£30k salary down to £13.7k

carguy143

So in July last year my salary dropped from around around £30k to £13,750. I've got debts which include an overdraft of £1200-£1500 per month, a credit card with a balance of £3890 and a loan with a balance of £8600, all unfortunately from when I earned more.

I pay off the credit card at a rate of £70 a month and the loan at just under £200 a month. I thought about extending the loan by borrowing an extra £4000 over an extra 2 years as it would consolidate the two separate payments from two, in to one at £166 a month. I know it would cost more in the long term but if it helps on a monthly basis is it worth considering?

I'm 29 and own a house which is shared with my wife who's on a similar salary to me.

I hate this situation we're in and want out, like everyone else on here. Over the next couple of days I'll be post up an SOA.

Good night all,

Rik.

Arleen

If it's going to cost more then it's only worth doing if you are struggling every month, but from the look of it this won't make a big difference monthly. Most likely you can make the difference by cutting some expenses, but for that we will need your SOA.

curlytop12

would you even be able to borrow more, your debt is already more than your income..


2nd job, rent a room, downgrade car /phone /computer?


get the SOA up,and see where we go with that first, try and avoid more debt ,good luck

National_Debtline

Hi carguy143,


I agree that a SOA will be the next step, but from what you have described so far you have debts of around £13,700 - £14,000 and a joint household income of approx. £27500. It would seem like a big ask to maintain the minimum payments on everything and overpay the card and overdraft to actually drive the debt down.


If the minimum payments are a struggle you can look at refinancing, but make sure you take some independent advice about the cost implications of this first (debt consolidation can be very costly and, without the right advice, won't solve the problem, as the debt will build back up again).

If you don't consolidate, but can't carry on with the payments as they are, then you can look at reduced negotiate options. I would advise against bankruptcy (and possibly IVA's as well) if you have a mortgage property. And instead, look at renegotiating what you can afford to pay to the debts, either yourself or with the help of a free DMP. Post your SOA and then we can offer more advice from there.


Laura
@natdebtline

curlytop12

you don't say if this is just your debt or if it's joint or if your wife has debts too ?

carguy143

Thanks for the advice so far.

To answer some questions my partner has just under £1000 debt on a credit card that's in her name, nothing else. All the other debts are solely in my name as they were all from before my circumstances changed and also because she's an American immigrant she didn't have a credit history here so couldn't be named on the mortgage when we bought the house as first time buyers in July 2015.

SOA will be up later.