Help please trying to get loan to consolidate

PrincessStanny

Will try to keep this short. Am trying to sort out my finances. Would like a loan of £10,000 to consolidate:-

Lloyds loan - £5000 (final settlement) (17.9%)
Egg loan - £1200 (final settlement) (11.3%)
Edge card - £1000 - 24.9%
Argos - £800 - 25.9%
Natwest overdraft - £1000 (18.9%)
Lloyds overdraft - £950 (not sure of APR but pay £14 pm)

Now didn't consider borrowing more but Natwest put idea into my head by asking whether I wanted to set up a repayment plan for my overdraft. Said no but on further thought looked into it and it would be better for me to get a £10,000 loan over 5 years hopefully paying between £200-£250 pm. Unfortunately have missed payments on some things as have been off on maternity leave.

Am trying to rebuild my credit rating anyway. How long do you think it would take if I made all payments on time to get a good credit score again? Do you think it would be worth rebuilding then trying to get a loan to consolidate? Was thinking about buying a credit check service that Experian offer for £5.99 pm to watch my report. Have got a copy of report for £2 but it doesn't actually tell me what my score is. Is there anyway to know what lender's ideal scores are?

I know the likelihood of me being able to get this is pretty slim but would appreciate any advice you have to give me regarding this even if its just to get this idea out of my head!!

Thanks

CLAPTON

Before you even think about consolidation, have you addressed the issues that got you into this debt?
Have you worked out a budget and do you stick to it.
Have you stopped spending on the CC?
Unless you do this its very likely that you will simply build up the CC debts again and then you will have a loan and lots of CC.

Once you have got the budget worked out and you're living within it, then it makes sense to try to reduce the interest you are paying on the loans and cut up the CCs.

What sort of interest rate were Natwest offering .. normally these are very high and they try to sell you PPI as well.

The credit ratings from experian aren't worth the paper they are written on (or the screen for that matter). Each creditor have there own system for rating you.
There is no reason why you can't apply for a loan and see whether you are offered one.. a single application wont hurt your credit record.

PrincessStanny

Thanks for the advice. Yes have sorted a budget and am hardly spending anything at the moment. In fact have moved back to my parents to try and pay everything off. Really would like the loan so I can get my payments into one and would then be able to afford my own place along with my one loan payment. Plus the interest I'm paying on my current debts is quite high.

Natwest were offering 8% I think although I have missed payment so really don't think I'd get it as I think they look as though I was doubling my debt as they don't know I want to consolidate.

Do you know how long I would have to make payments on time to build up my score? I noticed from my report that they record payments over 12 months. Or would 6 months suffice.

Also how do I get my actual credit score?

Thanks

CLAPTON

there is no such thing as a credit score as each lender has their own system for scoring you depending upon their lending criteria, so you will have numerous credit scores.

As I said a single loan application won't make any difference to your credit file (remember the file doesn't show whether it was successful or not only that you made an application).
Don't be influenced by the 'one simple payment' adverts but only look at the APR and don't agree to PPI.

danielle24

I just did exactly the same thing this week - I consolitated £10k of debt to Natwest. I too had a poor credit record and it did take a year of applying every six months to get Natwest to accept my application but it is worth it - I am paying just under £200 pcm at 6.9% - I'll be saving around £50 a month on credit card and overdraft interest and all my banking is with Natwest which really makes things easy.

I was told that as long as you haven't missed payments for three months they'll consider you - and you have to make it clear you are consolidating your debts with them - I also had to promise my boyfriend to cut up my credit cards and close all my other accounts but it's worth it.

danielle24

CLAPTON wrote: »

there is no such thing as a credit score as each lender has their own system for scoring you depending upon their lending criteria, so you will have numerous credit scores.

As I said a single loan application won't make any difference to your credit file (remember the file doesn't show whether it was successful or not only that you made an application).
Don't be influenced by the 'one simple payment' adverts but only look at the APR and don't agree to PPI.

Oh, and def. no PPI! And I believe it's best to go to a mainstream bank or building society for this - don't get tempted by all those finance companies on the telly! Really, really high interest rates!

Osso

From personal experience, you should agree to their PPI to get the lowest rate possible. Remember, its an optional product so you can phone them back the next day and tell them that you want to cancel the PPI. Then they will send out another credit aggreement document through the post without PPI.

PrincessStanny

Thanks for all your great advice. Think I'm gonna wait 3 months then apply as have missed payments recently plus I'm waiting for my ex to be taken off my file as he has bad credit. Applied for a joint loan back in August which I had forgotten about. Experian agreed to remove his name earlier this week but will take a week before the report is changed. Plus not sure if Natwest use Experian but suppose it will take another couple of weeks for them to inform the other credit information services (which they said they would do).

Thanks again - you're comments have given me hope. And will remember NO PPI. Explained to Osso in another thread that Natwest have already tried to give me the hard sale to which I argued relentlessly but think to make life easier I will agree then change it the next day saying I've found cheaper alternative elsewhere.