What is my best option.....

markbbe

Hi Guys,

I'm hoping that you will be able to offer me some advice.

I have approx £16,000 debt plus a student loan.

A rough breakdown of this is:
Credit Cards £7500
Overdraft £1500 (approx 2/3rds of this I could claim back in bank charges dependant on the high court findings)
Rent £6000

I have been foolish with money in the past and got myself into a mess, and am now trying to get out of it. What are my options?

The other problem I have is I am in a career that I do not want to be in, so I also want to retrain, and I also want to emigrate to Australia.

I have been wondering if declaring bankrupt would be a good (not in the moral sense, but financial) option?


SOA
In:
Salary
£1250 (after tax)

Out:
Rent £350
Council Tax £40
Utilities £50
Food £250
Phone £45
Gym £60

Citi Credit Card Balance £2450, limit £2500. APR 29.9% Min payment currently approx £75
Barclaycard Balance £2140, limit £2250. APR 19.9% Min payment currently approx £50
Abbey Credit Card Balance £3362, limit £3500. Min payment currently approx £75
Overdraft £1500
Backdated rent £6000

JCD_Capulet

Hi Mark
If you post up a complete list of your incomings and outgoings (an SOA - statement of affairs) it'll be easier to advise on what you can do to help your situation.

well done on joining the forum and taking the first steps!
Joanne.

chloebelle

well done for admitting you are in a mess - its the hardest step!

Some of the interest rates you are paying seems very high, maybe you could transfer some of these debts to 0% rate cards to help give you a chance to clear the debt?

floss2

Before you make a decision re bankruptcy - check out if Australia will take a person who has been declared bankrupt ......that may be a decider for you.

markbbe

floss2 wrote: »

Before you make a decision re bankruptcy - check out if Australia will take a person who has been declared bankrupt ......that may be a decider for you.

Do you have any idea where I could do this??

Re. the 0% cards, I have tried this, but have been turned down for any more cards. I was thinking of my sister possibly getting a 0% card in her name and doing it that way.

Tabby_Kitten_2

markbbe wrote: »

Re. the 0% cards, I have tried this, but have been turned down for any more cards. I was thinking of my sister possibly getting a 0% card in her name and doing it that way.

I'd be VERY careful about asking you sister to take out a cc for you.
After all your out goings you still have £250 left at the end of each month, it's a fair amount to be paying things off with, have you tried snowballing it? I found that gave me a really good idea of how long I'd be paying things off for and what the total cost would be.
If there's only one of you, could you maybe cut your food bill down? Maybe by taking packed lunches to work and maybe food hopping online and using quidco.com

Hope this helps, I feel really out of place posting this

flaura

http://www.overseas-emigration.co.uk/component/option,com_easyfaq/Itemid,238/task,cat/catid,123/#faq9

the answer is not necessarily - but you have to have money in the bank to emigrate to Australia - you usually can't emigrate with debts.

So first things first sort out the debt...you could cancel your gym membership and seriously cut down on your food expenditure