Massive Credit Card Debt

floyd76

I have just found out that my wife has racked up a huge amount of debt of several credit cards. The debt is approximately 32000 over 6 cards. I need some quick advice on the best way to tackle this. I have been in touch with Citizens Advice and because we can make the minimum payments (just) they cant offer any other advice. They are not allowed to offer advice on getting loans etc to move the debt.
I am thinking the best thing to do would be get a bank loan to pay off all the cards.
Any help/advice would be truly appreciated.

Helvetica_Van_Buren

floyd76 wrote: »

I am thinking the best thing to do would be get a bank loan to pay off all the cards.
Any help/advice would be truly appreciated.

No, this is never recommended in these situations. What if you get a loan to pay it off and then your wife runs up the debt again (on the same cards or new cards she applies for) so you have the loans AND the credit cards to pay off?

Respectfully, don't kid yourself saying it won't happen - it happened over six cards to the value of £32,000, so there's a very real chance of it happening again.

You really need to address the underlying issues as to why this happened; was it gambling? Does she have psychological issues that makes her spend? You don't have to answer here but you do need to ask those questions.

If she bought goods with the cards, look into returning as many of these as you can, or selling them. Look into moving the debt to a 0% credit card, paying the minimum on that and throwing your spare cash at the cards with the highest interest rates.

Pixyl

Do not get a bank loan, debt to debt very bad idea.

grumbler

Pixyl wrote: »

Do not get a bank loan, debt to debt very bad idea.

Really? Even from 25% to 5% followed by closing the CC account?

planteria

like grumbler, i would make that blanket comment either..

at the same time, if the debt were moved to a loan i would want to be ensuring that i was very open with my wife and ensuring that such debt was not generated again. if there is a root cause problem then that needs to be tackled too.

BUT, looking carefully at this debt is vital.

is it all generating interest?
do you have some savings that could be used to pay it off / reduce it?
do you have a mortgage? and might this be able to be extended?
do you have other loans?
who are the card providers?
an idea of the split would be useful too.. ie. is it 2 cards with 10k, and then 4 much smaller balances, or a fairly even split etc.

if you share this with us we can try to work through it with you and help you if we can.

try to stay calm and work through it all steadily, together.

brizzledfw

Dont rush into anything..and well done on coming for advice here. All the posters have valid points. You do not want to secure debt for example or enter into a arrangement for a consolidated loan you can't then meet.

You haven't said much..what the rest of your financial situation like? Do you have a mortgage? Dependents? A steady income? Is your wife well? It's important to look at this in the round. Can you list a SOA?

Cheers

Dobbibill

Agree with most PPs thus far.

A few more details will help to provide a tailored response.

Here is the link to the SOA that brizzledfw referred to. You haven't got to post it but it is definitely worth doing so you can see the overall picture. Posting it will support the responses you get.

Whether you post the SOA or not, gather all the information about the credit cards including APRs, credit limits, credit used, min payments etc etc. This again will help the advice you get here.

planteria

agreed. i would say, on the basis that you wont reveal anything personal/sensitive, tell us as much as you can so that we can help as much as we can.

DCFC79

When you get a loan (if you can afford 1 and at a rate that's acceptable to you) cut the cards up or even cut the cards up now.

Pixyl

Well it is a £32,000 debt. Getting a loan would not be my first port of call. Especially as there were a total of 6 cards.

How on earth did you not notice up until now? :think:

guesswho2000

Pixyl wrote: »

Well it is a £32,000 debt. Getting a loan would not be my first port of call. Especially as there were a total of 6 cards.

How on earth did you not notice up until now? :think:

What other option would you suggest? Unless OP has a large enough income, they're unlikely to be able to take out enough 0% credit cards to BT £32k on top of the existing £32k banks have already lent (despite one being used to pay off the other). £25k is also usually the maximum unsecured loan, but even that, if it's a lower interest rate, and OP could make the repayments comfortably, may be a better option.

OP did state that it's their wife's debt - very feasible that they may not notice, especially if they £ is being used for things such as gambling, and the wife has been making the payments until now (or is handy at catching the post before OP gets up!).