So much debt plus a huge overdraft....please help!

lea

Hiya

Sorry this is a really long post! Please can someone give me some advice.
I have posted before, back when the site started, but things have changed for the worse...here is my current situation.
Me and my fiance are currently in LOTS of debt, which we are just about 'managing' in the fact that we can meet the minimum repayments each month.
Here it is:

I.F loan with balance of £10,495 (£300 payment a month)
Capital One card-3.9% life of balance-owing £6,405 (had limit of £9,000 but last week I reduced it to £6,750)
Texaco card-3.9% life of balance-owing £2096 (with £2,500 limit)
Barclaycard-0% life of balance card (spend £1 p/month)-owing £1183 (did have £3000 limit but last week reduced it to £1,250)
Mint card-3.9% life of balance-owing £1490 with £1,800 limit and
Egg card-0% til Sep-owing £735 with £750 limit

Total: £22,419

Both mine and my finace's wages vary so its really hard to know what we're bringing home. My basic wage is £12,500 per annum but can earn anything from £0-£600 extra each month.
He gets paid weekly and brings home approx. £200-£350 per week after tax.

What a mess. My wages and also my partners get paid into a 'Gold' LloydsTSB account (in my name only) with a £2,500 overdraft limit which we have maxed out. Me and my partners pay never even covers it each month. Lloyds charge me £10 per month just for having that account, then lots of interest for the huge overdraft.
I want to revert back to the bog standard classic account or perhaps even close this account but the reason I am allowed such a huge overdraft is because I have the Gold account. We have recently opened a joint first direct current account and ideally would like the bills to come out from a normal Lloyds account and the First direct account to be used for general day to day use.
Do you think its worth applying for yet another loan/c.card to pay off the Lloyds overdraft once and for all? I am worried that I will be refused more credit.
(The credit above is all in MY name, the debt was equally run up over the years between us but he had a rubbish credit rating so I applied for all the 'best' credit cards + loansin my name and transferred the debt over)

Any help or advice would be much appreciated
(Sorry for waffling on!)

Lea

Magentasue

Initial thoughts:

1. Check out current accounts offering low rate or free overdrafts, transfer as much of your overdraft as you can.
2. Get a 0% card for the rest of your overdraft, the Barclaycard and Egg balances.
3. Make minimum payments on everything apart from the highest interest debt (your loan?) and pay as much as you can every month on that.
4. Check out CAB and other free debtlines to see what they advise.
5. Draw up a budget and work out what you can afford to live on/pay off.
6. Post your budget here for suggestions on how to cut your outgoings.

I sorted out our budget a long time ago, and although it's depressing to think about cutting back, it makes you feel in control again.

HTH

mountainofdebt

I could quite have easily written your post ...yes it is depressing but by being on this site I feel so much better and more importantly enpowered to do something about it...I just wish I had started earlier.

Firstly I pinched a spreadsheet from work that allows me to not to so much budget but keep a track of my spending - as a result in the 2 months I've used it, I've not gone over my overdraft so I guess I've 'saved' £30 for those two months.

My husband has a £3k overdraft (yes you read that right!) and the situation was getting stupid....we were making no in roads into paying it off. So I made the decision to transfer all the direct debits from his account and put them onto mine and pay it off at £100 per month. I have alo made arrangements so that when the month charges are notified to us I transfer that amount to his account so each month the balance is decreasing in real terms ...I know its a small drop in the ocean but we have more pressing debts at the moment to pay off.

Is it possible to live on your basic saalries and put any bonuses into the pot for paying off the debts?

As Magentasue said if you can list your budget on here there are people who I promise you can shave ££££'s off it!

Good luck!

skylight

I posted a little while ago - have masses of debts (£42k :eek: - there is no mortgage - we rent!)

Someone here strongly reccomended https://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk and I have sorted out budgets (income/outgoing and even housekeeping ones), sent off letters to my creditors, selling the car (to pay some money back!) and general advice. Have a good look at them - there is masses of sound advice, and points that I wasn't aware of.

Accepting that the problem can't continue is half the battle. We knew a few years ago that things might get worse - another baby and then his daughter from first marriage, turned our small 4 into a massive 6 and the debts just got worse! "We knew" - but we didn't accept it was going to happen. It did.

Anyhow - Good luck!

Debt_Free_Chick

The Self Help Pack from the National Debtline is here

http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/england_factsheets/debt_advice_england_wales.php3#3

This takes you through the whole process of constructing a robust budget then dealing with your creditors. It includes sample letters for dealing with your creditors and tips/tactics for addressing any issues that might arise.

HTH

purple_2

the best advice i could give in this situation is to contact the cccs (http://www.cccs.co.uk/) who are in my opinion the best people out there right now, they will guide you through every step of the process and stay with you till you're done

bagpuss

I have dealt with the CCCS today and can honestly say they are really helpful. Contacting them means you have to write down your outgoings and debts but they advise you on how to deal with them immediately and then arrange an appointment (phone) for a later date to sort out the problem with you then. They don't make you feel stupid or embarrassed as I guess they have heard it all before.

Please please contact them - we have similar debts overall and I am now hopeful that things will get sorted out and we will be debt free - eventually.

See also my posting and responses - They want to Put a charge on my house.

Bagpuss