Driving debt down

Bisonblast10

I have debt of the below 
£5500 credit card 
£3500 oveedraft
£16500 Van 
£60000borrowed from wife but it’s her daughters money been paying back £400 a month 
I get paid £2450 a month and usually don’t have any money spare as pay child support £456 and my wife for bills £1200 how can I get out of debt 

Mark_d

That is a huge amount of debt.  Did you need to spend that kind of money on a van?  Personally the most I have ever spent on a car is £4k, and even then I only bought the car after I had saved up the money.

One thing you might be able to do is sell the van a buy something significantly cheaper.

I get the impression you are paying a significant amount of interest on your credit card + overdraft.  If you can arrange cheaper borrowing, then less money will go paying interest and a higher proportion will go to repaying your debt.

RAS

Welcome

We could really do with seeing a proper Staement of Affairs

SOA Calculator (lemonfool.co.uk)

If possible do one for your family, not just yourself with a lump sum £1200 for bills. It may be that there are some bills that need looking at, as well as some items not being covered? 

What did you borrow £60k for? And is it still £60k or now £59,200?

Bisonblast10

It’s still £60000

Bisonblast10

It’s actually an option I have been thinking about selling my van 

FreeFallerSaver

Bisonblast10 said:

It’s still £60000

I think the main question that @RAS asks is what did you actually borrow the money for.

The reason is so that we can understand how the debt was built up; if it is demonstrative of poor money management, spending beyond means (clearly), and whether if anything material was purchased with it (ie, not just a racking up of day to day spending due to insufficient income) which could potentially be sold to hack away at your debt.

As said before, completion and posting of an SoA will really help others to give you the best advice.

Edit: spelling and formatting 

RAS

There's load of things that could result in the £60k personal debt. Maybe consolidation of other debt? Or a divorce settlement, or business failure. We don't really need to know as long as Bisonblast10 understands how the situation arose.

It does complicate finding solutions. And the fact that it's a round figure with a large monthly payment suggests that the monthly payment may not have yet been made?

Bisonblast10

It has been bad management on my side but I don’t need more negativity it’s getting me down enough just want solutions 

Brie

Bisonblast10 said:

It has been bad management on my side but I don’t need more negativity it’s getting me down enough just want solutions 

To get a solution people need to understand the full extent of your situation.  You say you owe X and say you get paid £2450 but then mention paying child support.  So if you fill out the SOA as suggested and post it back here people can see the entire picture and know better how to provide helpful advice.  

sourcrates

There are four debt solutions available in the UK, they are -

DMP (Debt management plan)

DRO (Debt relief order)

IVA (Individual voluntary arrangement)

Bankruptcy.

Which one of the four suits you best depends on a number of factors, including your income/expenditure, your assets, living situation, homeowner or renter, and how much debt you have.

There will be other considerations as well, but they are the main criteria we look at.

Its vital all your figures are as spot on as possible, to determine which one is best for you, sometimes one or more solutions may be advised, so it can come down to the nitty gritty detail.

enthusiasticsaver

Unfortunately there is no quick way out of debt.  If that £60k was debt consolidation that indicates you have been overspending for sometime. A full soa will help to see where your money is going.  If you are paying £1200 to your wife to cover bills and £456 for child support then you have £794 left.  If you are paying £400 towards the £60k that only leaves you £394 to service the other £25k debt and live off and I would imagine the interest on that size of overdraft is over £110 per month.  I cannot see that is sustainable.  

The first thing is the van.  Is that £16500 HP or a personal loan? How much is the van worth? If it is on a PCP deal and you are more than halfway through you can just hand it back and they should wipe the debt. If it is a personal loan then there is no security so you can sell the van and use the money to repay some of your debt but personally I would tackle the overdraft first. If you can do without a van so much the better.  Why a van or is it for your work?  

Can that £1200 be reduced at all?  Does that cover groceries etc too?  

As said above there are various debt solutions depending on your situation.  None are easy and they all come with drawbacks but at that level of debt you really have few options available. It is vital you stop using the credit card and overdraft so probably your first step is to default on the debt repayments.