Keep paying loan or move to 0% cards or other ideas?

gh123

Hello I'm getting to the end of my tether trying to pay off debt.

It was a loan of £15000 over 10 years(with interest making it £25000).

I've done a lot of overtime and been much more disciplined but I'm stressed from always being at work and getting ill more often.

I now still have to pay around £6500 to northern rock(settlement figure) or around £9000(counting interest) to them if continuing the loan.

I am allowed to make over payments no problem and don't get penalised. The APR is 7.6%.

I also paid £2500 with an egg money card and transferred it to a 0% interest credit card to get it out the interest equation.

I owe Northern rock a settlement figure of £6500 and I owe a credit card company £2500. Total £9000 if I settled the balances now.

More like £11500 if I continue paying off.

I was paying £212 per month and it was to last 10 years, the northern rock loan. I Had added a standing order of £100 on top of that and had made some other one off payments, bringing it down.

Now I have increased that standing order to £200 per month so now I am paying £412 a month into the northern rock loan.

The credit card is being paid off at the minimum per month, 0% interest.

It's getting us down, we don't have a life, I'm stressed, we argue,strain is being put on our marriage, I went to a doctor last year and was offered pills for depression which I decided not to take in the end.

Does anyone have an idea what I can do to make this easier?

My wife doesn't work and can't work just now, we have a very young child, no family nearby(all great distances away)/can't afford child care/don't trust strangers with child.

Can I transfer it ALL to a 0% interest credit card or will the transfer fees on that make it similar to paying off interest on the loan?

Sorry if the answers are on other posts - the other thing I'm short of apart from money is time. If I'm not working overtime I'm doing things around the house which have built up because I'm at work all the time and neglecting other jobs and tasks. I just don't have the time to trawl through the boards.

If anyone has any ideas that might help, I'd be grateful, thanks.

bottleofred

Hi gh123,

It's very unlikely you'll be able to get a 0% card with a credit limit of anywhere near £9000 as an introductory offer. You may be able to get one with say a £5000 credit limit, but would then still be paying off the loan. If you did decide to go down this road, you'd need to make sure you were able to clear the balance of the card before the 0% deal ended or it would end up costing more (potentially!) and make sure there are definately no penalties for clearing the loan early. It's up to you really with whatever you decide, but you won't know what the credit limit on a new card will be until you apply. Hopefully someone with more knowledge than me will be along soon to provide more advice/assistance.

Good luck

Hannah_10

Honestly, how would you feel if someone suggested throwing your hands up and saying "f*ck it, get me off the treadmill"?

Watch this video... http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/loans/debt-help-plan

isy1011

Well done for posting. I managed to get 2 cc's at 0% and spread the debt on the high interest card between the two. Can you do that?

I know what that treadmill feels like but if you can just make a slight change in something like interest rates it helps cut you some slack and takes an enormous amount of pressure off.

gh123

Thanks all for the replies,

I found this barclaycard credit card with only 6.8% APR which is better than my Northern Rock loan which is 7.6% APR.

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cards/balance-transfer-credit-cards

What if I transfer £5000 to this lower interest rate card and put the remaining debt of £4000 on a 0% interest card? Then Northern Rock is gone.

I can then concentrate on paying the £5000 off in a year and then turning on the £4000, moving it around to other 0% cards if need be before the 0% finishes?

Does this sound like a good idea?

Thanks.

gh123

Anyone?...........

Muesli

I don't suppose this is the type of reply you want but to be honest if it's making you depressed and affecting your family life, health and marriage I would be tempted to just keep paying it off at a slower rate, overpaying the loan as and when you can. If you end up being really ill through stress or splitting up with your wife will it have been worth it to save 2.5K? A divorce would cost you a load more and if you're always doing overtime presumably you are missing out on time with your child which you can never get back. I get stressed over our debts and never seeming to have spare money but I try hard to stay positive because it's not fair for me to let it affect my children and it's one of my worst nightmares that my marriage will suffer, even just for practical reasons like financial or child-care.

One thing I'd be wary of with transferring your debt to a 0% credit card deal is in case you can't clear it by the time the 0% period ends as you're then reliant on getting another deal, and that's not guaranteed these days.

gh123

Thanks, that's wise advice, I need to feel like I'm on top of things or my head goes to pieces.

I'd still like to pay it off faster but I just need to find a balance.

I hope you pay yours off soon.

All the best.

jemandscout

I'm no expert as I'm in similar amounts of debt myself, but what I would say is this: if your wife is planning on going back to work when your child/ren are a bit older, then your disposable income will be more in the future, and you'll be in a much better position to overpay the loan. Could you think about a longer term plan, eg plan for your wife to take x years out to be a stay at home mum, then go back, maybe even part-time? Then reduce your payments to your loan for that period, with a view to the extra income going straight into the loan when she does go back to work?
It sounds like you have a really responsible attitude to your finances, and believe me I know the stress that debt can create, but your if family life is suffering then why not give yourself a bit of breathing space right now? Good luck x

flea72

gh123 wrote: »

My wife doesn't work and can't work just now, we have a very young child, no family nearby(all great distances away)/can't afford child care/don't trust strangers with child

ok, sometimes you have to do things you would prefer not to do, but if it means you get your sanity/health back, then is it such a bad thing?

how do you know you cant afford childcare? most childminders charge about £3/hr, the min wage if your wife worked would be £5.80. plus there are tax credits which could also help towards costs

have you visited nurserys or met childminders? they arent all as bad as you fear. tbh ive got relatives who i would trust less with my kids, than any paid professional i have met

maybe your wife could work from home, maybe even as a childminder herself?

F