Debt consolidation

cbjones1

Hi,

First post! I've been up and down with payday loans (I know, I know...) and currently very, very down.

It's not a massive debt but its very cyclical and i'm fed up of giving these sharks my hard earned money sinking further into what I call "soft debt" (pays off every month, but need to take more out to service the gulf). My credit history is shot because of a default (in 2009/2010 i think) and my bank online (halifax) explicitly says something about a good credit rating to take out a quick decision online loan through my account. I also have a credit card making the minimum payments. I earn just over £12.5k a year so paying out over £600 per month is crippling. All i'd need to reset my finances (and couple it with finally getting on the road, something I just can't afford right now) is about £2500. Is it worth a meeting with my banks financial adviser on a course of action and to explain circumstances as I simply can't go on with the cyclical nature of the pay-day sharks. Pay day has become a depressing prospect and at present, I can't see a way out.

Any advice on getting out of this merry-go round is much appreciated!

Sedge123

I'm not sure about the loan. I think because of the pay days you may not get s great rate.

I can understand why the pdl are happening every month. Why not try and take out slightly less each month and cut them down that way?

DCFC79

Yes you might be better off meeting the banks financial adviser, why not see what they say and come back to post on here what they say.

cbjones1

That was quick, thanks!

I have been successful in doing that in the past and something i'm definitely going to attempt to implement next month! The thing that irks me is the PDL companies say "pay back on time and your credit rating will improve" i'm yet to see any tangible evidence of this! Only internal "Lender approval ratings"

Vikipollard

cbjones1 wrote: »

Hi,

First post! I've been up and down with payday loans (I know, I know...) and currently very, very down.

It's not a massive debt but its very cyclical and i'm fed up of giving these sharks my hard earned money sinking further into what I call "soft debt" (pays off every month, but need to take more out to service the gulf). My credit history is shot because of a default (in 2009/2010 i think) and my bank online (halifax) explicitly says something about a good credit rating to take out a quick decision online loan through my account. I also have a credit card making the minimum payments. I earn just over £12.5k a year so paying out over £600 per month is crippling. All i'd need to reset my finances (and couple it with finally getting on the road, something I just can't afford right now) is about £2500. Is it worth a meeting with my banks financial adviser on a course of action and to explain circumstances as I simply can't go on with the cyclical nature of the pay-day sharks. Pay day has become a depressing prospect and at present, I can't see a way out.

Any advice on getting out of this merry-go round is much appreciated!

Personal opinion, forget about getting on the road until you are able to manage your money. IF you can get a bank loan to clear off the payday loan, keep it at just that.


(A) you will know if you are able to survive paying off an amount which doesn't have eye watering interest rates and


(B) getting on the road is a year round expense which you need to be confident you can budget for in advance. Not borrow for it, then have the payment to make AND the running costs as well.


And it would actually stand to benefit your credit rating, assuming you keep to the payment schedule. I was under the impression that payday loans on anyone's record were the proverbial red warning flag saying you have more month than money, particularly if they were repeated.


The other suggestion I would make is to open a Credit Union account. I save with mine, but apparently the one I'm with offer an alternative to a pay day loan at about 25%. Clearly that has to be paid off properly and there is an expectation that you will also save money with them each month as well. Perfectly fair, of course.

sistafromanothermista

The first thing is to post up an SOA.
This is to see if there are any areas to cut back your spending.
You need to do this ASAP to try and get yourself out of this hole without adding any more debt to it.
Good luck!