Consolidation advice

artistoz

Evening all!
I would be very grateful of any advice from the wealth of knowledgable peeps here.

My debts currently total 24k. 19k on cards, 5k left of a 20k egg loan i'm paying off £500 a month - so on top of everything else, cant really afford any more. Overall debts arent going up, but aint going down either currently with high interest ratges on the cards after previous zero/low rates. Ive been juggling the card balances for the last few years, but have limited flexability left, and with the current credit crunch, can't get another card with any meaningful credit limit to transfer to and close the previous card, i presume because of the total amount owed compared to income.
So basically my cards have been going up, the same rate my loan is going down.
Of course egg have offered me a top up loan to 24k, keeping monthly payments affordable and eliminating all the cards, but doing this i think i'll be paying extra interest on the 5k left, which as the interest was front loaded, will have been paid off long ago if i understand correctly??
I cant really take out a 2nd loan, as to cope, the monthly payment would be too low, and/or term too long.

Does anyone have any suggestions?
Is there such thing as a delayed loan where i dont make a payment for 10 months, but acrue interest? I guess not, esp as it would need to be unsecured.
Of do i just sit it out for 10 months when my £500pm loan is complete, and i can afford to take out another big loan with high monthly payment?

Many thanks in advance for info!

itsnever2lateisit?

Welcome to MSE:hello:

The way I read your post is that you are effectively paying off the loan with your credit card, not directly, but in a round about way. What this means is that you are paying off your lowest APR with one of the highest:eek: . That indicates a 'structural' problem.

Take a look at the sticky thread at the top of this board and post your Statement of Affairs (SOA) basically a list of all your income and outgoing each month. There are some very knowledgable folk here ( or at least will be in the morning) who, perhaps by bitter experience, will suggest ways in which you can get a surplus each month to cut your debts without harming you lifestyle, in effect getting the same for less:j

So when your ready sit down with a :coffee: and get that SOA together, you'll be surprised how much they will save you

inmypocketnottheirs

Sound advice from in2l. Use the snowball calculator to work out which debts to pay first. I am vehemently against consolidation loans and borrowing more money 'for one easy affordable monthly payment' (I think whatsername vorderperson should be shot) as generally they work out more expensive in the long run. Also unless the reasons for overspending (and running up the debt in the first place) are addressed, invariably after a few months the cards are out again and in in a couple of years there is a new load of debt.