Newbie needing some Debt Free Wannabe advice

Barnsley_Paul

I've read this forum forever but this is my first post- hello!

I have a story like many others on this board- I have ended up with more on Credit Cards than I'd like, partially my fault and partially due to circumstances out of my control. There a lot more to this story but I'll not bore you with the details!

The good news is that I have turned a corner after a few years of misery, and I am now looking to get myself debt free as soon as possible, ideally within 2 years.

First the good news- this month is the last month of payments on a 4 year loan I took out to cover previous card debts. This will give me £240 of extra income a month from next month.

The bad news is that my circumstances changed drastically during the initial year of my paying this loan back, and I ended up running up more cards which now total £17k in total. I am struggling at the end of each month despite living rent free and having a reasonable salary (£30k). This is basically because I am forking out loads of interest to card companies when I should be paying off the debt.

Now obviously I have looked at 0% balance transfers but I am really cautious about making my first move because if I get turned down I may the struggle to obtain alternative funding to help sort my problem.

I signed up with Credit Expert recently and I have a credit score of 963, which apparently is very good. However when I used the service they provide to indentify balance transfer cards, the card that looked good for me only presented me with the option of a £1000 limit max- which is pointless really as I want to shift as much as possible.

I could also apply for another loan- which I could pay off in 2 years this time as if all my other debt is covered I'll have loads of spare cash - I could potentially pay £700 per month in repayments easily and still have loads of cash to play with.

However, I am again worried about being turned down for such credit as despite my good credit rating I do still carry a fair amount of unsecured debt.

I no longer have any active credit cards by the way, I have cancelled all and I’m left with paying the balances off- this was to ensure I never got in the position of increasing my debt burdon again.

So, should I just take the plunge and apply for a loan or balance transfer, or is there a better way to do it?

bargainbetty

You have two problems here - 0% deals are getting tougher to find - the banks have wised up to us tarting them, and your total debt is more than half your income - some places won't lend beyond that.

Perhaps you could look at low-life-of balance cards instead? If you could get some of a balance onto those instead, it would at least reduce your interest and increase the actual repayment.

If you can clear the highest interest debt (or the total of a high interest one) onto a LLOB card, you can then contact the provider of the now-empty card and ask if they will give you a deal - never hurts to ask. Rather than having a stack of applications, use the lenders you already have?

good luck

Barnsley_Paul

bargainbetty wrote: »

You have two problems here - 0% deals are getting tougher to find - the banks have wised up to us tarting them, and your total debt is more than half your income - some places won't lend beyond that.

Perhaps you could look at low-life-of balance cards instead? If you could get some of a balance onto those instead, it would at least reduce your interest and increase the actual repayment.

If you can clear the highest interest debt (or the total of a high interest one) onto a LLOB card, you can then contact the provider of the now-empty card and ask if they will give you a deal - never hurts to ask. Rather than having a stack of applications, use the lenders you already have?

good luck

Thanks bargainbetty.

How about if my total debt was less than half my income- I am due £5k soon and I will obviously use this solely to pay off the highest interest debt I am carrying. Presuming that's done, and my debt was £12k or less (£9k is on one card) then will I be more attractive for 0% cards or a loan? In other words, am I better waiting till I have paid some more off before looking at solutions for the rest? Only I am super eagre to get going as it's really frustrating to see so much going out every month purely in debt interest.