husband just told me we owe £40,000.....

Teekaylon

I have a similar debt problem (20k across 2 cards).... have you tried ringing your CC companies and telling them you dont feel you can go on making large repayments with huge interest rates being applied?

thats exactly what i did...MBNA...Barclaycard....

i was pleasently surprised when i spoke to them to be honest.. they were wanting nearly 500.00 a month from me in repayments which i could not handle ......... bottom line is i now pay 0% interest on both cards and 0 charges each month as long as i keep up the £50.00 yes £50.00 a month repayments... obviously this may not be an option if you require further lending from your cards .. it sure beats paying huge repayments each month is the way i saw it... and feels quite good not having to rely on my cards to live on .... never had so much spare cash as i do now :rotfl:

KiKi

I know I'll probably be in the minority, but I do think you should consider the mortgage option. If:

* the CC debt has been run up because of business and not frivolous spending
* your finances are otherwise in shape
* this has been one blip because of a very specific circumstance
* you're sure you won't go spending on your cards
* your mortgage interest rate is far lower than your CCs
* you can afford your mortgage if the rate goes up 3-4 %

...then I'd definitely consider it. If it takes your payments from £800 a month to £300 a month (for eg), I think you'd be crazy not to think about it *assuming* the above points apply.

Given you have the ability to SIGNIFICANTLY increase your income from your job, and given that hubby's income is coming up a lot, TBH, it would be my first and preferred option.

In addition, I'd do an SOA and look at cutting back elsewhere to help with that.


It doesn't sound to me like your debts have been as a result of frivolous spending, or uncontrolled spending, or ongoing issues, but a one off incidence which is now turning around. I wouldn't want to be paying CC interest when I can slap it on a low interest-rate mortgage. And whilst I don't have a crystal ball, I don't think rates are about to rocket sky high either.

Sure, it's now secured debt, but not all secured debt is bad; it depends very much on your circumstances. I just think of it as a higher mortgage this time. But as long as it's a one-off and you're sure about that.

KiKi

monday_blues

Teekaylon wrote: »

I have a similar debt problem (20k across 2 cards).... have you tried ringing your CC companies and telling them you dont feel you can go on making large repayments with huge interest rates being applied?

thats exactly what i did...MBNA...Barclaycard....

i was pleasently surprised when i spoke to them to be honest.. they were wanting nearly 500.00 a month from me in repayments which i could not handle ......... bottom line is i now pay 0% interest on both cards and 0 charges each month as long as i keep up the £50.00 yes £50.00 a month repayments... obviously this may not be an option if you require further lending from your cards .. it sure beats paying huge repayments each month is the way i saw it... and feels quite good not having to rely on my cards to live on .... never had so much spare cash as i do now :rotfl:

Read your post with interest, Teekaylon, does that mean you are on a "payment arrangement" with these 2 lenders i.e. affecting your credit rating and your credit availability suspended? Not that I want more credit on cards, simply trying to understand the implications of making that phone call. Sorry to hijak this thread, but got a letter from barclaycard today raising their interest rate from 19.9% to 24.9% said they were writing to everyone and not me personally (I maintain my payments albeit minimum or near to it) Disgusted with them, but still frightened to take the next step????

jellybean39

monday_blues wrote: »

Read your post with interest, Teekaylon, does that mean you are on a "payment arrangement" with these 2 lenders i.e. affecting your credit rating and your credit availability suspended? Not that I want more credit on cards, simply trying to understand the implications of making that phone call. Sorry to hijak this thread, but got a letter from barclaycard today raising their interest rate from 19.9% to 24.9% said they were writing to everyone and not me personally (I maintain my payments albeit minimum or near to it) Disgusted with them, but still frightened to take the next step????

Monday if you phone them (sorry hijacking your thread) you can close the account (which i have done with egg) but still pay off at minimum payments or above until paid at the interest rate you were on. They seem to do it to people that arent paying i hop thgey dont do mine i got 10k on mine!

monday_blues

thanks jellybean that is very helpful. Cant believe they would do that when i've always made my payments. Ive got 5k on mine so certainly would make a big difference.

Am interested in reducing the payments as per above post, if it was easy enough to do without entering into formal arrangement, but concerned about the implications for us for the future. Or should we ride it out till at least our personal loan repaid in 2 years time, and then money wont be quite as tight (although still tight as need to convert mortage back to repayment from interest only). Decisions..... this is soooo tough!

jellybean39

whatamessbooboo wrote: »

Jellybean,
Thats really good to know it can be done.
I must admit the amount of interest we would pay putting it on the mortgage scares me at Im not sure how easy it would be to be keep moving it all until its paid off - I reckon at least 3 years? Also most cards are charging 5% to transfer which is a lot if I need to keep transferring.
I guess I was looking at a quick solution with the mortgage idea.

