help! :(

laura123123

Hello,
Ive been reading the forums for a while but i have never posted..
I have got myself into a little debt, mainly due to paying for post grad and unable to get career development loan..
Nationwide, £5000, 15.9% apr £6900 limit
tesco, £740, 17.5% apr £1000 limit
asda, £2060, 0% until may then 24.9%, £3200 limit
barclaycard, £2000, 0% until may then 29.9%, £2200 limit

I've contacted the banks to see if any have b/transfer offers on to do the credit card switch, but none are able to.
the minimum payments I'm paying on nationwide are then added back on in interest so I'm unable to get the debt down.

Does anyone have any suggestions on what to do next?

Thanks

andyfromotley

Hi laura,

Its difficult to advise with the information you have given.

Ok you owe £9810 on various cards and come may all of your interest rates will end, increasing your payments substantially.

1. Check out the credit card eligibility checker on the MSE site. See if you are eligible for and Balance transfer cards. This is your best and easiest option.
2. If you are not then things are going to become somewhat more difficult. A good start would be to post a Statement of affairs on here, then people will be able to advise you based on your full financial picture.
3. You could consider a loan if you are eligible to pay of all of your cards. Use the loan checker on MSE. Loans come with a BIG WARNING, many many people on here took out loans to pay off credit cards and then ran the cards up again leaving themselves in serious financial trouble. You need to be honest with yourself about that. If you are likely to do so then a loan is not for you. If you go the loan route you should CLOSE all of your CC accounts. (not cut up, close.)
If you are eligible for neither a BT card or a loan you need to work out a way of paying the cards off, lots of people on here have done exactly that by cutting back drastically and settling in for a longish slog of paying them off.

Its difficult to advise further without a SOA from you.

Are you certain that the debts were built up only from Post grad. If some of it is debt just because you live beyond your means then it matters little what you do until you resolve that as you will end up in the same position.

hope this helps

andyfromotley

Heres the link for an SOA

http://www.stoozing.com/calculator/soa.php

laura123123

thanks for your help,
im not eligible for cc or loan, I'm currently studying whilst working part time, when i finish studying will hopefully have another part time job until return to education in september

thanks for your help
laura

andyfromotley

hmmm, your not in a good position then, can you realistically afford to go back into education in sept? it doesn't sound like it.

Like i said an SOA will help but it is unlikely to reveal enough spare cash to service your debt given your circumstances.

This debt won't go away though, and will become very difficult to service come May when your 0% runs out.

Tryingtomoveout

Hi hun

Have you thought about applying for a consolidation loan with tesco bank for around 9k. Obviously I don't know your whole situation but tesco accepted me at a decent 9.5% Apr when my credit history wasn't great...

sourcrates

Tryingtomoveout wrote: »

Hi hun

Have you thought about applying for a consolidation loan with tesco bank for around 9k. Obviously I don't know your whole situation but tesco accepted me at a decent 9.5% Apr when my credit history wasn't great...

Oow not a good idea, it's all too easy to keep the settled accounts open, then an unexpected bill pops up, I'll just put that on the credit card you think, then, before you know it, you've got another 10k of debt run up, and your back to square one, with twice the debt.

It happens all to often, and its never recommended to borrow your way out of debt, far too many pitfalls.

enthusiasticsaver

Consolidation loans are never a good solution unless you address the root cause of the debt in the first place and get rid of the credit cards once consolidated. It is difficult to advise without an soa but I would say that at that level of debt you really need to be working full time and should put FE on hold until you are in a more stable financial position.