Help!

Doomed

I have £33k on credit cards. between citicard and mbna the interest and minimum payments are getting out of control. this will be the last month i can fully cover all payments!

the minimum payments of the 7 cards cost me £850.00 per month.

after this month i dont know whats going to happen.

cant get an unsecured loan to cover it all and the cheapest way to clear it is to re-mortage the house and use the equity.

2 problems its the wife's house and she doesnt know i have this dire amount of debt.

Davewils

First question:

How did the wife not notice you spending £33k ??

Secondly, unless you are still spending on these cards, how are the balances increasing if you are paying the minimum payments?

Finally, if you are still spending on these cards, what on earth are you doing?! Continually spending more than you have coming in until the very last possible moment, and then thinking "ahh crap". Surely you could see a long time ago that you had more going out than you did coming in, if you had made small changes then you wouldnt need to make the drastic changes you'll need to make now.

First off, i'd ring the card companies and ask them to close the accounts tell them you're having trouble repaying them and ask them to come up with a payment plan. This will disable the cards so you wont be able to spend on them again and ruin the hard work you've done.

Beyond that you are talking about selling things and downsizing (e.g sell your car, get a smaller one if you still need a car) that sort of thing.

Beyond that you are talking about declaring bankrupcy or voluntary agreement.

Finally, it's not going to be the easiest conversation in the world, but you need to tell your wife the situation. She might agree to help you out, and in return you would owe her rather than the banks (this would have the advantage of not having to worry about interest and therefore pay off the debt much quicker).

Doomed

Davewils wrote: »

First question:

How did the wife not notice you spending £33k ??

Secondly, unless you are still spending on these cards, how are the balances increasing if you are paying the minimum payments?

Finally, if you are still spending on these cards, what on earth are you doing?! Continually spending more than you have coming in until the very last possible moment, and then thinking "ahh crap". Surely you could see a long time ago that you had more going out than you did coming in, if you had made small changes then you wouldnt need to make the drastic changes you'll need to make now.

First off, i'd ring the card companies and ask them to close the accounts tell them you're having trouble repaying them and ask them to come up with a payment plan. This will disable the cards so you wont be able to spend on them again and ruin the hard work you've done.

Beyond that you are talking about selling things and downsizing (e.g sell your car, get a smaller one if you still need a car) that sort of thing.

Beyond that you are talking about declaring bankrupcy or voluntary agreement.

Finally, it's not going to be the easiest conversation in the world, but you need to tell your wife the situation. She might agree to help you out, and in return you would owe her rather than the banks (this would have the advantage of not having to worry about interest and therefore pay off the debt much quicker).

i have stopped spending on the cards. mbna put my interest up to 34%pa but its the amount they now require as a minimum i cant sustain anymore.

but your 100% i have been a bloody fool for 10yrs living a life style i cant maintain.

most of this debt i had before we were married. just thought i could handle it and didnt want to ruin what i had with her. denial is my middle name.

if i call the card companies to cancel cards and sort out a payment plan, how will this effect my credit score?

Davewils

I'm not entirely sure but i would have thought that aslong as you keep to the agreed payments there might not be any record on your file at all (except if you apply for an MBNA or citicard again in the future in which case their records might have more detail to them).

Personally i wouldnt worry to much about your credit rating, you might be better off having a terrible credit rating to avoid the temptation of getting another card or loan.

Finally be careful using the word 'close' when you're on the phone to the card companies, you dont want them asking for a single full payment to close the account. Explain the situation to them and tell them that you basically want to pay off the existing debt and not be able to use the card.

Doomed

dave the reason i ask about the credit rating, is if i dont want to leave a trail of destruction behind me when and if i get tossed out of the house. dont want the house black listed. not for my benefit but for wife and kids sake.

pixiechick_2

I have found the lenders to be very unhelpful when trying to arrange a repayment plan less than the minimum payments.

How old are your card accounts? If they are pre-2007, the debts may be unenforceable. have a look at the Unenforceability and Template Letters thread on the Debtfree Wannabe board. Even though never-in-doubt has recently left the forum, there is still a lot of help on there - and it isn't as complicated as it seems at first!!

pixiechick_2

BTW going down the unenforceability route will ruin your credit rating but I really don't see how you're going to get out of this mess without it being ruined.

If you make less than the minimum repayments to the credit card companies, then it will go on your file as a default anyway.

Evilm

I know you don't seem to want to tell her but i would do so before this gets out of hand. The longer you keep it from her the more of a shock this will be.

I would follow Dave's advice above.

Doomed

pixiechick wrote: »

I have found the lenders to be very unhelpful when trying to arrange a repayment plan less than the minimum payments.

How old are your card accounts? If they are pre-2007, the debts may be unenforceable. have a look at the Unenforceability and Template Letters thread on the Debtfree Wannabe board. Even though never-in-doubt has recently left the forum, there is still a lot of help on there - and it isn't as complicated as it seems at first!!

yes some of the accounts i will have had before 07. but what do you mean un-enforable???

like leaving the family home and doing a credit dump at another address?

Doomed

Evilm wrote: »

I know you don't seem to want to tell her but i would do so before this gets out of hand. The longer you keep it from her the more of a shock this will be.

I would follow Dave's advice above.

of course. its the reaction i get that iam scared of.

the way i see it is. if i tell her she will probably see me out the front door sharpish. secondly she will go ballastic help me out and make my life a misery.

what i cant do is destroy the household credit rating, and continue to hide the debt.

pixiechick_2

Doomed wrote: »

yes some of the accounts i will have had before 07. but what do you mean un-enforable???

like leaving the family home and doing a credit dump at another address?

I can't explain unenforceability in a couple of sentences but, basically, unenforceable means that unless the lenders can provide you with certain paperwork, then they cannot enforce the debt.

Have a look at this thread here. Like I said, it looks complicated but there are plenty of people on there who will be able to help you and give you advice.

A friend of mine had £130K of debts most of which are now deemed unenforceable - 'Frightened about my future'. She now has another thread on the Debt Free Diaries board which is very gossipy and not too much about debt now but it shows just how far she has come in 4 months.

It's not a step to be taken lightly but it could help you and gives you another option.

Feel free to PM me if you want to ask anything else.