Do your snowball hun on www.whatsthecost.com it is a really good tool to help you work out your repayments you can play around with figures. If what your saying is true about your ability to earn this year i wouldnt load your mortgage we looked at it but we would have had 12 years at an extra 320 which would have taken our mortgage to 2200 or cut back and start paying. the thing is we have started to notice the difference i have paid off early 5k in 2 months have 470 in egg card pot to pay off after 100 days and have actually this week for first time in months had some money to go out for dinner and the cinema this week and buy myself a new top, could have put that 50 quid towards a debt but we had two for one at cinema and 2 for a tenner at brewers fayre so had to be done really! it dosent have to all be bad as it does get better i never ever thought it would. just remeber we all came here to do what we could to pay off our debts so we cut our interest out so the money in our pockets not the banks. You have to do what is the best for you and your family but also dont forget national debt line they are great at advice to xxx

jellybean39

monday_blues wrote: »

thanks jellybean that is very helpful. Cant believe they would do that when i've always made my payments. Ive got 5k on mine so certainly would make a big difference.

Am interested in reducing the payments as per above post, if it was easy enough to do without entering into formal arrangement, but concerned about the implications for us for the future. Or should we ride it out till at least our personal loan repaid in 2 years time, and then money wont be quite as tight (although still tight as need to convert mortage back to repayment from interest only). Decisions..... this is soooo tough!

Just neet to stop them upping that interest first. You could phone them and explaint he situation and they may freeze interest etc if you have a dmp in place but obviously any thing you tell them could have implications on your credit rating etc even if you need to change your mortgage back they could credit check. We asked to change ours to interest free for 6 months would only do it on a new application and had to go down the hardship ground, as income had dropped we wouldnt have even been accepted so didnt bother!!! barclaycard done that to me before put it up to 29.9% i closed it and now have a 11.9% but most of mine is transfer 5.9 for life of balance, can you swap your card to a 0% balance transfre best way if you can tart your cards.:)

monday_blues

jellybean39 wrote: »

Just neet to stop them upping that interest first. You could phone them and explaint he situation and they may freeze interest etc if you have a dmp in place but obviously any thing you tell them could have implications on your credit rating etc even if you need to change your mortgage back they could credit check. We asked to change ours to interest free for 6 months would only do it on a new application and had to go down the hardship ground, as income had dropped we wouldnt have even been accepted so didnt bother!!! barclaycard done that to me before put it up to 29.9% i closed it and now have a 11.9% but most of mine is transfer 5.9 for life of balance, can you swap your card to a 0% balance transfre best way if you can tart your cards.:)

Have tried existing cards for 0% but no success, all at or around 20% mark. Was frightened to try for new cards/loans in case rejected as know am over committed!! Quite tricky, not quite sure what to do for best

globetraveller

KiKi wrote: »

I know I'll probably be in the minority, but I do think you should consider the mortgage option. If:

* the CC debt has been run up because of business and not frivolous spending
* your finances are otherwise in shape
* this has been one blip because of a very specific circumstance
* you're sure you won't go spending on your cards
* your mortgage interest rate is far lower than your CCs
* you can afford your mortgage if the rate goes up 3-4 %

...then I'd definitely consider it. If it takes your payments from £800 a month to £300 a month (for eg), I think you'd be crazy not to think about it *assuming* the above points apply.

Given you have the ability to SIGNIFICANTLY increase your income from your job, and given that hubby's income is coming up a lot, TBH, it would be my first and preferred option.

In addition, I'd do an SOA and look at cutting back elsewhere to help with that.


It doesn't sound to me like your debts have been as a result of frivolous spending, or uncontrolled spending, or ongoing issues, but a one off incidence which is now turning around. I wouldn't want to be paying CC interest when I can slap it on a low interest-rate mortgage. And whilst I don't have a crystal ball, I don't think rates are about to rocket sky high either.

Sure, it's now secured debt, but not all secured debt is bad; it depends very much on your circumstances. I just think of it as a higher mortgage this time. But as long as it's a one-off and you're sure about that.

KiKi

I agree with this. That is some salary you would be earning. I am assuming that there is a fair bit of equity on your house??

Teekaylon

monday_blues wrote: »

Read your post with interest, Teekaylon, does that mean you are on a "payment arrangement" with these 2 lenders i.e. affecting your credit rating and your credit availability suspended? Not that I want more credit on cards, simply trying to understand the implications of making that phone call. Sorry to hijak this thread, but got a letter from barclaycard today raising their interest rate from 19.9% to 24.9% said they were writing to everyone and not me personally (I maintain my payments albeit minimum or near to it) Disgusted with them, but still frightened to take the next step????

Thats exactly my situation yes an informal arrangement! i agreed to set up a standing order for both lenders on my bank account it really couldnt have been easier in fact the lady from Mercers (goldfish) told me as long as i offer to make some form of repayment and it was regular then Bcard would be cool with that.

I have now been with this arrangement with both lenders for 3 months approx and havnt heard a dickybird from either. I pay £50.00 to both ona combined debts of 19.5K. I realise some people just want to get rid of ther debt ASAP but my priority was to be paying off my debt but still living my life and not having to live on raw beans and sawdust for ever like some people dont seem to mind, i guess its what does it for youself each to their own and all that but thats my experience, hope this helps