newbie in need of help with debts

celicanige

hi,
im new to here. really in need of advice and help with debts i have .. so here goes.

my wife has just started maternity leave so income has decreased .. but all bills are covered every month just not much left over for food and other things ...

we have a mortgage which is with Halifax that is at £139,000 outstanding.
and currently at fixed rate and is £660 per month repayment.(the house is valued at £165,000 )

we have a loan of £19,000 with natwest. which is being repaid at £351.00 per month .

and 1 credit card which is at roughly £1500.00 .. which we re-pay the minimum at the moment

really wanting to know what advice is out there to try and maybe bundle them together for cheaper repayments ? just to try and free up any money we can per month ??

not looking to get debt free . just asking what are my best options ?
Halifax don't seem too helpful to add anything on as they say my loan to value is not at the 80% mark they require for either excess borrowing or a payment holiday.

would appreciate any help or advice.

thanks

i never know which way to turn for advice and thought this would be the best to get started..

Tixy

Hi and welcome

Its generally advised not to move unsecured debts to secured debts so it may be no bad thing that halifax won't increase your mortgage. The reason being is that your house is at a greater risk if anything else should happen to reduce your income etc.

As a good starting point I would suggest completing a statement of affairs to work out where your money is going and how much you should have after priority items (like mortgage, utilties and food etc) to put towards your non-priority debt repayments. We use this calculator here - http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html
And if you post the results onto this thread people here might be able to suggest other options or ways to save money in other areas by getting better deals etc, which might make things easier for you whilst your income is reduced.

Congrats on your new arrival (or soon to be arriving!)