Struggling with big debts! Any advice helpful!

mistersticks

Currently earn £37000 combined


personal loan £440 month (finishes Aug 2015)
Personal Loan £318 ( finishes jan 2016)
Capital One Credit card £8000 at 185 month
Nat West Credit card £6100) at £135 month
Denplan £38 month
Mortgage 163000 Interest only £363
Life Critical illness £73 month
Virgin media tv,broadband, phone £36 mon
car loan £150 month
green flag £120 yr
Bank overdraft £6000!


As well as food, petrol and usuals


Please help

Hayleylou1981

Hi mistersticks,

I am not a professional debt advisor, but having 'been there' with seemingly unmanageable debt, I know how easy (mine was due to a horrendous period in our life) it is to end up in a place where you are working to service your debt!

Stepchange is brilliant and they have online tools which show you what you can actually afford to pay your creditors. I managed this myself (so didnt have a debt management plan with them) and am now in a place where my debts are manageable and next year my personal loan will be repaid and I will be more or less debt free :T

My creditors were fantastic and I would urge you to speak to them, or stepchange (or one of the other free services) if you feel you need support in making arrangements. From what you have put I can see that you must be left with nothing to live. Yes it wrecks your credit rating but the relief from having money to spend on actually living is immense (and if you're like me credit is probably something you never want again in the near future!)

Please don't feel despondent - the diaries on here are a constant source of inspiration and ideas. Other posters may ask you to post your SOA for advice and support. There is a brilliant community on here.

I know what it's like to be paid and have nothing left - but sorting what you can afford is the first step. Good luck and keep us updated with how you get on x

mum2one

your first step I would do a statement of affairs (theres a link at the debt free board top) this lists all incomings and outgoings - sometimes a 2nd eye over things may help, but again stepchange are brilliant, can't recommend them enough xx

tiger_eyes

I third the suggestion to fill out a full statement of affairs. That will prompt you to gather essential information such as the interest rate of each debt - ideally you need to pay off the highest-rate debt first. Just a quick question, do you have a repayment plan for the interest-only mortgage?