Student - after a debt consolidation loan... Realistic?

thebritishbloke

On another side note:

You're in your first year at university. Relax a bit. Unless you're doing medicine, or you're at Oxbridge, you don't need to be in uni 9am-6pm every day in your first year.

Talk to your employer and see what work is available. If taking the work means missing one day of uni a week, so be it. It's not going to be the end of the world, and trust me, it won't be difficult to catch up.

I might be in the minority, but I completed my Computer Science degree at a top-10 university. I literally only went to 10 lectures over the 3 years and I got a 1st Class honours degree. Getting a good grade does not require 45 hours of work per week for the whole school year.

And there's no "that's not an option because the university will get mad", you can talk to your university about your debt problems and they won't care. So long as you still get good grades in assignments and exams, you'll be fine.

This is the only realistic way I can see you managing to get a dent in your debt.

Vikipollard

thebritishbloke wrote: »

On another side note:

You're in your first year at university. Relax a bit. Unless you're doing medicine, or you're at Oxbridge, you don't need to be in uni 9am-6pm every day in your first year.

Talk to your employer and see what work is available. If taking the work means missing one day of uni a week, so be it. It's not going to be the end of the world, and trust me, it won't be difficult to catch up.

I might be in the minority, but I completed my Computer Science degree at a top-10 university. I literally only went to 10 lectures over the 3 years and I got a 1st Class honours degree. Getting a good grade does not require 45 hours of work per week for the whole school year.

You are definitely in the minority - but clearly very clever and gifted in your subject, so well done you !


My son was at University for well in excess of 45 hours per week - but a lot of that was well in to the evenings and over the weekend. He did work as well though - in his first year it was Sat/Sun 3pm - 11pm at an airport, but that became too much by Year 2 because of the amount of studying he needed to do. He dropped to Sat only, 1-9pm and that gave him a balance.


His situation was different though, in that he had no credit cards or overdraft, so no debt to pay down.


OP, I can't see you getting a consolidation loan - which in itself may turn out to be a blessing in disguise. Try snowballing and see what that suggests.

Determined89

All,

Thank you for your replies/advice/suggestions. I very much appreciate you for taking the time to help.

Tixy wrote: »

Is your husband in a position and willing to try to get cheaper credit in his name (such as a loan or credit card with 0% on balance transfers) which you could move some of the debt across to?

Whilst you are studying I would think you will find it almost impossible to get a loan to consolidate your existing debt.

Have you worked out how long it will take to repay the credit cards based on the £370/month and current interest rates? (if not it would be worth doing this - using the calculator at )

Do you have a student overdraft and is that account maxed out?

If you are unable to move the debt elsewhere and if these are subprime level interest rates then the other alternative may be to consider a debt management plan with one of the debt advice charities.

My husband has a horrendous credit rating (hence why everything is in my name), so there would be a very slim chance him being able to get a loan/credit card to make a dent without him taking out a debt with extortionate interest rates too.

I don't have a student overdraft, I didn't want to get one which will just become another part of the debt and just skimming a minuscule amount of the current level I already have.

It has worked out at about 4 years for the lot to be completely gone (interest and all), but then some will be cleared as soon as 4 months' time. So not forever, but as they have been hanging around for so long, I am just getting a bit impatient.

sevendials wrote: »

If you are in good standing with paying your credit cards it might be possible too get a credit card that offers a balance transfer. You could work out if this would be a helpful way too reduce the cost of borrowing.

I don't think that I will be able to get enough to make a considerable amount of difference, other than just taking off a small amount and then just worrying about that 'extra' debt too. I have looked into this already, but thank you for your suggestion though.

CrisAdams wrote: »

Suggestions:
1. Do you have any relatives that would lend you money to pay off the CC?
2. Make a budget and incorporate how much money can go against debt and stick to it.
2. Try getting online part-time jobs on eLance, Guru, etc., to go against paying off debt. Hours are very flexible.
3. Sell what you no longer use and put that against debt.
4. Purchase only what you need and not what you want. Instead save up for what you want.

1) No, my family understand that I have no money due to being a student but they don't know that it has been spent on paying back credit cards. I would prefer to not get involved with bringing them into the scenario, if possible! I am lucky (if thats the right word) that I can afford to cover minimum payment and about 25% on top for each debt each month, so I am not in the situation whereby my rent relies on it each month and I am pushing money from account to account each month to make ends meet (unlike some people I know). If that was to be the case, then I would contact them ASAP to see if they could help me out.
2) Every penny (except £80) of my monthly income is going straight onto debt. I spend my money on nothing else.
3) I will check them out - thank you!
4) I have already done that, the only things I have left is the husband and my two dogs!
5) Back to number 2, I don't spend money on anything else! My spare £80 is used to pay for anything I need for university (something always crops up) and anything else which may crop up in day to day life which needs to be paid for.

thebritishbloke wrote: »

On another side note:

You're in your first year at university. Relax a bit. Unless you're doing medicine, or you're at Oxbridge, you don't need to be in uni 9am-6pm every day in your first year.

