Consolidation option for my mess of an account?

gadamsha

Afternoon all - got a bit of a tangled mess of a situation here that i'd like some advice on if you'd be so kind.

I'm currently sat on somewhere between 8k - (im GUESSING) 11k of credit debt.

I say guessing because im not entirely sure of the status of my original account.
When i was a wee stupid 18 year old i spent a bit of cash from my job at the time and was offered a 'store card' that would give me a discount and i could pay later!

500 quid of purchases in hand i went home happy
later discovered was a credit card type deal.
Me dad went a bit mental at me and removed the card from my possession saying that he would pay off my monthly payments with money I gave him - as i couldnt be trusted with it - bumped up my rent to account for the monthly payment and that was that.

Few years later through some family dispute it emerged he hadnt actually made one payment and it had defaulted to a 5 quid a month payoff - and he'd been a bit of a wrong un and been pocketing my payments.

Now my issue here comes in the form of :-
1. i dont have the card at hand - and no contact with him
2. I dont think the company exists anymore (this was an edge card)
3. I dont know how much is on the account, how much has been paid - etc.

Thats part one.

so after going out and flying the nest after that debacle i eventually put on 8 years, got married - and have been in rented accommodation with the mrs.
I got myself a barclaycard during that time to help furnish and deal with deposits, and paid it off and all was well.

Alas within the past 2 years there has been a large amount of calamity that has led to things spiralling out of control a bit. Landlord selling house, car exploding, requiring replacements and deposits on both and vets bills have led my 8,600 limit card maxxing out and now requiring monthly payments of 260 quid.

Now back in november i thought i'd check the state of my card account and during the browse of BARCLAYCARDS OWN WEBSITE - saw there was a credit review section, thought id give it a look, got no reasonable info from it and left it at that.

Well turns out it was an experian thing - which has since then monthly been charging an extra 22 quid to my fricking credit card (and last month actually put me OVER the credit limit) and now has managed to accumulate me some nasty fees for going over.

My monthly wage is not entirely great - i'm on a 'well paying job in the end but no experience so accept low starting wage in exchange for foot in the door' type deal - where i come out with about 1200 quid a month.
My outgoings that are non-negotiable really (rent, bills, fuel, maintenance etc) come to about 7-800 quid give or take. now this extra ton of fees from this credit situation plus the upcoming large monthly payments are going to quite literally leave me in no position to even be able to pay for commuting.

Totally get i've made a lot of pretty stupid calls along this journey but lets say i've not had the best of exposure to money management and very much been making it up as i go along.

My questions in summary are as follows.

1) is it worth me getting a consolidation loan and just paying off everything - and reducing it to one payment and bills - then managing from there?
2) If so - should i stick with barclays? any recommendations?
3) How can i find the status of this old edge account and stop it / find out where i stand?
4) This experian business, when trying to log into my 'account' on their site i am informed my account is locked and have to wait 3 days for them to contact me - whats the best way to attempt to reverse the damage done by unknowingly signing up to this?
5) general advice (and criticism) more than welcome.

[Deleted User]

What is this Expedia issue? Is it a holiday club or something? Or do you mean Experian?

You're not going to get a consolidation loan with your credit history.

You need to check your credit files - with all three CRAs - find out what you owe and what the status is. Then form a plan of action to pay them off, which order, which are statute barred ig any and son on.

gadamsha

Experian - Thats the one! (sorry mid afternoon meetings melted my brain)

Thanks for the reply.
With regards to identifying them - any advice on how to go about doing so with the initial edge account?
As mentioned the initial statements and card itself are way off with a now vanished family member, and my google fu leads me to believe that particular service is no longer in use?

[Deleted User]

You need to check your credit files. Don't worry about cards and statements.

CLAPTON

gadamsha wrote: »

Experian - Thats the one! (sorry mid afternoon meetings melted my brain)

Thanks for the reply.
With regards to identifying them - any advice on how to go about doing so with the initial edge account?
As mentioned the initial statements and card itself are way off with a now vanished family member, and my google fu leads me to believe that particular service is no longer in use?

what does your experian account show about your debts etc?

gadamsha

So i've gone through and created a credit report with Noddle as recommended by somebody on pm for finding credit info. And have a bit better picture as to what the state of the credit is!

My overall score is 571 (with average in my area being 612 and uk average 611) - with a rating of 3/5.

The current state of my credit (including the mystery Edge account!)

Barclaycard - Balance = £8530 - status = up to date, monthly = £250
Newday Ltd (guessing this is the edge) - Balance = £36 - Status Up to date - monthly = £5

Personal Loans And mortgages.
02 ltd (phone contract - ends this year) Balance - £140 - status = up to date, monthly = £60
Car payments (for car obvs) - Balance = £647 - Status = Up to date, Monthly = £35

There are also 2 'past' mobile phone accounts classed as closed after finishing the contracts and one small loan of £300 which was paid off two years ago with no issue.

No Short Term Loans listed.

So thats the state of the credit rating - now for a brief ingoing / outgoing account.

Incoming Monthly = £1,148

Outgoing Monthly =
My half of rent and bills - £380 (= £768)
My current Barclaycard payment - £250 (= £518)
'Edge' Payment - £5 (= £513)
Phone contract - £60 (= £453)
Hall rental (i run a roller derby team and we self fund the hall) - £35 (=£418)
Petrol (monthly) - £140 (= £278)
Monthly food (covers pack for work, individual food at home and general amenities) - £160 (= £118)

Thats all the 'every month' outgoings without fail. Of course sometimes the food amount may fluctuate up or down - or i might not drive as much / commute a little less for work but on average tallying up my station contactless payments that appears to be the average.

Pixie5740

What about your annual expenses such as car insurance, car maintenance, MOT, contents insurance, etc?

Your budget is not just your monthly bills, you need to consider everything you pay out over the course of the year. Try completing a Statement of Affairs as a started for 10. Then head over the Debt Free Wannabe board for support and advice.

I don't think a consolidation loan is the answer to your problems. It really shouldn't matter whether you have one payment to make or a dozen. Besides once you've paid the few monthly bills you've listed you only have £118 left over but monthly payments to your unsecured debts are more than £118. So I'm not sure how your debt payments are up to date.

[Deleted User]

Go to the DFW boards and do a proper SOA (statement of affairs) - there's a lot missing from your costs - eg you have petrol but no servicing, insurance etc.

They will help you cut costs.

Then you need to find out the APRs on your debts and working out which order to pay them off.

DCFC79

I'd forget the idea of a consolidation loan as your chances are slim. Go over to.the debt free wannabe board and as suggested post a statement of affairs.

I would also get a copy of your reports from clearscore and Experian, they are the other 2 agencies lenders could use.

Something to remember is the score from Noddle etc is just a figure, no 1 else can see it.

gadamsha

Thanks for the suggestions! I'll go fill one of those in and check that board out!

Superscrooge

Speak to Barclaycard and see if they will put your current Barclaycard debts onto a lower interest rate.

There was a recent post from someone in financial difficulty and Barclaycard agreed to reduce the interest rate on the balance to 9.9%. Any new spending would be at the standard rate.