16k of debt, can you help me?

jamiegee

Hi everyone,

Completely new to this forum so please be gentle. I am in a bit of pickle at present and don't know what to do - So I thought I would ask your advice.

As things stand I am currently in about 16k of debt which I want to clear my feet so I can eventually ask my gf to marry me. I am currently just paying the minimum on it all as I can't afford to pay anymore just now while my house is up for sale. The breakdown is as follows;

Loan - £1.1k, due to finish Feb 2016
Credit Card - £6.2k, minimum payments have went from £80pm to £150
Credit Card - £4.5k, minimum payments are about £50pm but will rise in 3months when rate expires
Credit Card - £4.6k, minium payments are about £90/100pm

Total incl the loan is £16.4k.

What do you think I should do? I am thinking about biting the bullet and taking a loan out to pay them all off and cutting all the cards up. I can then have peace of mind that it would be looked after eventually. However, I would still only be able to afford around £300 a month just now whilst my house is still for sale and empty!

My other alternative would be to take out a zero percent card and transfer whichever cards I can onto that to keep interest down. But that option is risky.

Let me know what you think....thanks in advance!

J

jamiegee

I stuck it through my banks loan calculator and to keep it at about £310 it would need to be sorted over 60months!! Pretty depressing situation I know....

This would all be dependant on if the bank would let me borrow that much!

My living situation is a strange one. I live in London now which is why my outgoings are so high but I also pay for a place up in Scotland which is currently up for sale. I am hoping it goes in the next few months as its empty and costing me around £300 a month in mortgage and bills etc.

asajj

Apart from your hope , how likely you are to sell your place ?

Paying debt with debt is not a great thing to do and you might not be able to given a loan due to your outstanding debts.

Is there any way you can cut back on spending ?

rockm87

maybe posting a SOA would be helpful?

There are loads of wonderful people here with great advice on wittling down your expenditure.

You can also try the snowball calculator which is really good at sorting out numerous debts.

MrWillyWonka

Putting unsecured loan into a secured loan is not the best thing to do, what if you come into further financial difficulty? You are putting your home(s) at risk.

If you consolidate, can you trust yourself to stop using the credit cards? A lot of people full into this trap/cycle where debt goes up, not down. A 0% balance transfer is probably the best way to go. As for popping the question using spare cash from loans - don't do it, you simply do not have the money, it can wait as you cannot afford a wedding anyway (sorry, harsh but being realistic and preventing further debt).

Post a SOA as others have said, what may be perceived as normal spending may not be so.

Congrats on doing something about your debt!

pickle_me

Jamiegee, with the amount you owe already I wonder whether you would even be able to get either a consolidation loan (at a decent rate) or a 0% card.

Completing an SOA and letting the clever DFWs here go through it would be a good start to finding a sensible affordable solution

FireWyrm

zuluwarrior31 wrote: »

So what is the loan payment? If you're looking at a loan, secured may be the best option (assuming you don't want to go back to renting?) Unsecured is going to have a higher interest rate and you could always take that little bit extra to pop the question too. There are plenty of secured lenders who will be able to provide a secured quote for less than your total monthly repayments.

Look. If you dont know what you are talking about, stop posting.

1) Turning unsecured into secured debt is an alltime no-no.
2) Consolidation loans do not (in my experience and hundreds of others on here) work. Honestly...ask anyone. It doesnt. You will end up right back where you started again.
3) You cannot pay off debt by getting into more debt....sheesh.

This is the second daft post I've seen from you. I suggest you just lurk for a bit until you stop feeling the urge to post advice that is at best suspect.

FireWyrm

jamiegee wrote: »

Hi everyone,

Completely new to this forum so please be gentle. I am in a bit of pickle at present and don't know what to do - So I thought I would ask your advice.

As things stand I am currently in about 16k of debt which I want to clear my feet so I can eventually ask my gf to marry me. I am currently just paying the minimum on it all as I can't afford to pay anymore just now while my house is up for sale. The breakdown is as follows;

Loan - £1.1k, due to finish Feb 2016
Credit Card - £6.2k, minimum payments have went from £80pm to £150
Credit Card - £4.5k, minimum payments are about £50pm but will rise in 3months when rate expires
Credit Card - £4.6k, minium payments are about £90/100pm

Total incl the loan is £16.4k.

What do you think I should do? I am thinking about biting the bullet and taking a loan out to pay them all off and cutting all the cards up. I can then have peace of mind that it would be looked after eventually. However, I would still only be able to afford around £300 a month just now whilst my house is still for sale and empty!

My other alternative would be to take out a zero percent card and transfer whichever cards I can onto that to keep interest down. But that option is risky.

Let me know what you think....thanks in advance!

J

There is not enough information here to work with. What is your income? What are your outgoings? You need to at least complete a realistic SOA and post it here because we cant advise otherwise.

Taking out a consolidation will not work, I can almost guarantee it. I've done it 3 times, other regulars have done it as often as me. We are talking hundreds of people's experience. It doesnt work. You will end up at best right back where you started within the year and if you are unlucky, end up owing twice what you started with. The only way out of this is to pay it off....in big chunks, as much as you can every month. There is no other remedy, no quick fix, no get out of jail free. It is hard graft, sound budget and discipline that will solve this....not some quick fix sold to you by an unscrupulous lender or snake oil salesman.