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Advice needed - family debt

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Good afternoon Mse forummers I come seeking aid by way of taking out a loan to repay part of a debt to a family member, due to me having 3 children, living in rented accomodation and being single income (full time employef) my plate is full!

Its manageable and I’ve budgeted for what is coming. I have roughly £2700 credit card ‘debt’ and a useful £500 overdraft.

plan is to possibly consolidate debt and pay a lump back to said family member.

can I get some advice on unsecured/bad credit loans, community banks and the likelihood of acceptance for a guarantor who lives abroad? 

Any words of experience would be massively appreciated.

TIA

Comments

  • Nasqueron
    Nasqueron Posts: 10,735 Forumite
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    Guarantor who lives abroad almost 0 chance as it's difficult to get money from them if you stop paying

    Debt consolidation is rarely a good idea, it sounds good but lenders have to assume you will spend the money elsewhere or just run up the debt again so judge affordability based on 2x your debt i.e. £2700 + £500 + £3200 loan 

    You should go to the debt free wannabe page and paste a statement of affairs (SoA) and they will help you budget to clear the debt.

    Don't borrow to pay debt

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  • gwynlas
    gwynlas Posts: 2,264 Forumite
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    edited 20 May at 3:32PM
    Unless your family member is desperate  why not pay them in instalments.
  • MEM62
    MEM62 Posts: 5,322 Forumite
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    plan is to possibly consolidate debt and pay a lump back to said family member.
    You cannot borrow you way out of debt.  It simply does not work.  Consolidation loans, particularly for those in your circumstances will attract a high interest rate and will only add to your pain.  You need an alternative plan to deal with your debts.  

    can I get some advice on unsecured/bad credit loans, community banks and the likelihood of acceptance for a guarantor who lives abroad? 
    You probably can, but none of the above would actually help your situation.  And there is zero chance of a guarantor loan if the guarantor is overseas. 

    You need to post up an SoA on the Debt Free Wannabe board where some practical advice will be offered.   
  • eschaton
    eschaton Posts: 2,094 Forumite
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    If you already have debt them I’m guessing you don’t gave any savings in the bank?

    If so, you can’t live debt free at the moment so how are you going to finance additional debt?

    It’s not going to work out well. 

    As already mentioned, a SOA would be a good start. 
  • enthusiasticsaver
    enthusiasticsaver Posts: 16,062 Ambassador
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    I would agree this sounds like a bad plan.  You presumably are already struggling so adding more debt does not sound sensible.  If you have poor  credit it is even less likely to be agreed and no bank will accept a guarantor from overseas. 
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  • Ergates
    Ergates Posts: 3,047 Forumite
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    This will sound bad but....   It's better (for you) to owe money to a family member, without a contract, than to enter into a "formal" loan agreement, because without a contract, the family member can't do much if you fail to repay them.

    Even fully wanting to repay the family member - it's still preferable to you because they're more likely to be flexible on payment dates/amounts.
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