34.9% ? ? ?

continualdiamond

In a bit of a panic. When combining our debts together it totals £20,850.

We recently bought our 1st house and got a 0% interest for the 1st 6mths mortgage with intention to put the remaining away to equal what we used to pay in rent, had we of done this we would have saved £2100.

Unfortunately my fiancee was out of work come the new year and the extra money we had went into doing up the house and then of course myself supporting both of us.

Now our 0% time is about to end so have missed the opportunity to save up the money which was going to be used to go to Australia for my sisters wedding. Im Australian and haven't been back in 3 years, my fiancee has never been. We desperately want to go to the wedding, i am mean't to be in it.

My fiancee has applied for another credit card and been accepted with a limit for £2000 at a pathetic 34.9%. I straight away told him where not using it as we'll never get that balance cleared. He's told me its with captial one and has a 0% intro offer, but im scared of using it to pay for flights and never getting the balance cleared before the 34.9% kicks in.

Wedding is in Aug, where looking to fly out at the end of July. What should i do???

I desperately wanna go to the wedding but at the same time is it worth getting into more debt.....

RayWolfe

Stop spending and thinking about spending.
Sorry but it's the best advice I can give.

continualdiamond

Well i really dont have a choice to do that do i, i need to make a decision either way, i either miss out on my younger sisters wedding or try and get the money some other way.

RayWolfe

Of course you do!
If you haven't got the money (and in fact you've got 20K minus) you can't do what you want.
Accept it, like I have accepted that I can't have the Porsche that I really, really want.

kenshaz

I sorry to have to say this ,but Australia is out of the question ,I realise that it is something that you really need to do ,but to gain happiness you must tighten your finances not compound them,make an excuse ,illness ,I realise that it is difficult ,but you have no real option ,because if you go your debts will be deeper and longer ,sleep-less nights for short lived pleasure ,be realistic.
I know that the correct answer is not always what we want to hear.

fairyprincess76

ok i have been in serious debt and luckily was helped out but now i have to be so carefull with how i spend my money.

a friend has just had to remortgage to get out of a bad debt and they nearly lost the house.

this is a hard one as you really want to go and i completly understand that which means you have to knuckle down on your spending.

you have options of loans which can put all your debt in one place with one monthly outgoing but if you do this you must budget big time otherwise you will end up with more debts. when taking out the loan ask for more than you need so you have money for your trip OR once you have the loan you may find you can put some money aside but you havent long and i assume that a flight to australia is pricey(just a guess never been)

some people will totally disagree with me on a loan but it can work if you stick to your budgets.

whatever you decide to do good luck and from someone whos knows stop spending and say no to things that you really dont need.

good luck

hope you manage to sort something out

continualdiamond

I am trying to be realistic, but when im thousands of miles away from my whole family and a wedding pops up its hard to think straight.

Granted if a wedding wasn't happening i wouldn't even think of going, but the thought of all my family at the wedding minus me, when my sister has asked me to be a bridesmaid is a bit hard.

I moved here for my bf and haven't been back since Xmas 2003, so its very difficult to not get upset about the thought of not being able to go back. Events like this are ones people dont wanna miss out on.

I can see people dont really understand where im coming from, maybe you will if you ever move half way round the world.

kenshaz

fairyprincess76 wrote: »

ok i have been in serious debt and luckily was helped out but now i have to be so carefull with how i spend my money.

a friend has just had to remortgage to get out of a bad debt and they nearly lost the house.

this is a hard one as you really want to go and i completly understand that which means you have to knuckle down on your spending.

you have options of loans which can put all your debt in one place with one monthly outgoing but if you do this you must budget big time otherwise you will end up with more debts. when taking out the loan ask for more than you need so you have money for your trip OR once you have the loan you may find you can put some money aside but you havent long and i assume that a flight to australia is pricey(just a guess never been)

some people will totally disagree with me on a loan but it can work if you stick to your budgets.

whatever you decide to do good luck and from someone whos knows stop spending and say no to things that you really dont need.

good luck

hope you manage to sort something out

Consolidation is not the answer,no point borrowing more,there is light at the end of the tunnel,because if you are even considering this trip it means that you are a spender ,stop spending and borrowing.
Please do not allow emotion to colour your decision making ,use your head not your heart,returning to the problems after the event is an awesome prospect,the family will be there for many years to come.

continualdiamond

The holiday is sorta pricey, cheapest i've found is from heathrow to perth from 27th july to 30th august for £2020 return for 2 people. Id stay at my parents house, in my old room as i pretty much just up and left.

Anyway thanks for the posts, guess its a topic people are gonna be a bit harsh on at which i appreciate comments its also something i can do without while my mind is all over the place.

continualdiamond

not worthy of replying anymore, will leave this forum

xgingerx

Hi, my view only !!! BUT I understand both sides of the coin. I think Debt Consolidation can work if:

1) You have loans / cards at extortionate rates of 20% + and you have the option to get a loan for less than 10% over a fixed period of time.

2) You are deciplined pay your monthly loan by direct debit and not to take on or use any more credit and stick wihin your budget, shred any store and credit cards.

3) MAKE SURE IT IS AN UNSECURED LOAN - DO NOT TAKE SECURED LOAN AS IF YOU DID GET INTO DIFFICULTY YOU WILL LOSE YOUR HOUSE!!

Sometimes paying off a fixed rate loan over a fixed amount of time is a good way of actually paying off the debt, the problem with credit cards / stores cards especially unless you are extreemlely good at paying the debt down and not respending on then can be just a lifetime of debt as opposed to a fixed debt which is payed off in say 5 years.

Listen guys there are pros and cons to both sides.

Snowballing debts is good, but only if you have an amount of spare cash each month to start the snowball off !!

So a lot does depend on your circumstances.

Good luck anyway.