Where to start?

llydaw

My brother says he as £12k of debt, to be honest I think it is close to £20K. He's applied and has been successfull to gain a sabbatical from his place of work to go to college but I can't see how he will be able to clear this debt in time. He's addicted to buying things, he takes home approx £1800pcm lives at home and pays around £100pcm which covers rent and everything else, the rest of his earnings funds his spending and meeting small payments on his cards and loans. This is the third time he's been in this situation, the first time my father bailed him out the second a family inheritance enabled him to clear it and now he's back to square one. He wants me to take out a loan on his behalf as he thinks I will be able to get a lower interest loan and then he will pay me every month, however I'm concered at doing this as he's not taking any responsibility for his own actions and if he lost his job etc.. then I would be left to cover the loan.

He is unable to get low interest credit hence he's having difficulty clearing it all. How should he best proceed? write to the companies asking if the would freeze his interest? would they/do they do this? I want to help him but in a practical way so he can help himself but I don't know where to start.

I'd appreciate any advice

thanks in advance

rayday2

Definately you should not do the loan for him - his past history with family as kind as they have been actually means he has never learnt his lesson!

I would get him to look at the national debthelpline website they have information you can download about reduced payments freezing interest etc but it is a huge commitment and he has to be 100% behind it.

llydaw

didn't know they existed will be emailing the link to him now.

thanks

fistfullofdollars

my 2pence (sorry if it sounds harsh).

Its simple really. Tell him he cant afford to take time off work untill he clears some of his debt. We all like to better ourselves but you cant have everything you want in life.

Dont take out anymore debt for him. He clearly hasnt had his LBM and wont change his ways. Try and get him to look at this forum and get him to look at exactly what he owes then come up with a plan of action.

rog2

I agree with the above. He needs to change his lifestyle and expectations.
A chat with one of the Debt Counselling Charities, CAB, CCCS or PAYPLAN won't hurt, and COULD get him back on track.

RAS

Two other things that might be useful

Get him to go to www.whatsthecost.com and put in his current debts and their APRs into the snowball individually and see how much it is going to cost him to pay them off.

Then get him to list them in order, highest APR first and snowball the debts.

Also on the CCCS web-site there is an on-line Debt management programme, which he could look at.

climbgirl

Don't take a loan for him! Given his history, you're going to wind up paying this debt, it will be legally yours.

I'd point out the debt repayment sites that others have posted (and bring him on here!). To be honest, until he wants to sort it out himself there's very little you can do except keep trying to educate him.

Bailing him out (again) by taking a loan for him will teach him nothing and just land you with a big debt.

RAS

Yep

And based on however many posters here, either he will go BK, but of course he is not able to pay family debts out of that, or you will end up spending years of your life paying off his debts from which he has walked away.

llydaw

Thanks for all your support. I've suggested all your advice so the ball is now in his court.

I love this site, so much advice on so many things, its a real community.l