Credit cards - Help required £50k + debts

Downexile

Hi all,

I am pretty clued up on credit cards and balance transfers, although currently have come up against a brick wall and thought I might be able to pick the brains of the MSE stars on here!

I have a decent salary, rent shared accommodation have no dependants. So I am fortunate in that I am currently able to manage all of my outgoings.

Over the past 24 months I have started a new business with a friend of mine which is coming along well, but not paying us any money yet as it is all being reinvested. It will work out long term.

With any new business though we needed start up capital, and with no long term savings available we utilised all of the credit which we could source.

My current debts are as follows.

Ulster Bank (RBS) Personal Loan - £23,000.00 @ 9% APR - Repay £400 pcm
Virgin Credit Card - £15,000.00 @ 19% APR - Repay £360 pcm
Natwest - University Loan - £4,000.00 @ 0.05% APR - Repay £250 pcm
RBS Credit Card - £7,000.00 @ 19% APR - Repay £150 pcm
Barclaycard - £1,250.00 (interest free) - Repay £30 pcm
Natwest overdraft @ 19% APR - £500.00

As I said previously I do not have any problems in managing the repayment of my debts £1,200 pcm, but the problem I have is paying such high interest on the Virgin and RBS credit cards. I would ideally love to transfer the balance of both cards onto a 0% offer, although to my knowledge there are no options open to me at present, in my view because I have such a high level of lending and would be deemed high risk.

I have contacted Virgin and RBS and attempted to get them to decrease the interest rates, although not surprisingly they have not been very helpful or welcoming to such a proposal.

I would certainly jump at the chance to consolidate all of my credit cards into a personal loan at any rate up to 10% as it would still be much cheaper than the current interest rates I am contracted to.

If any of you have any ideas at all as to how I may decrease the cost of my lending or even how I may handle or consolidate my debt to improve my cash flow then I would certainly welcome the same.

I do not wish to harm my credit rating or enter into any debt management schemes with companies as to do so would be detrimental to me given my profession.

Look forward to hearing from you.

Kindest regards

:beer::T:beer:

dotdash79

Have you not looked at a business loan?

In what time-scale have you built these debts up? 6 months? 2 years?

Downexile

Thanks for your response. I haven't looked at a business loan as I am in business with a partner (business is a ltd copmany and both equal shareholders) and did not want to complicate matters as he had available capital to invest in the business and we cannot at present put the business in a burden of a business loan.

I have built the debts up over the past 3 years. I had an average debt level of approx £20k until I took the personal loan last Oct for £25k which is now currently at £23k.

_Andy_

If the business isn't paying you anything at the moment, no lender will offer any new borrowing to you at all.

Downexile

I am not looking for new or additional lending. What I am looking for is to consolidate all of my own existing debt in the cheapest way possible, and simply looking for some pointers or ideas that I havent thought about already.

_Andy_

You would be looking for new lending if you approach a new provider.
You mentioned a consolidation loan - this would be a new application. The fact it's for existing debt isn't relevant.
As you don't have an income no lender will offer you anything.

Downexile

Apologies for any confusion. I am aware that with a new application it would be new lending, although what I mean is that I am not looking to increase my level of lending, I simply wish to either consolidate or transfer my credit cards to a different lender, hence why I have provided so much detail about my current situation and how much I am currently borrowing, who the providers are and the interest rates, as I believe this may assist some users in advising me accurately as to which provider may entertain such a transfer or consolidation.

I am currently employed full time at present earning a salary of £35k per annum. I will continue to be employed full time. The business is a separate interest.

lynz68

Your problem will be a lender cannot guarantee you will pay off the cards you already have and will treat any lending as additional to what you already have access to that would apply be it a loan or card you apply for.

As a rule of thumb available credit should not be more than half your income so you may have difficultly getting further credit.

_Andy_

It's impossible for anyone here to be sure, but I doubt strongly you'll get accepted for a c.£25k debt consolidation loan with another loan of similar amount in background on that income.