Consolidating Debt

lynzpower

How is your credit rating tricky? Have you had a look at it online?

I would not sign up for the loan unless you are certain that your CR wouldnt take a 0% card. After all why pay for something you can get for free, and youd save hundreds in the long run.

mjdh1957

Have a look at the calculators on https://www.whatsthecost.com - the advice there (as well as here) is that Snowballing (paying most off the highest APR debt first) is the best way to get out of debt in 9 out of 10 cases. Consolidation only works if you are very disciplined and don't take on any more debt or overspend.

Secret1234

Hi there

Just a little note, in august 2005 i got a £17,000 loan @6.9% to consolidate my debts. I walked out of the bank and cut up all 3 credit cards (didn't cancel them), leaving one for 'emergencies'. I felt very proud of myself

However, 15 months down the line, i spent up on my 'emergencies only' credit card (£4500) and egg sent out a new card (i'm sure they knew i'd cut the thing up!!) and i spent another grand on that without even noticing i was doing it :eek:

I know you may be completley different to me, but i felt determined to be debt free and strict with my spending when i got my loan, i still have no idea what happened but i obviously was not ready.

It might be the best thing for you to get a consolidation loan, it may solve your problems i'm not sayimg you'll do the same thing as me, BUT you just have to be sure you will not be tempted to spend on CC's or get loans ever again, i know i won't!!

Hope everything works out (sorry to be negative, just don't want people to make the same mistakes i did)

Jen xxx

Paige

Tricky Dicky, please think very carefully before you consolidate, for most people it does not work. You need to have a good look at this board to find cheaper options ie, utility bills, groceries, cleaning products. Also try to make some extra money by ebaying, car boot sale or maybe an extra job.
Everyone thinks that a consolidation loan will help them start afresh but I am afraid most people end up with more debt.
Good Luck, Paige XX

betti911

I consolidated my debts into a loan too about 2 years ago. The loan totalled about 7k. Then I ran up more debts on my credit card totally another 5k. Consoldating for me just seemed to make me inclined to spend more.

Tricky_Dicky_3

I have just done an online Credit Check and have a score of 841 / 1000 - it says this is a good score - so that's some good news at least!

Mrs_Sparkle

You sound like me 3 years ago. I took out a £16,000 loan with Egg to consolidate my CC debts and have a bit extra on top for solicitors' fees for the house I was buying at the time. Less than a year later my CCs had built up again plus I'm now stuck with a £399 a month loan payment on top. If there's any way you can avoid falling into this trap I beg you to do it- I would never consolidate again and would never have done so if I'd found this site earlier :-)

Good luck! Stick with us and let us know what you decide and how you get on.

dinkylou

Tricky Dicky,

Please listen to the others on here and dont consolidate as you have suggested. It's not the best way forward for you and its not going to get rid of the debt any sooner as you'll be taking it over a longer time. Others have been in a similar situation and so now you can learn from their mistakes.

If you have a good credit rating, and it sounds like you do, you should be able to transfer a good amount onto 0% cards which will help.

Then you need to start looking carefully at where your money goes each month. If you are serious about paying this debt off and not getting any more then it is going to take some work and some changes but it will be hugely worth it in the long term.

Have a look at the DFW fly babies thread at the top for some help and try using the snowball calculator to see how long it will take you. https://www.whatsthecost.com/aspx. It really will be an eye opener and will show you that by throwing all the little savings at your debt, that it goes much faster and costs you less.

Yargo1

hi there, where do you go to check credit rating online?

Tricky_Dicky_3

Hi - I got my online credit check at

http://www.annualcreditreport.co.uk

Hope this helps