24K debt, 25 years old, work in a bank = problem!!

hypno06

I am glad you are sorted, but keep on posting here to make sure you stay on the right path.

You know how easy it is to say "consolidate then never have any more credit again, have learnt my lesson" but you also know how easy it is to say "no cash in the bank, just use this credit card, apply for this 0% offer for emergencies etc"

So, to keep you on the straight and narrow, join the challenges here, take advice from others and give advice to others when you can. These are the things that will help to make sure that your consolidation doesn't turn out to be the biggest mistake.

Hope to see you posting on other threads soon!

gpage2000

hypno06 wrote:

I am glad you are sorted, but keep on posting here to make sure you stay on the right path.

You know how easy it is to say "consolidate then never have any more credit again, have learnt my lesson" but you also know how easy it is to say "no cash in the bank, just use this credit card, apply for this 0% offer for emergencies etc"

So, to keep you on the straight and narrow, join the challenges here, take advice from others and give advice to others when you can. These are the things that will help to make sure that your consolidation doesn't turn out to be the biggest mistake.

Hope to see you posting on other threads soon!

Think i will, keep on posting, keep my mind on track - i am still in no way 'debt free' i've basically just increased my mortgage by about 25% so i need to be sticking to an extremely well disciplined budget

Plutos_2

ZTD wrote:

Your loans are debt. Your credit cards are debt. A mortgage is debt. You can not pay off debt with debt. Debt can only be paid off with money.

Yes, but debt at 8% is much, much better than debt at 15%

ZTD

Plutos wrote:

Yes, but debt at 8% is much, much better than debt at 15%

And debt at 0% is much better still. But no one with £20,000 on a credit card (at 0%) claims to have "knock[ed] it on the head", yet the OP claimed that adding £20,000 onto a mortgage at 8% would.

Showed a bit wooliness around the concept of "paying a debt off".

gpage2000

ZTD wrote:

And debt at 0% is much better still. But no one with £20,000 on a credit card (at 0%) claims to have "knock[ed] it on the head", yet the OP claimed that adding £20,000 onto a mortgage at 8% would.

Showed a bit wooliness around the concept of "paying a debt off".

8%? I never mentioned the rate, it's actually only 6.49% + taking into account the over-payments we will be making, will only reduce this. As of Monday when the money is transferred, yes i know i'll be really an extra £30k in interest worse off: but i've already set up the s/o to overpay £100, which will save thousands, and 17 years - it's just seems pointless to be working more, lose time with family paying £550 per month when we can pay £250 (loan + over-payment) to have the situation made easier and affordable for us.

I am not seeing it as that i've paid debt off, more that i've made it manageable

but i still feel that i've "knocked it on the head" as i must have previously mentioned!

chevalier

The main thing is can you be sure you will keep up the repayments for the long term? I think that some of the others might be worried, that you have taken on this secure debt, and WILL end up paying £1000's more in interest, because life changes mean that you CAN'T keep up the overpayments.

Have you also got a regular saver vehicle that you can save money in for emergencies, this should be factored into any new budget that you make, along with monthly payments for all the yearly bills. In this way there is less chance of a big bill coming in that you can't cope with. But maybe I am teaching my grandmother to suck eggs as the expression goes!!?
chev

gpage2000

chevalier wrote:

The main thing is can you be sure you will keep up the repayments for the long term?
chev

Well initially we thought the secured loan would cost about £250, so with that being £100 cheaper, sure we can keep up the payments. plus in April I will get a 10% pay rise which i'm hoping to save that 10% - then use my 1/4ly bonus (which i can track each day at work) for xmas, savings etc

as soon as my fiancee secures a part time job, then that'll give us extra income also

thanks for the post! :T

ZTD

gpage2000 wrote:

but i still feel that i've "knocked it on the head" as i must have previously mentioned!

You've taken a debt and spread it over longer in return for a lower monthly payment. It WILL be more expensive doing it that way.

That feeling you have of "having knocked it on the head" is the lead in to the madness of the consolidation cycle. Are you going to be strong enough not to run up debts and keep "knocking them on the head"?

Don't know, but time will tell.

gpage2000

ZTD wrote:

You've taken a debt and spread it over longer in return for a lower monthly payment. It WILL be more expensive doing it that way.

That feeling you have of "having knocked it on the head" is the lead in to the madness of the consolidation cycle. Are you going to be strong enough not to run up debts and keep "knocking them on the head"?

okay you seem to be perhaps missing the point here and clearly not reading all the posts (not that i expect anyone to!):

we WILL be overpaying a minimum of £100 per month, more than likely £150 to £200, which means that we will in fact pay back less due to saved interest on the credit cards and letting the loans run their course. We are more than sure that over the next 6 years we will pay back an average overpayment of £200.

You are probably thinking yeah yeah, bet he'll just take out more loans and cards etc: fact: people can change!

So in fact we could actually end up saving money by not paying off the minimum payments on the cc's forever and ever. I'm afraid the answer given by many of 'work more' is just not that easy with kids involved.

The loan is yes over 27 years if we let it carry on as it is. Over paying by £200 a month will reduce this to 6 years - and save £30K in interest. Sure a secured loan is not for everyone, but it works well for us. There's no option other than me changing work, my fiancee working full time again, putting both our babies into 'care' 5 days a week and selling our house - which to me, is unreasonable.

We have found a logical solution :j

as previously mentioned, oh i don't know, say 10 times: we are now very aware of what we have done, and it wont happen again. There will be no more.

I thought that people were meant to post on here to be helpful and constructive - not argumentative?! :mad:

Is there a way to end this thread?

gpage2000

ZTD wrote:

You've taken a debt and spread it over longer in return for a lower monthly payment. It WILL be more expensive doing it that way.

That feeling you have of "having knocked it on the head" is the lead in to the madness of the consolidation cycle. Are you going to be strong enough not to run up debts and keep "knocking them on the head"?

Don't know, but time will tell.

By the way "knocking on the head" is only a figure of speach - it does not literally mean "make things vanish" or "reduce debt"

My intended us of the saying is to say that I'm giving the combined debt a shake up, to make things easier for us

please don't take it literally!! :mad: