Advice needed!

domino07

Hello, I was wondering if someone could help.

I have been reading through a few threads on here and was a bit dubious about posting but will give it a go hoping I get useful information!

Basically I have a credit card at 18.9% apr. I owe £2070, £70 over the £2000 limit. My partner has a credit card at 19.9% apr. He owes £2000, at limit. We have a sofa on finance at 0% apr owing around £800. We have a joint mortgage of around £78000. We have no savings and both earn £13.5k.

Last month I changed jobs and received a short pay from my last employer, £300 less than what i would usually get meaning both credit card payments were missed in order to pay our mortgage.

This month again we have other things to pay out (a fault with my partners car is going to cost over £230 to fix).

We both accept this is an issue and want to get a loan to pay both cards off and only have one payment which can be budgeted for. We would make payments no problem because the apr would be lower meaning payments would be lower and actually paying off debt as opposed to just apr at the moment.

We were hoping for a loan of less than 10% apr but after applying for a few loans and getting declined due to missed payments on credit card I'm afraid I've lost hope of getting this under control? We have also tried for 0% cards in the meantime but no joy there either. We have been offered a loan but at 19.9% apr, same as cards.

We are usually ok with money, making sure everything is up to date and paid. Just the last few months have been a struggle and looks like a vicious circle starting.

We are now getting at least 5 phone calls from credit cards a day saying if they do not receive £100 each this month the debt will be passed to a debt recovery agency! I have tried explaining the issues with moving jobs and car fault but am getting nowhere, same answer every time that the debt will be passed over if they do not receive the full £200?

Would we be better off in the long run biting the bullet as it were and getting the loan with higher apr? Or is there anything the credit card companies have to do in order for us to get the debt back under control?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance!

BugsyBrowne

domino07 wrote: »

Hello, I was wondering if someone could help.

I have been reading through a few threads on here and was a bit dubious about posting but will give it a go hoping I get useful information!

Basically I have a credit card at 18.9% apr. I owe £2070, £70 over the £2000 limit. My partner has a credit card at 19.9% apr. He owes £2000, at limit. We have a sofa on finance at 0% apr owing around £800. We have a joint mortgage of around £78000. We have no savings and both earn £13.5k.

Last month I changed jobs and received a short pay from my last employer, £300 less than what i would usually get meaning both credit card payments were missed in order to pay our mortgage.

This month again we have other things to pay out (a fault with my partners car is going to cost over £230 to fix).

We both accept this is an issue and want to get a loan to pay both cards off and only have one payment which can be budgeted for. We would make payments no problem because the apr would be lower meaning payments would be lower and actually paying off debt as opposed to just apr at the moment.

We were hoping for a loan of less than 10% apr but after applying for a few loans and getting declined due to missed payments on credit card I'm afraid I've lost hope of getting this under control? We have also tried for 0% cards in the meantime but no joy there either. We have been offered a loan but at 19.9% apr, same as cards.

We are usually ok with money, making sure everything is up to date and paid. Just the last few months have been a struggle and looks like a vicious circle starting.

We are now getting at least 5 phone calls from credit cards a day saying if they do not receive £100 each this month the debt will be passed to a debt recovery agency! I have tried explaining the issues with moving jobs and car fault but am getting nowhere, same answer every time that the debt will be passed over if they do not receive the full £200?

Would we be better off in the long run biting the bullet as it were and getting the loan with higher apr? Or is there anything the credit card companies have to do in order for us to get the debt back under control?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance!

By the sounds of it you are very lucky to get a 19.9% apr loan especially with all these missed payments TBh.

Your chance of a 0% card is defiantly a no go so forget about them.

Can i also ask who said they will give you a loan at 19.9%

YorkshireBoy

So you need a circa £4,000 loan, and the best you've been offered is 19.9%.

Over what duration is that? And how much are the monthly repayments?

Who are your current card providers?

You say you've applied for "a few loans". How many is "a few"? And over what period have you been applying?

stephane_2

Is the loan a quotation? I would think it is and in no way means acceptance, the fact that you've had all those missed payments then I would be amazed if you got a loan at that APR which is still good in those days.
No point applying for any credit cards as you won't get any...and if you've got all those recent searches on your credit report that will certainly not play in your favour. The credit card card company don't have to do anything, if you explain your situation in writing with a full list of income and outgoings they might decide to either reduce your payments for a few months or reduce the interest but they don't have to do it. Can your bank not help...have you asked them? You need to sort it out ASAP before it gets even worse....

opinions4u

domino07 wrote: »

Basically I have a credit card at 18.9% apr. I owe £2070, £70 over the £2000 limit.

