Best loan options... had enough!

Legendbully

Hi All,

Just wondered how realistic it is to believe I will actually get the 7.4% apr advertised by my bank HSBC on a loan? I have an okay credit rating, but its not spectacular.

I have a loan with them already - I got 15k over 4 years and got 18 months left on it before it ends. I've battled on over the past 2 years with this loan and a few other credit cards and my total remaining debt currently is about 12.5k.

Im paying an absolute fortune out a month on just loans/cards (about £600 and thats without rent/bills/car finance etc) and I have NO spare money at all so end up spending on my credit cards and seem to be going round in circles. Its the unexpected things like vet bills, car services, tax, npower stitching me up with gas and electric etc... they just all add up!

Im not really after any advice as to how I can lower my bills as I've done all that and am paying the minimum I can where ever I can, I really just wanted some advice on wheres best to go for loans over say 5 years to get my monthly payments right down.

Any advice is much appreciated as always... feel ashamed to admit that I cant go on anymore being totally skint each month, just dont think I can do it until my loan has finished so am taking the easy route out with another loan :mad: Grrrrrrrrr!!!!

A very confused Anna xxx

cookson

This may not be the reply you want to hear but speaking from experience of loans, paying off debt with a loan is not a good idea.

In my opinion it is just going to add to the vicious debt cycle that you are already in.

I know 18 months is a long time, but in the long term you are going to be a lot worse off if you are paying for another loan. You could end up paying thousands more in interest that you don't need to.

Are you paying interest on your credit cards? If so what about moving them to a 0% on balance transfer deal?

baxgttdi

I would imagine (and I may well be corrected) that if you already have outstanding credit with the bank and other credit besides, that your chances of getting the headline rate are slim.

I would however reitterate what cookson says. You need to rememeber that this new loan is exactly that. It's not your money to spend as a top up at the end of the month, it's cash that you need to pay back and will pay interest on. Meaning that while you currently have a hard 18 months a head (and look at my signature I do know what it's like) the only thing you'll acheive by attempting to get another loan, is making the time until you're not in your current situation further away. Stick with it and you'll get there .

dancingfairy

you owe 12.5 k now - you borrow 12.5 k the bank have no guarantees you won't end up spending their 12.5 k and end up owing 25k, or you pay off the credit cards and then start spending o nthem again - you are very unlikely to be getting another loan unless you are earning 50k or something - in which case I suspect you won't need it.
The only options are to increase your income, decrease your outgoings and stick it out or appraoch one of the debt charities with regards to doing a debt management plan or something- try National Debtline or CCCS or your local CAB.
df

Legendbully

Thanks to you all... having chatted this through wiv friends at the weekend and done a financial plan of my loan options/intrest rates/monthly outgoing etc it seems I am actually better off staying as I am for the next 18 months. It'll of course be a hard slog, but at the end of it I'll have a LOT less debt and LOT more money each month... just guna keep shifting debts on my cards to 0%'s till I can free up some money and pay it all off!

Thanks again - think I was just having a bad day and wanted the easy way out to get some extra pennies each month! I've done 2 years of debt so far and nearly there, so hopefully it'll fly by xx