Some credit card/loan advice pls!

Sophia1108

Hi,
I'm after some advice please if that's ok to post here..
Basically I have 7.8k on my virgin credit card interest free runs out in Jan 18. & 2.8k debt on my Barcley card. That one has a monthly interest fee. My debts mounted after visiting family on two occasions in Australia not cheap! But my heart ruled my head and was desperately missing them so put the flights on my cards & Xmas, birthdays etc you know the score...
I have a joint account with my partner between us we earn 47k but have a lot of outgoings we currently renting paying £800 rent. Also he pays child support. And car loan (3 biggest outgoing) I pay £310 a month in repayment between the 2 credit cards. Also we've gone into a spiral with out overdraft its current set at 2.6k but each month we go over this and get a daily charge of £5 from HSBC. I've never been good with money I used to save but not for years now. What I'd like to do is get a loan for 15k pay off the two cards I've checked and for 335 a month I can pay back in 4 years with £957 interest. I also want to put the rest into our current account (2.6k) so we can start fresh every month and the rest into an savings account and add to it every month (£130) roughly. I have my fortieth bday in a couple of yrs and like to go to turkey or Greece for few weeks so that would go towards it every month. Plus there's a back up fund incase of car repairs or other issues. Do you think I'm doing the best thing here to clear debt? As my cc don't ever seem to go down! At least with a loan that's it pay back for 4 yrs and gone. I did try moving all onto virgin cars but wasn't allowed to up my limit to move all of it over from barclaycard hence the two outgoings on the cards plus my interest free ends jan on the virgin one so that will again take forever to pay off. God they are so helpful sometimes but !!!!!es to pay off. It's like this devil constantly on your shoulder poking you. I wished I could tell my younger self to carry on saving & don't stop!! Thank you for any advice or suggestions in advance best regards Sophia

zippygeorgeandben

People will ask you to post an SOA so we can see where your money goes. However, no one here will recommend consolidation, i.e. taking out another loan. Despite whatever your best intentions are, you've proven that in the past you cannot control impulse spending. Knuckle down and pay these debts off. You say you're 40 in a couple of years but want to get a 4 year loan which would take you past being 40. Throw in that you're wanting to go away for 'a few weeks' and I'd advise against all of this.
Others will be along shortly with advice.

[Deleted User]

OP you are talking about borrowing money to pay off debt, then in the next breath talking about going to Greece or Turkey for a few weeks.
You can see I assume why your plan won't work, and why borrowing money to finance debt is NEVER a good idea can't you ?

Sophia1108

I know it's never good idea to borrow money to pay money but my cards never seem to go down at least my £310 a month card payments will go to pay the loan back. I tried to move all my cc money onto one interest free card but the amount wasn't enough to transfer all my Barclay card onto it hence why I'm paying two cards atm but none seem to be going down as each month around 5 days before payday I get texts to say I've got no money in our account so I use my virgin card to pay for things. It's a vicious circle and hate having this debt...

[Deleted User]

Sophia1108 wrote: »

I wished I could tell my younger self to carry on saving & don't stop!!

You can't do that, but you can tell your current self to not book holidays you don't have the money for.

Will you do that?

The_Analyst

Sophia1108 wrote: »

What I'd like to do is get a loan for 15k pay off the two cards I've checked and for 335 a month I can pay back in 4 years with £957 interest. I also want to put the rest into our current account (2.6k) so we can start fresh every month and the rest into an savings account

If you do do this, then I'd urge you to do the following:
1. Only borrow what you need to pay off your Credit Cards and Overdraft
2. Cut up your credit cards
3. Reduce your overdraft to nil

This way, you remove the temptation to spend money you don't have. I did this for years - run up a credit card to the limit, take out a loan to clear it, then carry on spending on the credit card. It's a vicious cycle.

Once you have secured this loan and have paid off your debts, then I'd suggest a simple monthly budget to ensure you can meet all of your outgoings before you start thinking about holidays and savings

Sophia1108

Thanks the analyst that's exactly what I was going to do 👍🏼 Cut cards up and reduce overdraft to nil. Then at least I won't be tempted to buy things on cc
Thanks

EssexHebridean

Sophia1108 wrote: »

Thanks the analyst that's exactly what I was going to do 👍🏼 Cut cards up and reduce overdraft to nil. Then at least I won't be tempted to buy things on cc
Thanks

Cut up the cards anyway. And just stop "buying things on CC".

You need a working budget, NOT a consolidation loan. Without that working budget (which as someone else said you can put together via the SOA we direct people to on here - the link is in the "sticky" post at the top of this board) then what will happen is that you will get that loan, but you will still be spending above your means. Give it two years and you'll still be paying off that loan, but will have added another card and probably more overdraft debt too.

Get back to basics - put together an honest budget based on what you actually spend currently - from there you can work out a) whether there should be a surplus left over at the end of each month that is currently getting frittered, and b) where you can cut back on spending to give yourself more money to pay off the debts.

As for things like going on holiday - that comes in with the budget. Work out the cost, and set aside the relevant proportion each month to be able to pay for it. Nice things like holidays are great, but you shouldn't be relying on other peoples money to pay for it. Similarly once the debt is gone you will be able to start saving to buy things like a replacement car when it's needed without needing to resort to a loan for that, too.

First step is the SOA (budget) - that gives you the key to sorting your situation out.

MallyGirl

Sophia1108 wrote: »

I also want to put the rest into our current account (2.6k) so we can start fresh every month and the rest into an savings account and add to it every month (£130) roughly.

it would be madness to borrow money in order to put it into a savings account. The loan interest will be more than the savings interest.

Yes, open a savings account and start putting something in there so that you have a buffer in case you need money - much better than putting more on the cards - just don't borrow to do it.

Sophia1108

I will do my SOA this evening, to give you all a bit of an idea of our outgoings. another thing which has cropped up is that my partners son has decided in March to marry this year, date is booked end of Oct! so my partner wants to give him 1K towards their wedding...:( so annoyed as I've asked him where this 1K is coming from?? thin air.. I've asked him to tell son because of our financial situation we cant afford to give him any..but he doesn't want to tell him we have money issues (I think its pride or ashamed) It doesn't help because in Feb the couple told us they we'rent getting married for at least couple of years... so this is very last minute and not planned into our budget at all. Another thing which I am more annoyed/angry about is that his son & partner both live with her parents so no rent/c.tax etc to pay, obviously they put some of their wage to the household but no where near the amount if you were to have your own place and all the bills that ensure....

Sophia1108

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 2 wknd
Number of cars owned.................... 2

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1315
Partners monthly income after tax....... 2149
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 3464

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 795
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 145
Electricity............................. 27
Gas..................................... 40
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 32
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 95
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 65
Internet Services....................... 15
Groceries etc. ......................... 400
Clothing................................ 30
Petrol/diesel........................... 240
Road tax................................ 19
Car Insurance........................... 90
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 30
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 20
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 7
Life assurance ......................... 27
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 50
Haircuts................................ 8
Entertainment........................... 70
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 2217


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 6000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 6000

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
virgin ........................7800......170.......0
Barclay card ..................2800......140.......0
car loan ......................3400......200.......0
Total unsecured debts..........14000.....510.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 3,464
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,217
Available for debt repayments........... 1,247
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 510
Amount left after debt repayments....... 737

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 6,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -14,000
Net Assets.............................. -8,000