Vicious debt circle - nowhere to turn!

RLW2011

[FONT=&quot][/FONT]Hello all,

I have searched high and low for info on the options available to help me with my debts, but to no avail... thought somebody on here may be able to help!

I have outstanding debts on a personal loan (£8000) and credit cards (4 @ £12000). This is totaling approx £20k. The loan isn't so much of an issue, it's my credit cards.

My credit cards are all almost at their limit, yet I pay on time every month and have never missed a payment. I only pay the minimum amount however, as that is all I can afford each month, due to the extortionate interest rates - all 4 companies increased my interest rates to above 20% when my balances started increasing.

I have checked my credit score, and initially it was good - but it has since gone down to 'fair' - citing I am too close to my credit limits and have made one or more applications for credit in the last six months.

I have tried applying for new credit cards to transfer my balances - dead end, I have tried approaching my current loan company to consolidate debts so there is an end in sight - to no avail, and have even gone in to talk to my bank for some advice, only to be told they won't help me.

I do not want to go into a debt management plan as it will really ruin my credit score for a long time, and am not interested in an IVA as I can pay back my debts myself, I just want to be able to pay them back at a fair rate and within a decent time frame.

I earn £34k a year, so my take home wage isn't bad - but I pay out £600 alone on debts... and re credit cards, 90% of that is interest.

I need to find a solution that will allow me to just consolidate my credit card debts/move them to a lower interest rate so I can free up some spare cash each month... I am living pay day to pay day and literally cannot see an end to my worries. I can't get a loan, as noone will give me more credit, even though all I want it for is to consolidate my outstanding debts - not spend it! And I can't open a new credit card as I can't get accepted - even though it is purely to transfer balances.

I don't understand, as by doing this I will reduce my monthly outgoings - so I will obviously be more than able to cover the new payments, as they will be less, and it will give me a time in the future that I will know all my debts have been cleared...

If anyone has any advice as to where I can turn / options I could look at, I'd be eternally grateful.

Thanks v much
RLW2011


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kittiej

Hi RLW

In order to help you it would be best to see your life as a 'whole' and not just the debts.

If you post up your SOA we can give you some tips of where to cut back.

TBH taking out more loans is never a good thing to do, you need to be debt free not entrenched in debt forever.

HTH

Edit

Sorry just realised you are a newbie, SOA means statement of affairs.

Koicarp

Give the Consumer Credit Counselling Service a ring (not a charging company) and ask them for advice. My guess is that they will suggest a DMP, which you say you don't want- but then you also say you want to borrow and can't so your options are minimal.
I have a DMP, and whilst I wish I hadn't got into a mess in the first place, it is nearly finished and I'm happy I did it.

Tixy

Hi and welcome

Are you aware that you can opt out of any interest rate rises on credit cards? Probably too low for previous rises (as you only have 60days to opt out) but worth knowing for future.

You are in a common situation that you are not able to consolidate as you already owe too much. The problem any potential lender has is that you might not use the money fro consolidation or if you do pay off your debts you might run the cards up again. So they won't take the risk as they probably quite rightly assess you cannot afford to service any more debt than you already have.

As you can meet your minimum payments you probably wouldn't qualify for a DMP either.

All you can really do is try to increase your income or to cut back on outgoings as much as you can and work at putting a bit more towards the debts each month to gradually start to bring the balances down.
If you are struggling to find places to save money or reduce outgoings it might be worth posting a statement of affairs for people to make some suggestions that might help.

RAS

Do a full SOA and we may be able to help you better.

If you have not spent on the cards since the rate was increased you may be able to reject the increase in exchange for effectively closing the card.

Koicarp

This may be useful: https://debtremedy.cccs.co.uk/start.aspx?WT.svl=cta_dr_5

Uselesswithmoney

Hi
I know how you feel I'm in a similar position, I owe £34k (so more than you) on credit cards and an overdraft.

I approached my bank to consoildated the debt I have with them (around £10K) to a loan over 5 years. I wasn't asking for any additional credit, I would have closed my two credit cards and reduced my overdraft to a lower limit - therefore I wasn't asking for any extra finace just to refinance what I already owe the bank. I currently live with parents and the only outgoing is a phone bill (£20 a month) and petrol (around £60 a month), the majority of the rest of my money goes to debts. I have a good job for a stable company so I thought I would be a in a good position to get it approved - but the answer was no come back in 3 months. I could easily have afforded the repayments.

Anyway, being a similar position I are searching for an answer to. I will be interested to see what others post.

Good Luck and onwards to debt free life!

bumblingbea

Have you tried the snowball calculator?

It certainly gave me the shot needed to focus on bringing my debt down. Followed by working on a few challenges to help keep me on the path to being debt free

MonkeyMad

You have recognised that you need to get the balances down which will reduce the monthly payments.

If you cannot consolidate into a loan or transfer to lower interest rate cards, then the other option available to you is to reduce spending wherever you can (which could mean eating beans on toast for a month, or moving into somewhere much cheaper which I have done myself in the past when things got tight).

Total_2

Look into match betting on this forum it is possible to earn £500-£1500 a month after 6-12months experience depending on how well you get it. You need a small amount to start with £300-£500 but you can start with £150. Once you have built a float up then you can make decent money from working in the evening and should be able to pay all your debts off in 2-3years. Hope that helps

Learning2Budget

Match betting?? Total, i need to read up on this, cos i thought for a minute you were suggesting gambling to reduce debts, lol!

Post a SOA (statement of affairs), and someone will come along to help. Also the snowball calculator is very good.
Good luck.