Where to Start?

FirstClassMale

Hi All,

Firstly I must explain that its firstclassmale's OH here, Scottishdiva.

I am writing with the hope that someone can provide us with the answers we are looking for.

For over a year now my partner has been struggling with debt and through various circumstances, some no fault of his own the situation has become progressively worse until he is now in the position where he is paying debt with debt, which as most of you will know is a very scary place to be.

He has a personal loan already and credit card's (yes thats right plural) and a relatively well paid job, but there just doesn't seem to be enough money to go round.

So where do we start, I have suggested going to the bank, which he did today and the only suggestion they could make was a personal loan (which he has no guarantee of getting) for £25k over 7yrs which doesn't actually reduce his outgoings into that mystical affordable monthly payment.

I have suggest that he contact his creditors and advise them of the situation and see whether the payments can be reduced, but I don't know whether that is a good idea or not.

I would be very grateful of any help people can provide, I don't know where to go and all these money worries are having a very negative effect on not only me, but our relationship and him....

Where do we go from here ?

Thanks in advance

Scottish Diva

halloweenqueen_2

Good luck, I hope you can sort something out. I would try getting in touch with the credit card companie and explain he wants to pay but is finding it difficult can they sort out a payment plan or even freeze the interest.
Is there anything he can cut back on - if he or you posts a statement of affairs we will savage it to see if we can reduce something somewhere!
Wish you all the best.

Biffa

Can you post a SOA so we can all have a look? We might be able to see the wood for the trees and come up with some ideas for you.

Rgc_3

FirstClassMale wrote:

Hi All,

Firstly I must explain that its firstclassmale's OH here, Scottishdiva.

I am writing with the hope that someone can provide us with the answers we are looking for.

For over a year now my partner has been struggling with debt and through various circumstances, some no fault of his own the situation has become progressively worse until he is now in the position where he is paying debt with debt, which as most of you will know is a very scary place to be.

He has a personal loan already and credit card's (yes thats right plural) and a relatively well paid job, but there just doesn't seem to be enough money to go round.

So where do we start, I have suggested going to the bank, which he did today and the only suggestion they could make was a personal loan (which he has no guarantee of getting) for £25k over 7yrs which doesn't actually reduce his outgoings into that mystical affordable monthly payment.

I have suggest that he contact his creditors and advise them of the situation and see whether the payments can be reduced, but I don't know whether that is a good idea or not.

I would be very grateful of any help people can provide, I don't know where to go and all these money worries are having a very negative effect on not only me, but our relationship and him....

Where do we go from here ?

Thanks in advance

Scottish Diva

Hi
I personally would nt go near the consolidation loan with the proverbial barge pole and especially not when you say it does nt reduce the payments enough to make it affordable(you ll end up with no choice but to jump on the credit express cycle again.

the fact is there are laws and procedures in place for those of us that have made financial mistakes to help us get a hold of our debt problems and if you phone the cccs(or scottish debtline?....its your screen name that i mention the scottish debtline for)they will be able to offer free and solid advice.

My advice is....
post your soa here and see if theres anything can be done to reduce outgoings

contact cccs/ debtline and look into the possibilites of a repayment plan

And stop worrying so much as you ve taken the biggest step by recognising it needs dealt with and the ace up your sleeve is your both commited to dealing with this....that halves the battle already:T

best of luck

james32_uk

CCCS or Payplan all the way! They will advise his best options.

Scottishdiva

Hi Scottishdiva here, have just registered under my own name

We have done a SOA together while sitting at the kitchen table and so I know there aren't any obvious ways in which to reduce his expenditure, apart from smoking and well I'm not going to mention that again, because it doesn't do any good and as a non-smoker myself I don't feel I can fully understand the problem.

Our lifestyle is far from extravagent, and we have tried to cut back as much as possible... but that doesn't seem to be having much impact.

So what are a payment plan or CCCS that someone was mentioning, what are the implications on his credit rating etc.

Thanks

Mizz_Pink

What about increasing our income by a weekend job or maybe doing a car boot sale, selling things on Ebay ?

If your partner smokes then they really need to find a way of stopping, they are throwing money down the drain!

CLAPTON

without a SoA its impossible to give good advice.

KatrinaC_2

Scottishdiva wrote:

Hi Scottishdiva here, have just registered under my own name

Hello! :wave:

Scottishdiva wrote:

We have done a SOA together while sitting at the kitchen table and so I know there aren't any obvious ways in which to reduce his expenditure, apart from smoking and well I'm not going to mention that again, because it doesn't do any good and as a non-smoker myself I don't feel I can fully understand the problem.

It might be worth putting the SOA on here as there are always ways to cut back which are not so obvious. As for the smoking, you will not be able to persuade him to quit until he is ready to (ex-smoker speaking here) however you might suggest that he either changes to a cheaper brand or starts smoking hand rolled cigs.

Scottishdiva wrote:

So what are a payment plan or CCCS that someone was mentioning, what are the implications on his credit rating etc.
Thanks

CCCS is a charity which provides free, professional debt advice. Payment plans are ways in which to repay your debt over a longer period of time. Another alternative is an IVA or Individual Voluntary Agreement. There are more details on all of these in the links at the top of the forum. Whatever happens, DO NOT GO WITH A COMPANY WHICH CHARGES! (or else... )

CCCS or one of the other charities may suggest that he try an IVA, DMP or even bankruptcy, or they might suggest that he try a different route of repyment. Without knowing the details it is difficult to guess at the most likely outcome.

If he chooses to go with a DMP or IVA his credit rating will be shot to pieces for a long time (at least 6 years), however getting more debt is not really something to worry about right now!

Hope things get better for you soon,

Kat