long time lurker has taken the plunge...needs help plz!

bentleyboo

having been a lurker for a long time, i have decided to take the bull by the horns, take a deep breath and ask for badly needed advice

hubby and i were plodding along ok until he was suddenly hit with a massive cut in wages. having struggled on for a few months we have now started to fall behind with our payments.

we have managed to arrange payments with reliable collections for 3 accounts as follows...

account 1; £40 per month
account 2; £46 per month
account 3; £54 per month

our main problem is the credit cards we have fell behind on..they are continually ringing up at work. we have sent them letters offering them £50 per month to try (not heard back yet) and keep them happy but are planning to try and clear one card a month.

we have missed 2 payments now so was wondering if it was worth offering a full and final payment to each one?

we have 5 cards in total..the lowest one we owe is £500 and the highest is £1100 and the others in between.

i know im probably not making much sense but just so stressed. we have worked a budget out and can pay off around £500 per month...what would be the best way to tackle this? just dont want it hanging round our necks...would rather just get rid as soon as possible.

thanks for listening

xx

Byatt

Hi bentleyboo, well done on posting. You will get lots of support here.

I know you are stressed and tired, so maybe look at this link tomorrow. It's a statement of affairs (you will see a sticky thread giving more info on the front page of this forum). It helps others as well as yourself, to see exactly how things are.

http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html

I had my LBM early last month so still in the novice phase, but I use a "spending diary" (a little notebook) and keep a record of everything I spend. I carry it everywhere, and I now know exactly what I have in my account and what I really have to spend, NOT what I think I have to spend.)

Others will post who are much wiser than me, but I didn't want you to think no-one was around.

bentleyboo

thank you Byatt for taking the time to reply...its nice to know someone is out there when youre feeling down and stressed.

i have done a soa and can afford £500 per month to pay of these cards...im just looking for advice on the best way to go about it.

if i make small payments to each it will take forever.


cheers


bentleyboo x

mildredalien

Hi bentley,

I'm no expert in these matters but 'snowballing' might work in your case? You might want to look it up on the site for more info, but i'm pretty sure it means making minimum payments (or organising token payments, or possibly no payments?) to all but your highest interest card and focusing all payments on that one. Once the highest interest card is paid off you move on to the next one etc. etc.

It might be worth filling out a full SOA (Statement of Affairs) which could help people provide more advice.

Good luck!

bentleyboo

thanks for your reply...am going to have a look for 'snowballing' and see what advice is there but any advice is welcome.

bentleyboo x