Can you help me reduce monthly payments ?

MRDOLLAR

Hi all just wondered if you could help me reduce my monthly outgoings on a few credit/ debts. I will be honest im ideally looking to reduce monthly outgoings as my job has changed and I’m on less money !
Any ideas of how to shift and change or even consolidate debts? 

My credit rating is good.
Virgin Credit Card £6098 min payment £70.00 a month.
credit limit £6200
£468.00 interest goes up on this amount 20% on 19/04/21  
£5057. 0% interest rate ends 19/01/2022
Halifax credit Card £2000 ..credit limit £10,000
£50 payment a month.
PayPal Credit £700 credit limit £2500
£40 a month 3 months interest free.
Black Horse Car finance 8% car finance £133 a month current.
4 years remaining.
settlement figure £5,500.
Any ideas of how to reduce monthly payments ?
thanks so much.

cymruchris

Good to see that you're trying to get a handle on these finances before they get out of control - but you probably would need to post a full statement of affairs so that we can see where your money is going every month in comparison to the money you have coming in. 

There's a template here that lists everything: https://www.stoozing.com/soa.php

Have you looked in detail at your expenditure to see what you can reduce in order to put more money towards the debt? You might have to go through a period of adjustment as you say your job role and salary have changed. Do you have a big broadband/tv/netflix package that could be reduced? Are you on a high tariff mobile that could be swapped to a lower priced deal? Are there things in your wardrobes that you've never used that you could sell? Old phones? (You might not get what you paid for them back - but wouldn't you rather a few pounds in the bank rather than a cupboard full of stuff you don't use?)

Anyway - have a go at the template above and post the results - and then some of the locals here will do their best at pointing you in the right direction. 

sourcrates

First off, consolidation is not the answer, never, ever try to borrow your way out of existing debt, its a slippery slope to bankruptcy in many cases.

Reducing monthly payments to your creditors will mean two things will happen.

(1) You will break the terms of your credit agreements.
(2) Your accounts are likely to be defaulted, and/or assigned or sold to debt collectors after a period of time.

What you are describing, we term as "debt management", its an informal route people can take when they can`t afford their contractual credit repayments, and is a popular way to deal with unaffordable debt, but, this will have negative implications for your credit file, as long as you are fully aware of that.

Another route you could take would be to throw any excess income you may have at your debts so effectively overpaying them, this is done by strict budget controls, but is not for everyone as not everyone has sufficient disposable income available.

Alternatively there are fully regulated debt solutions such as DRO/IVA and Bankruptcy, all of which have there place, but are circumstance specific.

A fully completed SOA will tell us more.

yksi

One thing to consider is payment holidays on the cards that cost the least in interest right now but only if you are redirecting the money saved onto interest-bearing debts. That will reduce your outgoings "right now" but do remember that it's a case of kicking the can down the road; the piper needs to be paid eventually. In the long term you will need to examine your day-to-day spending and basically buy fewer things, from meal deals to quick car washes, all of it needs to stop until you get your outgoings below your income.