Some advice please.

catman-without_wings

Have just joined as I could do with some advice. My good lady seems to spend all her life on this site so as they say if you can't beat them then join them. She is all clued up about APR's, %'s and the like but back here in the real world we are struggling big time. We have a mortgage of £21,239 on a house valud at aprox£145,000 we repay£251.34 pr month. I have ben doing a fixed trm contract that runs till Decenber and then have a contract from Jan-july 31st. Decent money but untill I get a permanant contract not much use loan wise. We really need a loan of about £15-20,000 as soon as possible.This will clear all our debts,repair the house and sort the car out.The bank wont touch me untill I get a permanant contract(I am on top scale so expnsive)and even though I have debts and a poor credit record to boot I have never gone 1p over my overdraft etc. Where can I get a loan from for this ammount and can anybody tell me who I should avoid like the plague? I know in an ideal world that I shouldn't think about this but things are desperate and I dont think we will be able to survive untill Jan without it. If i don't get the car sorted then I cant even get to the job and then we really are screw*d. Any ideas will be very gratefuly welcomed. Cheers Simon.

catman-without_wings

Hey could ANYBODY AT ALL PLEASE PLEASE help. Getting frantic. Thanks.

[Deleted User]

I suggest you look at sorting out your debts in another way if you can - consolidation loans are not for the faint hearted. You have good equity in your home - why risk it?

If you post your SOA on here -then perhaps suggestions can be made as to how things can be improved without you having to consolidate.

You don't need to say so on here, but you do need to find out WHY you are in debt.

A consolidation loan will not stop you going further into debt - it will merely give you breathing space.

In return for that you risk your home AND add to your total financial outlay.

Sort out an SOA to post - then post it on the Debt-free Wannabe board.

catman-without_wings

Thank you for your time and your advice. Perhaps a little more backgroung information would be helpful. As I said yesterday my wife has been a member of this site since 2004 and has posted our SOA twice firstly, when we initially joined(and were deeply in debt) and thena few months ago when we had been following the advice that we had been given for 2 years( a very much more healthy SOA now). Looking back over my post I would like to firstly reduce the ammount I need to borrow and to share with you exactly WHY i need the money. Our monthly outgoings are low, we neither drink nor smoke. We(well my wife) sells regularly on both amazon and ebay.The car (only 1) is some 12 yars old and our debts, compared to how they were this time three years ago are well under control. We now have 2 credit cards as opposed to the 6 we used to.One is residing in the freezer in a block of ice(all my wifes doing) This has a limit of £2000 and a balance of zero. The other has a limit of £3500 with a balance of £1200 at the moment. The remainder of all the debts total some£3600. Therefore the total that we owe is in the region of £4800.Aprox but I have erred on the cautious side ie we do not owe any more than £5000.There are a number of reasons behind my needing to get a loan right now. Firstly and most importantly, the car needs urgent work doing this CANNOT be put off for much longer. I have to have the car as I am currentky traveling some 34miles each way to my work.I have a very good mechanic that is both honest, fair priced and a bloo*y good mechanic. However he works for himself and does not take credit cards. When I got the RAC the patrol man estimated the costs to be in the region of£750-900 Andy says it will cost betwen£350-500.This I do not have. If the car gos then the job goes then we really are in the s**t. Additionally,our central heating is so unsafe that we cannot use it. Again the guy that looks after it can replace the system for a fraction of the price that I have been qouted(he is fully CORGI registered) we used to play football hence the *mates rates* the new system(well bit new & some repaired) will cost in the region of £2000. Finally and the thing that i really want to do is related to my wife. When she was 14 she had a very bad riding accident and broke her hip in two places(i'm sure a lot of you will now know exactly who she is) well recently she has been struggling and has been diaginosed with early onset arthritis dont suppose the freezing conditions in the house help much. The GP has given her painkillers but not much else(she is only39- so nothing much to be done yet) but she is struggling.What I would dearly love is to be able to have a walk in shower put into our bathroom.The guy doing the central heating can do this and is willing to do this.But again the lack of money is a drawback. So whilst there will be an element of consolidation that isn't the reason I am so keen to get the money. I think that I could probably get British Gas in to do the heating and perhaps(not sure because of credit rating) get someone like say Dolphin in to sort the shower but that would mean being in far greater debt. As for the car the only other thing I could do is to perhaps take it to a high street garage and shove it on the credit card but wouldn't this be a far worse thing to do in the long run? I hope this clarifies the situation somewhat, and that you can see that doing nothing is simply not an option. The only question is what to do. Many thanks for your time and assistance. I am grateful. Cheers Simon.

