Should I re mortgage to pay my debts off!

Strapped_for_cash

Hi,

This is my first post here, so apologies if it's in the wrong place.

I am retired & my wife & I both live off my pension from my previous employer, I should point out that I took early retirement at 50 & I am now 60.

I should also mention that I paid my outstanding mortgage off when I retired 10 years ago. I've also actively applied for jobs but have had NO success, my age is possibley against me!!

Over the last two or three years I've had to rely on credit cards to make ends meet & I've managed to run up a debt of £17,000 ish.

I try to use other cards with 0% deals to keep the interest to a minimum, but it is getting harder to transfer monies owed between cards.

I have recently spoken to an advisor at my bank & she has suggested that a mortgage might be the answer as the interest rates are lower here than on a standard loan.

The only drawback is that the minimum ammount you can borrow is £25,000 which is £8,000 more than I owe & because of my age I can only borrow it over 9 years!!

So my real question here is this, 'Is this mortgage idea the best way forward'.

I should like to add that this £17,000 debt has not been spent on fast cars or expensive holidays, it's just built up over 10 years since I retired on things like council tax, credit card repayments, shopping & just making ends meet.

This is a genuine request for some advice & not as a result of self pity, so any advice that might help me is greatly appreciated.

Thank you,

SFC :cool:

david_hellier

The short answer is no. However, let us see a list of all your incomes and outgoings first, the balances on the cards and their APRs.

vasseur

Post a SOA so we can see where you can cut expenditure. A bank advisor will suggest remortgaging but I can tell from your post that even you can see that the figure don't make sense.

You can't borrow your way out of debt

Strapped_for_cash

polesalot wrote: »

Post a SOA so we can see where you can cut expenditure. A bank advisor will suggest remortgaging but I can tell from your post that even you can see that the figure don't make sense.

You can't borrow your way out of debt

Hi,

Thanks for your reply, but what is an SOA, please.

Yes you are correct in that I can see that the figures don't add up, but desperate times sometimes need desperate measures, but I do honestly require help & guidance here.

Thanks,

SFC

ossie

Can you downsize to pay off debt?

SOT2011

Hi

I can't post links sorry, but if you look at about the sixth thread down on this forum there is one which is about where to start and has the link to the SOA calculator.

Basically all your income and expenditure. Seeing this will really help people much more knowledgeable than me give you some good advice on what might be a good course of action.

EBS x

Tixy

What is an SOA?
-Statement of affairs - http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html
Useful starting point to complete before making any major financial decisions, helps you see the full picture of your finances on 1 handy calculator. If you post the results on here it should help people advise you of possible ways forward.

theoretica

Do you have enough space to take in a lodger?