What are my chances?

inbetweener

So i went to my bank yesterday to discuss a loan and what rates i could get if i did decide to take out a loan (just testing the water).

On a 8.8k loan the rate would be 19.7% over 4 years paying back total of 12.4k,

On a 10k loan the rate was 17.9% over 4 years paying back 13.7k.

I mentioned i had seen rates available online that were a lot lower and the guy said only 1% of people actually get the rate on offer.

From reading on here i am aware that there is a certain element of truth in this but was wondering if he was just telling me this so i would lean towards taking a loan out with him?

I could see that my risk rate with them was 3 out of 10 which to me does not seem too bad.

In your opinion would i be likely to be accepted for a better rate elsewhere?

Thanks in advance

poppy52

I wish someone had told me not to consolidate my loans before I did so. In the end my debt was over £120,000 - the consolidations never worked and I just got deeper and deeper in debt. It has taken me 7 years and much heartache to have finally paid off, some in full and some in full and final offers.

My advice - don't consolidate.

inbetweener

Hi poppy52, im not saying i will i was just wondering if i would be eligible to be accepted for a better deal (always nice to know if your bank is being honest with you) than what i was offered

Tixy

Its 51% of people who are accepted who are offered the advertised representative rate.

What percentage of people who apply are declined is not known, but likely more than half are declined. So maybe overall the % of people who apply who get that rate might be something around 20% ish?

Whether you might get a slightly better rate elsewhere would be impossible for anyone to know. Lenders do have slightly different criteria, slightly different ideal customer profiles, but of course they are not known.

But if you make several applications that will decrease your risk of acceptance in the short term.

Generally your own bank is more likely to lend when others will not, I'd guess you would be unlikely to get a substantially better rate elsewhere.

Presumably you won't think of consolidating a debt thats currently at 10% at a rate substantiallty higher. Your loan is a decent rate. You might want to consider seeing if you could get a 0% balance transfer card to transfer some (or all) of your card debt to, if you haven't considered that yet?

inbetweener

Thanks for taking time to reply tixy, yes my current loan i have is at a good rate so didnt want to increase that.

I would imagine if i got a loan of 5k to pay off the credit card it would be at a really high rate, maybe just need to keep my head down and try and chip away at the credit card debt when i can each month

Motoko_2

I have to agree with the other posters who say Don't Do It.
Hang in there and wait untill your wife goes back to work, then you can work on bashing those debts out!

I know (from experiance ) consolidating is not the way to go, it's a slippery slope that takes you on a longer journey than intended!

inbetweener

So here i am 5 months on, due to unforseen circumstances its looking like it is not going to be until the summer when wife goes back to work part time.
The credit card now stands at just over 6000k so roughly having to add 200 a month to it, the limit is 6850k, now i have no reason to beleive i couldnt extend it if push comes to shove but i really dont want to do this.
Its got to the point now when the first thing i think about and last thing before i sleep is the 6k, i have always been a bit of a worrier but it is now beginning to get me down.
I wouldnt say im depressed but i do find it hard to stay positive and it is affecting my marriage, part of me says 'live for today, you have a wife and 2 beautiful babies, things will get better', but it doesnt last and im soon thinking about it again!
The credit card statement came through yesterday and the latest payment is 150 with 90 interest!
I know you are going to ask me to post a SOA but i really have done everything to cut back, doing overtime when i can etc.
Reading through the forum maybe my only relief may come from a balance transfer.
Question is can you still spend on the new card?
Any advice would be great, sorry to be so depressing on a bright sunday morning but this is eating away at me

poodlegal

Hi yes you can spend on the new card (unless you max it out with the balance transfer) but the new spending wont necessarily be at 0%. The key to sorting this out though is never going to be looking at ways to find more credit, (believe me!) if you are overspending your budget by £200 per month you really need to find out where you can either save or find an extra £200. I know its not what you want to hear. IMO the best bet would be to find a 0% transfer deal, close your old cc account and then just chip away at it. Have a really good clearout ebay some stuff just to get a good start on it. Maybe keeping receipts for a month both you and your wife may help to see where some of the money is going. Then i'm afraid its a change of lifestyle for a while, downbrand, no booze etc. Please dont think i'm being harsh i've been there (as many on here have) and the only way to get rid of debt is address spending, rubbish I know!

wannabee_in_credit

But if you're adding £200 a month then by July that £6k that's stressing you out is going to be £7k.
It's fine if you don't want to post a SOA (although I suggest you do), but clearly you are living beyond your means and that cannot continue. What will you do if your wife can't get a job?
I'm sorry if I sound a bit blunt, but I did the whole buy-now-pay-later thing while my husband was off work sick for almost a year, and I was on maternity leave. I hadn't forseen that situation coming, and my debt that was about 14k at the time went up to almost £30k. It came to a head because I couldn't get credit anywhere any more and I had to admit defeat. I wish I'd cut back on outgoings sooner though as I'm still paying it back 3 years later. And we have learned to live within our means, and we have a pretty ok life with the money we have. Yes, we've cut back but we can still do things... and I'll tell you something else, nothing beats the feeling of being able to sleep at night without waking up and stressing about money.

inbetweener

Hi poodlegal, i have been doing the weekly shop for as little as £40 a week which for a family of 4 (well 3 and a half) is not too bad i dont think. Unfortunately this is what goes on to the credit card and the odd petrol hear and there.
Until my wife brings money in to the house it will not be any different im afraid so guess i am after just a bit of leeway.
Its frustrating as only have 2000 left on my loan at 167 a month, if i didnt have this i would not need to use the credit card.
I have came across a thread for 'stepchange' so am going to give them a ring tomorrow for some more advice.
Thankyou