lynzpower

Hiya catman

I really dont know what to suggest here. Part of me feels that an egg money card ( which you can use to transfer AFAIK the balanace into a current account.

If you have one card not being used, I suggest you close this down as this is a card you are not using and is likely to impact on your credit rating.

Have you been assessed for a disabled facilities grant for your wifes shower? Youll need to contact social services for this, but it seems to me youd be a good candidate as a couple to get a walkin shower fitted as a major ( or minor ) work in your home, and have social services pay for it.

[Deleted User]

Hiya

Thanks for clarifying things. Obviously you are in need of certain things and they all cost money. I'm more used to debt counselling and trying to help people reduce their debts rather than add to them so I'm definitely not the best person to ask regarding which loans are the best etc...

I am so glad your debt side of things is under control and being dealt with. Despite your need for the items you have listed, I would never advise anyone to consolidate their loans just to take on more debt - but that's just me with my debt counsellors hat on.

What you suggest is feasable - but you have to understand that debt consolidation risks your home and adds to the total financial outlay. You could be paying it back for a very long time - far longer than you envisage.

I hear what you say about the car - but just suppose you do consolidate your debts and then do the things you need to - and THEN the car needs another big spend - or some other large unexpected bill arises. How do you foresee funding that AFTER you have already consolidated?

Consolidation leads to a false sense of security - it takes the immediate pressure off and allows you breathing space - and seemingly - more money at your immediate disposal. But I liken it to quicksand - you can end up sinking very quickly.

All the things you need the loan for are good reasons - I just wonder if there is a better way of going about it.

The car looks to be your most important need as your income relies upon it? Therefore this needs to be first on the shopping list.

I know you trust your mechanic - but as he does not take credit cards - you should shop around for quotes from other garages who DO take credit cards and who could do the work. (The credit card thing also gives you some consumer protection and TBH having work done by family/friends for reduced rates makes it harder to go back to them if things go badly wrong- particularly if you have spent a lot of money and they are a one-man band sort of business).

Ditto for the central heating in terms of a mate doing it for you. However with this - obviously this really is a big outlay and you only want to do it once AND you need to have consumer protection if it goes wrong.
Do you really need the whole system replaced? The only thing unsafe surely would be the boiler - in which case you may be able to again shop around to see how much a repair would cost? British Gas are bound to be the dearest but they are handy for free site visit and assessment if they think you might be buying.

As far as the bathroom is concerned - you need to research this very carefully. As has already been pointed out, you 'may' be able to get some financial help from social services or whoever deals with this.

(My mum is disabled and the council/social services put a lift and a shower in for her.) So don't spend anything on this till you have exhausted all enquiries regarding what she may be entitled to.

Which just leaves the car and the heating. It's obvious you are going to need the money for these from somewhere - and as you have said, the bank are not interested - which really just leaves you the option of adding to your credit card.

The advantage of this is that the debt remains unsecured - i.e it is not against your home if you default. Ok it will take you a bit longer to pay off - but it seems you both have the existing debt acknowledged and reducing. (I know you have gone from 6 credit cards to 2 so I am assuming the other 4 have been paid off and the total amounts left ARE coming down each month?)

If so, I believe your best option would be to research the cost of having the car and the heating sorted by established companies that take credit cards and add it to the credit cards.