to consolidate or not

katie4

Hi
I seem to gather from the forums that debt consolidation loans are pretty frowned upon. however, i am in the position to be able to put extra money now towards my credit cards the thing is the interest on one is 42% it will take me a long time to pay these off (i have three credit cards)
currently pushing £400-500 a month onto the highest apr card but i'm thinking it may be better to get adebt consolidation loan to pay off all cards, it would save me thousands in interest take only 3 years and a manageable £250 a month meaning i can then cancel the cards and start putting some money into savings as well.


would this seem sensible? thanks

Pixie5740

katie4 wrote: »

Hi
I seem to gather from the forums that debt consolidation loans are pretty frowned upon. however, i am in the position to be able to put extra money now towards my credit cards the thing is the interest on one is 42% it will take me a long time to pay these off (i have three credit cards)
currently pushing £400-500 a month onto the highest apr card but i'm thinking it may be better to get adebt consolidation loan to pay off all cards, it would save me thousands in interest take only 3 years and a manageable £250 a month meaning i can then cancel the cards and start putting some money into savings as well.


would this seem sensible? thanks

This was previously discussed on the Debt Free Wannabe forum.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5775665

I count at least 5 different threads about this credit card debt. What kind of advice are you looking for that hasn't already been covered?

[Deleted User]

katie4 wrote: »

Hi

currently pushing £400-500 a month onto the highest apr card but i'm thinking it may be better to get adebt consolidation loan to pay off all cards, it would save me thousands in interest take only 3 years and a manageable £250 a month meaning i can then cancel the cards and start putting some money into savings as well.


would this seem sensible?

No. If you were able to cut the interest on your borrowing, you should continue to pay the £500 a month.

DCFC79

Pixie5740 wrote: »

This was previously discussed on the Debt Free Wannabe forum.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5775665

I count at least 5 different threads about this credit card debt. What kind of advice are you looking for that hasn't already been covered?

It was the same OP who started that thread.

Pixie5740

DCFC79 wrote: »

It was the same OP who started that thread.

I know, that was the point.

DCFC79

katie4 wrote: »

Hi
I seem to gather from the forums that debt consolidation loans are pretty frowned upon. however, i am in the position to be able to put extra money now towards my credit cards the thing is the interest on one is 42% it will take me a long time to pay these off (i have three credit cards)
currently pushing £400-500 a month onto the highest apr card but i'm thinking it may be better to get adebt consolidation loan to pay off all cards, it would save me thousands in interest take only 3 years and a manageable £250 a month meaning i can then cancel the cards and start putting some money into savings as well.


would this seem sensible? thanks

There's no specific loans for consolidation, you just choose the option on the application as consolidation.

Have a read of the first thread in the loans sub forum.

Your other thread in the DFW board gave some good advice.
Consolidating only works if you cut the cards up, address the issue for the spending and only buy whats essential.

DCFC79

Pixie5740 wrote: »

I know, that was the point.

Lol Pixie, I stepped into that 1.

katie4

thanks i couldnt find my previous threads

DCFC79

katie4 wrote: »

thanks i couldnt find my previous threads

Click on your name then click Find more posts by xxx.

falafel

Hi - I'm sorry i cant seem to start a new thread (which seems to be an issue for other newbies too atm - as a different thread tells me) so i'm just posting here as its in some ways similar.

I’m looking for any advice on personal loans, as I’m a little new to all this but really want to find a way to pay off an old debt.

As a background, I’ve lived in UK for about 5 years and am self-employed – earning around £35k a year. My wife has lived here the same amount of time, but has a full-time job earning about £32k.

1) my wife has credit card debt of about $15,000 Canadian (from many years back now, when she admittedly was young and mis-spent!) – she has been paying of minimum amounts for years, but its’ now time to try and get rid of this.
2) We have good credits records in the UK (as her debt is back in Canada), banks accounts, credit cards that have never been behind on debt and no other debt.
3) We were wanting to take a personal loan of around £7.5k to consolidate that Canadian credit card debt, and pay off the loan over 36-42 months. Hoping for a reasonably low APR. (in anycase lower than whatever the Canadian credit card charges)

Given I’m self-employed the loan would probably just come from my wife’s name?

Currently when we fill out loan eligibility test on MSE etc. it comes to a 30% chance of the Sainsbury’s loan at 3.9% - most of the others are 10% to 0% chance.
This doesn’t leave me very hopeful! I don’t really want to start applying for loans if they are not going to be accepted, or accepted at quite high rates only, as I know hard searches can impact credit scores.

Would it be better to try with our bank (we have joint accounts with Co-Operative) or credit card institution (Halifax)? Or does that not make a difference

Appreciate any suggestions

[Deleted User]

You may as well try one application, even though your chances are low.

One search won't impact your credit file much, and in the UK, the credit scores are not used as a basis for credit (or anything else).

A trip to the DFW board may be more productive though, to see how you can cut costs and pay back faster.