Consolidation Loan

Idiophreak

mick4x4 wrote: »

I can afford around £500 a month to pay it all off

Are you sure? Have you circumstances changed since you ran up the debt?

Anyway, I've used a consolidation loan once and it was fine - easier to manage than CCs as you know exactly how much will go out each month, when it will end and don't have to worry about jumping from card to card the whole time.

Likewise, I've done plenty of 0% transfers and paid things off that way.

To be honest, cost wise, I doubt there's much in it. I've made a couple of mistakes on cards, paid some interest, had a couple of charges and paid the transfer fees on top....Add that up over a couple of years and it's probably little more than an unsecured loan would cost. If you trust yourself to be perfect and think your credit will enable you to get a new car every 18 months or whatever, doing 0% deals might be slightly cheaper.

Idiophreak

Shezz wrote: »

I would look for a new card that has 0% on balance transfers then transfer all them cards onto just the one card if they will let you have that amount on a card, not sure

£16k credit limit on a £27k income is pretty unlikely...

mick4x4

The £500 is roughly what I’m paying now to cover the cards minimum payments, I don’t have an extra £500 to throw at them,

That’s why i was thinking of a loan over 3 years, but it sounds like i might struggle getting one, would the loan companies accept that i will close the credit cards accounts once they are paid off reducing my available credit?

Or am i looking at all wrong?

glasgowsaver2011

Idiophreak wrote: »

£16k credit limit on a £27k income is pretty unlikely...

I am a phd student with a 1100 a month stipend - approx 13k a year

I have a 13500 credit limit with TSB (not maxed) - account getting closed in march as they are hiking the rates up

3k Credit limit with HBOS (interest free for 20 months 2500 on the card paying backk 200 a month)

They sometimes give high limits but this is not always a good thing

Idiophreak

mick4x4 wrote: »

That’s why i was thinking of a loan over 3 years, but it sounds like i might struggle getting one, would the loan companies accept that i will close the credit cards accounts once they are paid off reducing my available credit?

In a word, "no".

They've no way of knowing what you'll do with the cash was they've given it to you and are unlikely to take your word for it.

rdwarr

I had a consolidation loan once and it just seemed to evaporate. I ended up far more in debt than I was before. I wish I'd been more disciplined at the time; I used to make little distinction between "available credit" and "my money".

Firefox1975

I actually consolidated all of my debts and paid them off.

it does work - but it was very hard and took a very long time with a lot of sacrifices.

Snowballing would be more pyschologically effective as you will see tangible results within months rather than the years it took me.

rdchick

I went into Halifax looking to change my account from a student account to a graduate account... they gave me a charging account (ultimate reward) a £3500 loan to pay off my overdraft and credit card... seemed like a brilliant idea at the time... didn't do either and tadah! now in double the debt and paying it off slowly but surely. I wish I came on this site before I went into Halifax that fateful lunch break