Ok, it's time to make some sacrifices, eat beans on toast for a month or whatever, and get this under the credit limit with all outstanding minimum balances, charges etc paid.

We both accept this is an issue and want to get a loan to pay both cards off and only have one payment which can be budgeted for. We would make payments no problem because the apr would be lower meaning payments would be lower and actually paying off debt as opposed to just apr at the moment.

We were hoping for a loan of less than 10% apr but after applying for a few loans and getting declined due to missed payments on credit card I'm afraid I've lost hope of getting this under control? We have also tried for 0% cards in the meantime but no joy there either. We have been offered a loan but at 19.9% apr, same as cards.

My own view is that you shouldn't take out a new loan. You'll only end up building up additional debt on the credit cards.

We are usually ok with money, making sure everything is up to date and paid. Just the last few months have been a struggle and looks like a vicious circle starting.

Absolutely right. As you've borrowed, you've missed the fact that you are spending more money than you are earning.

Cars go wrong - it's a fact of life. If it hadn't been the car or the job change, it would have been something else. Always expect the unexpected with finances - set some money aside for a rainy day once you've started bringing the debts down.

We are now getting at least 5 phone calls from credit cards a day saying if they do not receive £100 each this month the debt will be passed to a debt recovery agency! I have tried explaining the issues with moving jobs and car fault but am getting nowhere, same answer every time that the debt will be passed over if they do not receive the full £200?

Have you asked them if they would temporarily freeze interest / charges and accept a smaller payment?

Get over to the Debt-Free Wannabe part of the forum. How can you up your income, reduce your spending and allocate larger payments to the cards to get rid of the debts over time.

It will take a fair old effort. But you do need to address the source of the problem. Bold print above.

domino07

Thanks for the replies!

Star-fire: the loan has been offered by black horse, who the sofa finance is through.

Yorkshireboy: the loan would be over 5 years, not sure about payments, my partner rang them to get details but was put off when he learned the apr.
My credit card is with Halifax and his is with HSBC.
'a few' around 4, over 6 months, to be honest we could see this coming but didn't realise how quickly. The reason we started using the credit cards were for the same reasons, boiler breakdown, car repairs and roof repair, a few personal purchases but not many.

Stephane: We have been accepted, at first they would only accept us if we took out a loan for £7500 with apr at 15.4 but payments were around £210. We explained that £7500 was far too much as we only need enough to pay cards off so they then agreed to the £4000 with payments around £150? I would have to double check exact amounts as I didn't ring and for whatever reason my partner thinks he doesn't need a pen and paper when he does, he can re-sight everything word by word lol!

opinions4u: I can get my credit card under limit by paying £90 (£70 plus missed payment fee), the problem then is my partners card also want £100 payment?
So we would be better off just sticking with both cards and not taking out the loan?
We have a savings account with 0 in, once we have this under control that's the new focus!
I've asked both cards for payment reductions or freezes until we can work something out but they both insist that at least 6 months of payments have to be missed? Seems bizarre that they would prefer me to be in that big of a hole before they offer any help?

Thanks again for the replies!

bouncydog1

First thing is to get over to the Debt free board and post up a full statement of affairs using the sticky at the top of the forum. Make sure you include everything that is an outgoing - use old bank statements etc - and make sure that you include all of the interest rates.

Do not even think about getting a loan or applying for anything else on credit. As you have missed a couple of payments you need to get back on track - forget about the savings account for now you need to get your spending under control.

Taking a consolidation loan is the first step into the deadly spiral - what happens if you can't make the repayments - redundancy, further bills etc. You need help from the DFW's to get a budget going so that you can see realistically where you can cut back to start repaying your debt.

domino07

Hello, thanks again for the replies!
I have sold my beloved laptop and using the money paid £200 off each card, we have made a list of outgoings and imcomings and it was quite a shock!!
We now have a budget for everything, food, pet care etc! So much easier than paying bills day by day not knowing where your money is going! We thought we were doing OK before but looking back we had no idea!

Thanks again for all your help!