Credit card or loan ??

Suz.R

Trying to work out if 1 loan would be better than 3 maxed credit cards. One with 8k, one with 4K and another with 2k. Also due a family member £4k!!

So this totals £18k.

Really getting me down. My husband is self employed has been for 2 years but this is a slow process.

Im contemplating going for a loan and binning my credit cards as i meet the minimum payments but thats about all i seem to do, then spend on them!

Can anyone help??

DCFC79

The apr% on all the cards might be a start for others to help.

OneLife_OneShot

Do you earn 40k a year? Then you won't get an 18k loan.

gb12345

conisme wrote: »

Do you earn 40k a year? Then you won't get an 18k loan.

Forget 40k, she'd need to be earning over 64k as the lender will consider all the existing credit that she already has in their calculations.

dealer_wins

Highly unlikely to get a loan (Like a 0% chance).

Best bet would be to post in the "debt free wannabe" thread and see where you can reduce your outgoings/spending.

With credit card debts, especially major ones like these, you are living way beyond your means and the brown stuff is starting to home in on the fan!!

DCFC79

You might be better off either looking for a 0% card to do the card shuffle thing OR close the accounts and look at your spending to make cut backs.

StuC75

The problem with £18k of debt is that to pay these off you are 'temporarily' exposing yourself to £36k worth of debt (maybe 32k in exclude the debt owed to family.

That is to say that with the debt paid off what is to then stop that debt re-occurring?!, maybe not straight away but over time..

We dont know your credit history \ earnings to see how much of a stretch this could be.. Use this as the 'light bulb' moment to organise the finances as by the fact you are still using the cards you are unfortunately living beyond your means..

so take steps on that before you look to consolidate down.

Suz.R

Wow you all put me in my place!! (newbie!) Trust me I do not live beyond my means, we scrape by each month but just got ourselves in a rut with my husband being self employed.

Ive been provisionally accepted for a loan, I just dont know if its the best thing! And I dont earn anywhere near £40k!

Thanks for your help peeps!

imoneyop

Suz.R wrote: »

Wow you all put me in my place!! (newbie!)

I don't think anyone has "put you in your place" - the posts are all factual based on the details you gave.

I'd be interested to know who has agreed to the loan, as most lenders will consider your total credit when underwriting a consolidation loan and only consider up to 50% salary (hence the comments about earning £40k and £64k)

DCFC79

Suz.R wrote: »

Wow you all put me in my place!! (newbie!) Trust me I do not live beyond my means, we scrape by each month but just got ourselves in a rut with my husband being self employed.

Ive been provisionally accepted for a loan, I just dont know if its the best thing! And I dont earn anywhere near £40k!

Thanks for your help peeps!

Not put in your place as such but given advice Yes.

I would also be interested to know who has offered the loan, if you do accept the loan (as I say if you post the apr of each card posters might be able to help more) you would be wise to close the credit card accounts to prevent you building up more spending on them.

Dovah_diva

Suz.R wrote: »

Im contemplating going for a loan and binning my credit cards as i meet the minimum payments but thats about all i seem to do, then spend on them!

Can anyone help??

Do you not consider that is where your problems lie? Getting a loan is not the answer, dealing with your spending is.