Debt consolidation/remortgage/SOA

KxMx

Is going down to one car temporarily a realistic option?

As in, rather than saying no because of not wanting to, could you truly manage with 1 car even if it made life more difficult/you had to do some things differently. 

2x mobiles and tv (unclear if tv cost includes broadband as well) is costing you £165 a month which is huge... I see though that others have already raised those.

andys15

You should also look at what’s the cost, the snowballing tool. 

See what it would cost you extra to consolidate the debts onto your mortgage. Put in the figures for consolidating and not consolidating. 

Going back to my point of consolidating. You won’t be able to consolidate and get a house extension on your combined incomes. You won’t be able to get a house extension with your current debt on your incomes either. 

Thrugelmir

kimwp said:

andys15 said:

I think a little differently than advice already given. This is a money saving expert website and it’s true that the best advice is to not consolidate.
 However if I was in your situation ( I have been in your situation), I would consolidate. But I would then take away the temptation/ability of building up more debt after consolidating by reducing the term of my mortgage instead of just overpaying( this reducing the term would go against Martins advice). 

The caveat to my advice though is that your jobs need to be as secure as can be and income safe. 

Like I said this advice will not be popular and it won’t be money saving ( well it will be if you don’t get them cards onto 0%), but some people( like I did) like to have fresh starts instead of seeing lots of loans ,credit cards and  direct debits. 

- Experience on here is that most people who consolidate end up in more debt because they don't address the overspending

Not just experience. It's the statistical data that lies behind mortgage lenders reluctance to consolidate debt. People learn best by tackling their own problems. A desire not to repeat the exercise. Easy way out no lessons get learnt. Nothing gets ingrained. 

Cazmeena

KxMx said:

Is going down to one car temporarily a realistic option?

As in, rather than saying no because of not wanting to, could you truly manage with 1 car even if it made life more difficult/you had to do some things differently. 

2x mobiles and tv (unclear if tv cost includes broadband as well) is costing you £165 a month which is huge... I see though that others have already raised those.

Hi … we did look at that but at moment it just wouldn’t work with 1 car due to hubby working and daughter school too far away at the Moment but I wouldn’t rule it out when the school will be walking distance in sept this year  .  Personally I would be ruthless as I really want to change .. but so glad I joined this forum it’s so nice to have some help.  

Cazmeena

andys15 said:

I think a little differently than advice already given. This is a money saving expert website and it’s true that the best advice is to not consolidate.
 However if I was in your situation ( I have been in your situation), I would consolidate. But I would then take away the temptation/ability of building up more debt after consolidating by reducing the term of my mortgage instead of just overpaying( this reducing the term would go against Martins advice). 

The caveat to my advice though is that your jobs need to be as secure as can be and income safe. 

Like I said this advice will not be popular and it won’t be money saving ( well it will be if you don’t get them cards onto 0%), but some people( like I did) like to have fresh starts instead of seeing lots of loans ,credit cards and  direct debits. 

Glad I am not the only person that thought this might be idea … to be fair after mor research it’s looking very unlikely I can do it with the mortgage as I don’t think they will lend it to me however I am still keeping my eye on this because like you said I want to see it clear so I can be clear about the plan.  Pretty much the mortgage and debt repayments are £2k so why not borrow more on mortgage and have one payment and overpay.  I suppose the argument is there is always a temptation to still go back to bad habits etc it’s a difficult one … nothing would make happier than paying it all off and having one payment to worry about and sending letters to cancel all those credit cards once and for all! I will look at the snowballing too.  I made progress and can swap the highest apr balance to a 0% per cent so I will do that as well as going through each of my outgoings to see if savings can be made.  Thank you and watch this space.  

RelievedSheff

Why not start a diary on the debt free diaries page.

There are loads of people on there, myself included, who are in similar situations. 

I have personally found that writing the diary gives me some sort of accountability and keeps me on the straight and narrow with the debt repayments  

Also loads of people to give you support and advice when you need it.  

kimwp

Cazmeena said:

andys15 said:

I think a little differently than advice already given. This is a money saving expert website and it’s true that the best advice is to not consolidate.
 However if I was in your situation ( I have been in your situation), I would consolidate. But I would then take away the temptation/ability of building up more debt after consolidating by reducing the term of my mortgage instead of just overpaying( this reducing the term would go against Martins advice). 

The caveat to my advice though is that your jobs need to be as secure as can be and income safe. 

Like I said this advice will not be popular and it won’t be money saving ( well it will be if you don’t get them cards onto 0%), but some people( like I did) like to have fresh starts instead of seeing lots of loans ,credit cards and  direct debits. 

