My slightly huge £28k debt pile

Smirch_This

I've (well myself and my wife) have clocked up about £28k of debt over the last 6 years. Some of this has been due to landlords screwing us over the years and some has just been stupidity on our part. I've managed to get some of it under control via "low interest managed loans" and agreements but I'm still not anywhere near meeting my deadline of sorting it quickly.

I have a 2-3 year deadline to clear this (as I want to change my job from Software Supremo to Army Infantry before I hit 30 - I'm 27 now). I earn £2957/month after tax and including child benefit and tax credits.

Is there any way to consolidate this into a single outgoing payment other than an IVA bearing in mind my credit rating is ... err 10?

I've got a possible (if I can consolidate it all) £977/month to blow on it so it's feasable but I'm not sure who to approach about it.

Any help would be much appreciated!

CCCS_Emily

Hi Smirch This,

Do not consolidate! If your credit rating is already poor you will just find that you are paying a higher interest rate on a larger amount.

Take a look at Debt Remedy, our online debt advice facility available at www.cccs.co.uk/ref/drmse Even if you are not struggling with your debts it helps you put together a household budget and work our how much you can afford towards clearing them, and suggests options for you, based on your situation.

An IVA is a form of insolvency, not consolidation; I would suggest you look at all options available to you before going down this route, especially if you are looking for a career in the armed forces.

There are plenty of people here to help you out.

Good luck and let us know how you get on.

Smirch_This

Fantastic - just the motivation I need. Thanks for your advice.

hbl_2

I am no math genius, but £28,000 of debt, with close to £1000 to throw at it a month would surely take less than three years to pay off? Snowballing the debts correctly will reduce the monthly interest, and you will save so much in interest just by throwing everything you have at it right now.

Draw up a simple spreadsheet to determine what's outstanding, what it's costing you, and what paying off each loan will save you. There are plenty of snowball calculators/spreadsheets out there. It's pretty fun when you get going with it.

HeadInSand_2

hbl wrote: »

I am no math genius, but £28,000 of debt, with close to £1000 to throw at it a month would surely take less than three years to pay off?

Only if he's got interest free debts! One or two 27.9% cards and that period is pushed away.

Smirch_This

I've got a number of crap interest rates on credit cards and no credit rating. Plus Natwest is screwing me for £58/month in charges. I can't get any zero interest cards due to the credit rating.

I'm trying to get everything on less than 9% APR managed loans but it's a battle and a half especially with the narky old cows in the call centres at Natwest and MBNA.

Any recommendations of spreadsheet snowballing calculators?

Gemmzie

www.whatsthecost.com has a great snowball

Have you got a list of the debts and the APRs? If you have a poor credit rating, I would bet that a managed loan would be a worse idea.

Are NatWest charging you on a current account or a credit card?

rayday2

Smirch_This wrote: »

I've got a number of crap interest rates on credit cards and no credit rating. Plus Natwest is screwing me for £58/month in charges. I can't get any zero interest cards due to the credit rating.

I'm trying to get everything on less than 9% APR managed loans but it's a battle and a half especially with the narky old cows in the call centres at Natwest and MBNA.

Any recommendations of spreadsheet snowballing calculators?

I don't know much about managed loans but from what I have read they have a tendancy to go up really high in interest rates but that is only what I have read on here and could be the worst cases.

lunar

Why dont you post a full SOA, you will get loads of advice on saving money, ive cut my spending loads doing this. my debt was over 33k when i started and im hoping to get rid of it before im 30 in 2010. Its really motivated me to reduce my debt by posting on this site. A spending diary is also a really good idea to see where all that extra money is going.

Smirch_This

I've done a snowball calculator and i've resolved it so it's sorted in 24 months :-)

I've job jumped my salary up by £23k in 1.5 years, I've ebayed EVERYTHING I own and live of Tescos value stuff, clubcard points, offers, cycle 14 miles to work and back (or walk!) rather than train every day (or work from home), sold my car, moved from a £1250/month rental to a £925/month one, got an allotment and burned out my local freecycle. I live off a Solo card as well which seems to help.

I'm in control of that bit at least!

Now knowing my luck, I reckon i'll probably get my noggin shot off after completing basic training when shipped off to Iran or wherever after.

Cymru-boyo

Smirch_This wrote: »

Now knowing my luck, I reckon i'll probably get my noggin shot off after completing basic training when shipped off to Iran or wherever after.

This is awful but that made me chuckle!