Short term into manageable long term debt

climbgirl

davegillian wrote:

I take the point on risking the house. My income has been up and down over the past few months but is starting to stablise finally (that's not just me being optimistic as it might sound!) so I'm confident I'll be able to keep meeting the mortgage payments (even when increased to cover the extra borrowing) as long as I don't have this extra debt to worry about. I'd be just as happy to get a life of the balance deal at 6% or summat to consolidate and pay it all off as and when I can but I'm not sure anyone would take that much debt off me at the moment...and I'm reluctant to start applying for that kind of thing because of the damage extra credit searches will do.

I don't mind taking risks (hence I'm in this situation) and I'm not shy of hard work to save/pay off debt. I'm also pretty competant at keeping on top of things. I was just hoping for all the options...pros and cons so that I could make an educated guess at least!

Yeah, but you're taking an unnecessary risk by securing unsecured debt on your house. You say you can meet the extra repayments when the mortgage goes up by extra work etc. I don't understand why this extra money can't just go on the credit card debts? Why secure it to the house and risk the house?! Why not just work hard to pay off debt and pay off the credit cards? Why risk adding it to your mortgage?

System

DontDoDebtKids wrote:

SOA = Statement of Affairs.

when you don't have any debts!

Martin always goes on about how haggling over the few percent means that debts go down quicker, cost you less and last a shorter period of time. Yes, you can leave it to all sort itself out, but a little bit of work on your part to get it in order to start with goes a long way. Then you just have to keep paying it...

1) First off, well done on tarting. You're playing the system correctly, so CARRY ON!

2) The solution you suggest, i.e. life of balance transfer cards, is a good one (and one I am using). Try looking at the Marks & Spencer 3.9% (no fees) card. That's pretty cheap as far as debts go.

3) Work out what the cost of paying everything back is when you change a few options - you'll need to know how much you can afford to pay each month for this. http://www.whatsthecost.com/snowball.aspx

4) Good Luck!

SOA - I'll get onto it!

No debts - gonna have the mortgage for a long time anyway...34 3/4 years the rest I'd like to get rid of now...adding it to the mortgage at 6% and saving hard into a 6% a/c (for illustration only!! ) therefore being debt and stress free seems like a good solution on the face of it...

1) Tarting I'll carry on with anyway...even if it's only to load high interest savings accounts!
2) I was turned down last time I tried to get new 0% accounts...I don't know whether it'd be a good idea to apply for a Marks n Spencer a/c for example and get turned down again...
3) When I have the options in front of me I'll certainly do the maths!
4) Cheers!!

System

climbgirl wrote:

Yeah, but you're taking an unnecessary risk by securing unsecured debt on your house. You say you can meet the extra repayments when the mortgage goes up by extra work etc. I don't understand why this extra money can't just go on the credit card debts? Why secure it to the house and risk the house?! Why not just work hard to pay off debt and pay off the credit cards? Why risk adding it to your mortgage?

Since I bought the house my work (working from home 0 hour contract - more work available than any human could manage) has severely reduced while I was busy sorting things but my hours are back up now and I'm applying for other jobs so the working from home can work around it.

In the meantime I tarted Virgin Credit Card and spent that along with unsecured part of NR mortgage package on building work.

Next month my other tart amazon.co.uk Mastercard runs out so APR goes up to 15 or 16% I think...even with the increased hours and ability to overpay it's going to take me a long while to reduce that 15 or 16% debt unless I shift it somewhere...where being the bit I'm unsure on.

The Post Office turned me down on another tart a short while ago as did Ulter Bank.

With the mortgage - the secured part of the loan would only be on the value of the house ie positive equity just as it is at the moment and the unsecured would cover the rest of the loan if any (might be able to reduce from 113% to 100% and it'd be charged at 5.99% (I think...current mortgage interest rate) which is far better than the 16% that amazon will charge me.

With uncertainty on whether I'll be granted credit for options b or beyond I can't think of a better option! I guess that's where you clever folk come in...!