Glad I am not the only person that thought this might be idea … to be fair after mor research it’s looking very unlikely I can do it with the mortgage as I don’t think they will lend it to me however I am still keeping my eye on this because like you said I want to see it clear so I can be clear about the plan.  Pretty much the mortgage and debt repayments are £2k so why not borrow more on mortgage and have one payment and overpay.  I suppose the argument is there is always a temptation to still go back to bad habits etc it’s a difficult one … nothing would make happier than paying it all off and having one payment to worry about and sending letters to cancel all those credit cards once and for all! I will look at the snowballing too.  I made progress and can swap the highest apr balance to a 0% per cent so I will do that as well as going through each of my outgoings to see if savings can be made.  Thank you and watch this space.  

Why not is that you increase the risk of losing your house and you pay more money overall. If you chose to do that, you should do it in full knowledge of what you are risking.

Cazmeena

RelievedSheff said:

Why not start a diary on the debt free diaries page.

There are loads of people on there, myself included, who are in similar situations. 

I have personally found that writing the diary gives me some sort of accountability and keeps me on the straight and narrow with the debt repayments  

Also loads of people to give you support and advice when you need it.  

Great that’s a really good idea thanks I will look at that too …

Cazmeena

kimwp said:

Cazmeena said:

andys15 said:

I think a little differently than advice already given. This is a money saving expert website and it’s true that the best advice is to not consolidate.
 However if I was in your situation ( I have been in your situation), I would consolidate. But I would then take away the temptation/ability of building up more debt after consolidating by reducing the term of my mortgage instead of just overpaying( this reducing the term would go against Martins advice). 

The caveat to my advice though is that your jobs need to be as secure as can be and income safe. 

Like I said this advice will not be popular and it won’t be money saving ( well it will be if you don’t get them cards onto 0%), but some people( like I did) like to have fresh starts instead of seeing lots of loans ,credit cards and  direct debits. 

Glad I am not the only person that thought this might be idea … to be fair after mor research it’s looking very unlikely I can do it with the mortgage as I don’t think they will lend it to me however I am still keeping my eye on this because like you said I want to see it clear so I can be clear about the plan.  Pretty much the mortgage and debt repayments are £2k so why not borrow more on mortgage and have one payment and overpay.  I suppose the argument is there is always a temptation to still go back to bad habits etc it’s a difficult one … nothing would make happier than paying it all off and having one payment to worry about and sending letters to cancel all those credit cards once and for all! I will look at the snowballing too.  I made progress and can swap the highest apr balance to a 0% per cent so I will do that as well as going through each of my outgoings to see if savings can be made.  Thank you and watch this space.  

Why not is that you increase the risk of losing your house and you pay more money overall. If you chose to do that, you should do it in full knowledge of what you are risking.

I can’t do it on the mortgage anyway so I’m going to have to chip away slowly.  I struggle with this as I need to see instant results which is why I am in this pickle in the first place by keep moving debt around and still spending too much.  Onwards and upwards and now I have a goal and lots of people on here to help and offer support which has been awesome after only 4 days of joining so wish I had done it sooner!  

EssexHebridean

andys15 said:

I think a little differently than advice already given. This is a money saving expert website and it’s true that the best advice is to not consolidate.
 However if I was in your situation ( I have been in your situation), I would consolidate. But I would then take away the temptation/ability of building up more debt after consolidating by reducing the term of my mortgage instead of just overpaying( this reducing the term would go against Martins advice). 

The caveat to my advice though is that your jobs need to be as secure as can be and income safe. 

Like I said this advice will not be popular and it won’t be money saving ( well it will be if you don’t get them cards onto 0%), but some people( like I did) like to have fresh starts instead of seeing lots of loans ,credit cards and  direct debits. 

In real terms though that doesn't really take away any temptation at all as the debtor would still potentially be able to apply for more cards/loans  - indeed, if they are making a larger mortgage payment, and had not addressed the behaviours that caused the debt in the first place. It would be positively dangerous advice for someone to increase their mortgage payments to such an extent that they would subsequently fail affordability checks for any further credit! I'd offer that in that situation, increasing the size of the mortgage payments actually makes it more likely that the family home becomes at risk, as the tipping point of affordability -v- unaffordability will arrive sooner. 

A fresh start is indeed lovely, but actually getting to the bottom of, and fixing the issues which may have caused debt in the first place, and getting yourself on the sort of solid financial footing that means you won't - almost regardless of circumstances - end up back in the hole again - is even better.