Dilema

vr6will

Hi everyone,

I'm hoping for a bit advice and guidance. I recently got married last year and had to borrow some money to cover the costs of the wedding - yes, the wife does know . I borrowed some money from my parents and also used my credit card. Parents is interest free as is the credit card until later next year. Obviously I need to pay back both and as quickly as possible.

The trouble is at the moment, I'm struggling to clear a couple of hundred pounds a month after bills, childcare etc. I don't see any other solution than to temporarily stop paying into my company pension and share scheme, unfortunately they're really good schemes. Pension - for 5% I pay in, they pay in 10%. Share scheme - for every share I buy, they match it with a second and the shares are generally on the up. I'm also paying into a my children's ISA each month.

If stop paying the above for 6-8 months, I should be able to clear what I owe.

Are there any other options I'm missing?

Many thanks,
Will

Stevie_Palimo

It may be worth while looking at expenses to as you may be paying for stuff at a higher rate and if you shop about it may free up some additional cash, Also look at food shopping and so on as this could normally have some shaved off it in most cases.

sourcrates

Pay back ya mam an dad first.

Your pension can wait a few months can't it ?

warehouse

vr6will wrote: »

If stop paying the above for 6-8 months, I should be able to clear what I owe.

And there is your answer.

EssexHebridean

Alternatively, get yourself a Statement of Affairs (SOA) filled in from the link in the "Sticky" post at the top of the board, and post it up in this thread, and we'll see if there's anywhere that you can make savings that you've missed, that might mean you can carry on paying both.

With the ShareSave scheme, what effect does it have on what you have already paid in/where you wend up if you stop payments? Often this would cancel your participation so worth checking. Likewise, look into the T's & C's in the pension, too.

I'd be inclined to say hold off paying into the childrens ISA at the moment though - keep a note of what you've missed paying in and then treat it as a debt to be paid back once other stuff is cleared, perhaps? It may be that you have to pay a set minimum in order to maintain a high interest rate - again check this and just reduce to the minimum if that is the case.

enthusiasticsaver

I think I would look at reducing the sharesave and childrens isa first before cancelling pension payments. Have you really explored all other means of reducing expenditure though first?

Money_saving_maniac

Be careful in case you can't start paying back into the company scheme once you stop, check that first.
As enthusiastic save has posted above, knock the sharesaver and children's ISA on the head till the debt is repaid.

ReadingTim

Ditch the kids' ISA until you're back in the black, and check what the share scheme rules say about missing payments - it will probably depend on what sort of scheme it is: SAYE or SIP. Check with either HR or Company Secretariat if you're not sure, but bear in mind that it's not what's happening to the shares now that's relevant if you're not in a position to sell them! If you withdraw from the scheme completely (ie can't take a payment holiday) then do you know when the next invitation will be?

I wouldn't pull out of the pension scheme unless things are really bad, and that's after exhausting the main options: spending less and earning more. Sky TV and mobile phones are usually good places to start in respect of the former, but post an SOA and you'll get plenty of suggestions...

theoretica

Would you parents be happy to lend you money to put into pension and share schemes? If you think they would be then ask them if you could do this - otherwise pay them back.

On_my_way

Hi

The first thing you guys need to do is to go through what you are both earning and what you are both spending.

* Look to seriously reduce your grocery costs. A lot of people overspend and keep huge stocks in their cupboards that they don't use. The chances are you could cut your expenditure on groceries by at least 20% if you're very careful
* Stop paying into the children's ISA
* Try not to stop pension contributions incase you will be penalised but also because your employer probably pays into it too
* Is there any way that either of you can get any overtime etc to boost your income?
* Have you got things at home that you don't use that you could sell? Gumtree, ebay, etc this would boost your situation too
* Can you reduce your childcare bills?

Good luck and congratulations on your marriage