unwilling for me to try for a loan again- I would like to think I'd probably get one as I have excellent credit history (I know it's different in reality though!). He feels that the debt going into my name would be a mental burden on him, as he is very proud and generally unwilling to ask for help. I understand where he's coming from with this, as I'd be the same.
I made us a budget to work from, and am very strict that we don't exceed it where possible- doesn't always work to plan when car tax, insurance etc is due, but we budget for it in advance... We have limited outgoings- both of us are DIY friendly, we service and maintain our cars ourselves, and limit our travel when we can. Useful tips on here helped me find what we did need- clothing, shopping etc at cheaper rates. Even though it's only July, I have half of the Christmas presents bought at cheaper prices on Ebay etc- I'd normally look just after Christmas anyway and find unwanted new Christmas presents at very nice prices. Even our wedding in May- we made invites and thank you cards and hosted the wedding at a hotel where we knew the owners and were given a nice rate!
I convinced him to contact the credit company again- we've 14,000 debt left, on two cards- 9k on one at 16.5%, 5k on the other at 15%. Although I can pay along with him and make good inroads into it every month the stumbling block was again the interest.....
Basically, what we told the credit company of the card with the lowest rate was that we knew we had debt, and although able to pay it off, explained that since the debt was accrued originally due to his divorce, let them know that once it was paid, we would have little interest in keeping the card, as it now held a bitter memory. We asked if they would let us transfer the balance from the other card, so we only had one card to pay, and explained that if they could give us a better rate, we would be keeping the card once the debt was settled.
It worked, though I hadn't expected it to. They let us shift the balance to one card and gave us a promotional rate of 2.2% on the balance for the life of the existing debt, 15% on any new purchases. We haven't used the card to make a purchase in 4 years, so are extremely happy with that. I now estimate we could be debt-free in a couple of years at the most.
I'm rambling now I think, it's hard to put it accurately into words all the changes we've made to the finances and things we've done to reduce as much as we can. This site's been a massive help though, so thanks to you all for letting me read through your posts!

SusieT

Well done to you both for getting the debt under control, goes to show that by your partner being honest with you that there is now a very good rate of interest on the balance that you could not have got had you taken out a loan.

It is going to be very rewarding to see the balance really drop now, good luck with clearing it quickly

Lirin

Thank you.

Funnily enough, I found the site after googling a number that called my mobile up to 6 times a day for weeks on end- I won't answer any withheld number unless I'm expecting a call!

It was the apparantly infamous Aktiv Kapital, and to be honest, I'm not in the least worried as I have no debts of any kind, and my partners are in his name.

It is a brilliant site, though.