Helping_Hubbys State of Affairs

helping_hubby

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Oldernotwiser

Can I ask, who earns what?

helping_hubby

Certainly...we earn the same actually. About £1350 each.

tryhard_2

hi HH
welcome to mse. thanks for such a clear SOA; here are my thoughts
1 gas and elec - r they the cheapest? check on https://www.uswitch.com
2 you have 35 for presents, 10 for b'day and 10 for others; if you can cut this down you will have 55pm or 660 in 1 year towards 1 card
3 your going out snacks and hair are 53 pm - can you cut back on this?
4 can you shift debt to your lower interest cards from the higher ones and cancel the higher interest card?
5 you should have 160 left every month acc to your calculations? start a spending diary to record every expense and see where this money goes

lynzpower

getting those cards onto a low life of balance and 0% will help massively

but dont you take the debts on, its not helpful.

dudleyboy

Hi and welcome!

Consolidation loans are usually a dirty word on this board because more often than not people have taken a loan out, transferred their debts to the loan, and then CONTINUED to use the cards, subsequently increasingly their debt substantially by having a loan AND by spending on the cards they've just cleared. Very foolish - don't do it!!

However, in the case of your husband's credit cards, it's unlikely that he'll get the credit limit he needs on a 0% or low life of balance card to transfer the entire lot and so a low-interest loan probably is the best thing to do!

Loan 2 and Card 1 should stay where they are as they are already on a low APR. I'd recommend taking out a low-interest loan (see Martin's article) and then pay off ALL the other debts because their APRs are astronomical!! It's unlikely he's repaying any debt at the moment with those rates - just their interest!

I'd say clearing those cards, DESTROYING them and then making significant repayments on the new loan each month (at a lower APR) is the only way to actually tackle those debts purposefully.

Just remember to CANCEL the existing cards (and to not take out any new ones) otherwise it's a journey even further down sh*t creek!

Best of luck!

Oldernotwiser

Following on from information you've given on your other thread, it seems to me that you're handing over about £400 pm of your earnings to pay off loans your husband accrued before your marriage. Now I know that some of his debts came from taking you out and treating you whilst you were going out so obviously you feel that you must contribute. However, this seems a very one sided arrangement to me and something that won't be good for your relationship in the longer term. You may be starry eyed now but it's easy to become resentful if this situation should go on for too long.

There are also people on here who are posting about you cutting back on snacks and hair as if it's you who should be making sacrifices.

THESE ARE NOT JOINT DEBTS.

Perhaps your husband should look at arranging a DMP which would be based on HIS income servicing HIS debts. That would enable you to build up some savings as you obviously manage your money well. This would only help to build your future together.

I appreciate that some of this may come over as a bit harsh but I think that you're being unfair to yourself and may come to regret it later.