Live in employment and debt consolidation

GuinevereG

Hi I am trying to consolidate around £5,000 of debt between a credit card and loan onto an interest free product but seem to be failing on eligibility. I earn £22,000 a year but have very few overheads due to living in ie no rent/rates etc. Could this be affecting my credit rating and how do I get round this? Thanks

EssexHebridean

Have you checked via the MSE Credit Club (free) to see how your eligibility looks for 0% transfer options? As there is a loan involved, I think you'd need to look at money transfers, not balance transfers. 

One question though - if you have the income you do, with few outgoings, you ought to be able to clear 5k fairly fast - what is your approach to this at the moment, and assuming that you are unable to get a 0% product to transfer to? 

GuinevereG

Thanks for your reply. My issue is the high amounts I’m currently repaying (£600pm) that leave me little resilience, hence why I’m seeking alternative credit.  The eligibility calculators are showing I have no chance of approval for a 0% loan or transfer credit card. I wonder if this is a glitch related to my unusual circumstances, rather than my ability to repay?

EssexHebridean

If you want to put together your SOA - Statement Of Affairs - and post it into the thread we can take look and see if we can make any suggestions of your best plan of attack? 

enthusiasticsaver

If you are living in as a condition of your employment that could be a reason why you are struggling.  If you lose your job you lose your home too so I guess that may make you more vulnerable. Depends on how the banks you are applying to score your application.  

Surely if you have low overheads dealing with a relatively low amount of debt should be easy though? What interest rates are you paying?  Consolidating debts is generally frowned upon on here as it usually leads to higher debt. Doing an soa as suggested should help us advise better. 

EssexHebridean

Yes - ES makes a good point about the appearance to lenders that your job and home are linked perhaps not reflecting well on your file. 

The good news though is with that income and debt combination, alongside the low outgoings, it should be very possible to tackle things in a pretty straightforward way even without 0% transfers - unless of course some of the debt is at a very high interest rate?

MFWannabe

GuinevereG said:

Hi I am trying to consolidate around £5,000 of debt between a credit card and loan onto an interest free product but seem to be failing on eligibility. I earn £22,000 a year but have very few overheads due to living in ie no rent/rates etc. Could this be affecting my credit rating and how do I get round this? Thanks

If you have very low overheads you should. Be able to pay your debts off quite quickly 
What are the interest rates on the loan and credit card? 

You need to fill in a soa so people here can best advise you how to pay off these debts asap and also to prevent yourself from getting in debt again