50K Debt Help

Poppop_2

Hi,

I have finally relaised that I need to sort out my debts, they have now reached £50k.

I am not stuggling at the moment to pay (so all upto date) but I can't go on this way and want to get rid of them for good.

So working things out I have figured if I could borrow £50k from 2 unsecured loans it would mean that I am debt free in 5 years! :-) - So does anybody know if the banks will let me do this? Are they friendly to this sort of approach.

Been burnt far to much to use cards again, and I have learned my lessons so no worries about ramping more debt on the cards once I clear them....

Any advice from anybody would be great.

Feels good to be actually doing something about this!

Thanks.

P

mrsspendalot

Hi and welcome. Why don't you pop up your statement of affairs (income, outgoings, details of debts, etc.) and let us take a look at your situation. In a lot of cases, consolidation is not the best way to go, but without seeing the extent of your situation it is hard to give any advice.

trying-very-trying

I can only agree with mrsspendalot both in welcoming you to the forum, and requesting you post your soa. You will get loads of moral and practical support on this site, but it all needs your full statement of affairs.
check this link it'll help you prepare your soa http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=107280

Poppop_2

So income is 3500k a month.

Outgoings are around 1500 on cards (min payment) Spread over 5 cards.
Rent and bills approx 1000 a month.
300 on fuel and insurance etc.

So while I am getting by and not in a tottaly bad way. In 12 to 24 months I think I am going to be struggling if things are not changed. I am not repaying my debts they are just pilling up....

Hence my idea around a unsecured loan which I worked out a 1000 per month for 5 years.

What do you all think?

mrsspendalot

Could you give us an exact breakdown of your outgoings ... see the sticky at the top of the board for first time posters. The more detail the better. We can't advise where you can make savings unless we know how much you pay for each outgoing. On the plus side straight away you have a great income.

sammy115

Usually when someone has debts its because they are overspending on a regular basis and that is something that needs to be addressed. I have had my fingers burnt hundreds of times, but I still found myself thinking about consolidation at the weekend! However, I know that if I did that I would just run the debt back up....

You need to post a more detailed SOA so that you think about your outgoings and keep a spending diary of what you spend on a daily basis.


You could also go to www.whatsthecost.co.uk and look at snowballing your credit cards rather than getting unsecured loans. Banks would probably not look to give you an unsecured loan of that amount or even two amounts, especially not in the current climate..

Plus one debt of £1,000 per month would be totally unmanageable if you were to lose your job or something unexpected happens. I thought the unthinkable wouldn't happen to me and I have a series of shocks over the last two years!

RAS

Hi

You need to put up an SOA, as this is where people can help you sort out your debts.

As a rule here, people recommend that you avoid consolidation loans except in some rare circumstances. They will all tell you that they consolidated and then ran up more debt. So dealing with the debts does not help unless you deal with the spending. An unsecure loan right now is just a way of trying to finance your spending for longer.

What is needed is to work out ways of reducing your spending, sort out your payments and finding a bit to put towards your most expensive debt, then you can reduce your debt faster.

You need the Aprs, minimum payments and outstanding balances and maximums of all your debts and of the loans that you are thinking of taking.

See here http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=107280

Also have a look at www.whatsthecost and the snowball.

Spirit_2

Hello:hello:

It really is worth reviewing what you spend and working out how quickly you can pay off your debts before making any decisions to consolidate your loans.

As well as some very good and practical advice from DFW's there are tools that will help you to make decisions about what is right for you :

• Keeping a spending diary of EVERYTHING you spend https://www.spendingdiary.com
• Understanding the opportunity cost of 'frittering' money on incidentals. Use the demotivator tool on this site.
• Work out your debtfree date and the impact that changing your repayments will have. This is called snowballing - use the snowball calculator https://www.whatsthecost.co.uk

Good Luck

Jacks_xxx

:wave: Hiya sweetie,

We're paying off a £96,700 debt over three years and nine months and we earn about £2600 a month (Some months it's a little more, some a little less)

Our mortgage and bills are about £1000 a month, and we aim to pay off a minimum of £1200 a month in debt repayments.

What's left is what we live on, and if we need more then we make more!

So the first piece of advice that I would give you is to punch all your debt info into this calculator and see what it says.

http://www.whatsthecost.com/snowball.aspx

Then shuffle your debt onto 0% cards

and do the Snowball again. (and rejoice at how it's much less scary now!)

Then cut all your cards up and pay a fixed amount in a standing order every month according to the Snowball's plan until your debts are gone.

Simple huh?

If you can get it all onto 0% cards and pay off £2k a month you'll be clear in about 2 years. :beer:


This still leaves you £1500 a month to live on - which you could increase by earning more money, or selling assets - and you could make it go further by reducing your less necessary outgoings.

I hope that helps cherub!

Love Jacks xxx