does my plan make sense

debtfree1day

sea / hypno

thanks whats an OP?

mortgage fixed at good rate 4.7%until sept 08 when it will revert to Standard Variable

sounds like if we do DMP now by next yr things will be stable, but accept wont get brilliant rate moving on. The way Interest rates are going and with a large mortgage its a tricky one....

going mystery shopping tonight, so that will be a fiver.........

lisa

Sea78

OP- original poster - you in this case

I reckon it might help to talk to someone like the CCCS just to see wht their take on it is...it'll just give you a few more options and you don't have to take their advice!

Sea xxxx

blackangeluk

debtfree1day wrote: »

Utilities costs

Water 59.31 pr month
Gas + electric 145 pr month (thats a combined bill)
Council Tax 119.04 (10 months from 12)

Website says small savings capable with fixed water meter, but I am not convinced. Young children, and a meter scares me. What if it goes up. Think I will stay put

Hi, we have 2 small children and DH who seems to live in the bath :mad: We switched to a water meter and have found it £20 a month cheaper than what our bills were estimated at by Unitied Utilities. I think, and please correct me if I'm wrong, that if your bill is more on a water meter than the estimates, within a certain time period you can switch back.

Has made me far more aware of our water usage, i.e. putting washing on with full load, saving running water - you may be surprised

debtfree1day

Overall, still not sure whether I should be trying to consolidate to cheaper debt via secured loan on house (which I know is risky) - enter a DMP - send a please reduce my interest begging letter - or just carry on throwing every peeny at the debts and hope I can pay more than the monthly interest AND eventually make it

Also in view on whether our decreasing term assurance could be sold somehwre else rather than just surrendered to CIS, as any extra would make a mjaor difference

Lisa

Shineyhappy

Would it be possible to switch your mortgage to interest only for a year? I know this isnt ideal but it is better than sticking all your debts on the mortgage.

hypno06

Ok, I would def suggest against securing the debt against the house - very rarely is this the right thing to do.

I would next suggest two things:

1. put your figures in the snowball calculator at https://www.whatsthecost.com to see what this produces - this is the "throw every penny at the debt" solution and it will tell you whether this is workable for you.

2. speak to CCCS or Payplan or use their online service to see what the DMP option throws up for you.

When you have done both these things you will know which one is right for you. Only you can make the decision once you have all the options in place.

Regarding decreasing term assurance - these have no cash in value so selling it on is not an option. You can simply stop paying into it and start a new one elsewhere that has cheaper options, but not sell it or surrender it. If it is an endowment policy or with profits policy then you could transfer or sell, but not if it is term assurance.

Hope that helps!

debtfree1day

thanks hypno

snowball calculator is really good and suggests 8yrs 9 months.

The issue I have is we keep paying the loans which are on low rate at current levels we will end up having nothing but min payments to make to credit cards which only covers interest so dont really satart paying bedts until loans end - which means we pay low interst debt before high interst....kind of anti snowballing!...

this is why i think soem consolidation must occur - althouigh acknowlegde concern about secruing unsecured debts

cccs appointment - waiting for times

term assurance - concensus is cant sell it elsewhere so am asking for surrender and closure tomorrow am, unless get any contray advice

£20 from mystery shopping yesterday:j

lisa

debtfree1day

Guys

Mortagge company have offerd 52k at svr with option to pay £495 and go onto a product...discount or fixed i guess

They want £1250 as they say its a high value loan between 90-95% of value, and £25 for switching repayment term on current debt from existing 13 yrs to 20 yrs, which they insist on (but makes sense). This means total monthly payments are the same even with the existing debt

They will not lend less - as they say they are not convinced we can survive without clearing debts .......I am cynical and think this is how to make sure they get the whopping fee

I dont want to waste another £1300 BUT the idea of getting rid of the 25%+ cards and the 000's of pounds of interest which is wasted every month is very tempting

advice not to consolidate into property made sense, and I decided in my mind on half house where I borrow £30k, cleared credit card debt, but then kept enough debt to keep me focussed, so that once cleared house equity would be worth soemthing

BUT that option seems to have dissappeared. Phoned around to see if I could borrow say £25k at low loan rate and was offered 17.9% by my bank - black horse, or secured loan with some dodgy company at 13.9% which wasnt exactly tempting

really thinking of mort option, as can see no other choice. The simple fact is with 2 big loans to pay , total debt repayment each month + mortgage makes current situ unsustainable

Been doing really well - £110 on MS and spending reducing every week

feeling depressed though

lisa

debtfree1day

just moving this thread up as keen to make decision tonight one way or other

lisa
x

lynzpower

I personally would not take the secured loan at all.

Its just massively risky. Are you certian you have learned the error of your ways and how to budget in a few short days? Only if you havent, and I would be worried you havent ( im still learning a year in!) then the debts can creep back up and you can lose your home to reposession.

I expect that you wont get far with a DMP due to the amount of savings and investments you have. Its my understanding that on SOME bonds, you CAN get the money out, but you will lose interest and gain.

I would say your best bet is to literally go hell for leather in getting these debts down yourself, for now. Im certain theres 100 quids worth of savings MIN on your shopping bill. Dont be embarrased to use vouchers for money off, and use markets, pound shops, bargain retailers etc. EVERY PENNY COUNTS.

What have you got to sell, anything you do not NEED has a value, so sell it :T ive made hundreds on ebay so far and continuing to do so. sell books/cds on amazon, greenmetropolis, play.com

have you given your electric company a real reading now? Make sure you are using energy saving LBs, insualte your loft, turn down your thermosatat, use pan lids, and soon you will see your usage drop too. Try looking on www.est.org.uk for loads of moneysaving tips for pocket & planet.

I expect it is a good idea to go onto interest only for a while and cash up your investments. Having a few "settled" accounts on your credit rating is a good idea, it will help when applying for Balance transfer ( BT) cards later.

All these hiugher lending charges and whatnot, these are all money you could be paying DIRECT off the debts you have and not accruing new ones.

You have been given some great advice from blackangel & pavlovs dog, get the whole family on board, and get paying it off.

Also mystery shopping, online surveys, and so on will all help towards getting debt free.

I would certainly write and see if you can get some reductions in your APRs tho.

Also have you had any bank or credit card charges for missing payments, failed DDS? If so head over to the reclaim bank charges board for info of how to claim all of these back.

Best of luck, hang in there, and get going on it :T the more money you make and the tighter you are the easier you will get out of debt

Lynz
x