Talk to your employer and see what work is available. If taking the work means missing one day of uni a week, so be it. It's not going to be the end of the world, and trust me, it won't be difficult to catch up.

I might be in the minority, but I completed my Computer Science degree at a top-10 university. I literally only went to 10 lectures over the 3 years and I got a 1st Class honours degree. Getting a good grade does not require 45 hours of work per week for the whole school year.

And there's no "that's not an option because the university will get mad", you can talk to your university about your debt problems and they won't care. So long as you still get good grades in assignments and exams, you'll be fine.

This is the only realistic way I can see you managing to get a dent in your debt.

You are extremely lucky. I am not studying medicine, but I am studying a healthcare degree. I cannot just not turn up, as most of the timetabled classes are practical lessons, and without attending these I am unable to sit my exams. It just wouldn't work. I didn't say that I was in 9-6 everyday, I said somedays, which is usually 2 times a week. Other days, I am in for 5-6 hours. I don't believe that 'relax a little' is going to cut it with my degree, and if my attendance drops significantly, then I will have to explain why I should be allowed to stay on the course. I think that this is fair enough! Also, our degree (along with a few others) are extremely strict as they're funded by the government. If the government are paying my 9k a year, I should at least have the decency to turn up! You may be extremely gifted and I may not be, but I have to work hard to get my head around my specific subjects and learning doesn't come easy to me. I spend 45 hours MINIMUM per week to at least scrape through the basics.

I would say that you're in the minority. That would be extremely difficult to get in my course as you have to attend to get the full versions of the lectures/seminars/practicals. They do not post the full versions online, so no attendance = work suffering. I haven't done a degree previous to this, nor do I know many others who have chosen to do a non-medical related degree, but I know that their time spent in university is significantly lower than ours. We also don't have reading weeks as our course was meant to be a four year degree, but has been condensed into three. Plus, you get charged if you fail modules more than twice, at a cost of £760 per module. Not an avenue I am even willing to explore!

It may be realistic, but skipping university is not going to happen. I am going to university to better my life, get a decent career with good money to be able to make a difference to my future. Not begin to fail, to add to the stress of the debt.

Vikipollard wrote: »

You are definitely in the minority - but clearly very clever and gifted in your subject, so well done you !


My son was at University for well in excess of 45 hours per week - but a lot of that was well in to the evenings and over the weekend. He did work as well though - in his first year it was Sat/Sun 3pm - 11pm at an airport, but that became too much by Year 2 because of the amount of studying he needed to do. He dropped to Sat only, 1-9pm and that gave him a balance.


His situation was different though, in that he had no credit cards or overdraft, so no debt to pay down.


OP, I can't see you getting a consolidation loan - which in itself may turn out to be a blessing in disguise. Try snowballing and see what that suggests.

Thank you! I am beginning to realise that it may be just that!

I am coming to the conclusion that I may just be best off going on as I already am. I am going to just keep chipping away, working whenever I can (hopefully more than what I am now) and then once I am qualified I will be able to clear the debt in 2-3 months by paying off huge chunks with each months salary!

Tixy

Determined89 wrote: »

I don't have a student overdraft, I didn't want to get once which will just become another part of the debt and just skimming a minuscule amount of the current level I already have.

I suppose it depends on how high the high interest rate credit cards you have are?
If you had something like vanquis with say an APR of 40% then if you could move £1000 of that to an interest free overdraft, then over 2 years you'd have a saving of £800.

Determined89 wrote: »

I have already done that, the only things I have left is the husband and my two dogs!

You don't think you'd get £8k for him then!!

Determined89

Tixy wrote: »

I suppose it depends on how high the high interest rate credit cards you have are?
If you had something like vanquis with say an APR of 40% then if you could move £1000 of that to an interest free overdraft, then over 2 years you'd have a saving of £800.



You don't think you'd get £8k for him then!!

Yes, I have a vanquis and a capital one (the cards for those with either no credit rating or poor credit rating). I did wonder whether it was worth doing that before. A lot will only give you £200 to begin with. I will see if I can call the bank and get an estimate as to how much they can give me.

Erm, nope! Haha!