Newby wanting advice on debts please

System

This discussion was created from comments split from: Struggling with debt? Ask a stepchange debt adviser a question.

Scary_Guy

Hi,

We have racked up debt including a secured loan. Our unsecured debt amounts to about £67200. We are considering a DMP for the unsecured debt but have a few questions that we are hoping you guys might be able to give us an answer for. 

Will this affect mobile phone upgrades? My wife and I can keep our phones when the current deals expire but our children's phones are getting older now and although we wouldn't be upgrading them to the top level phones they will need to be replaced with models that are a little newer than the ones they have.
One of our children will be starting University and will need a new laptop which we would not have the initial funds for. We have a Currys account already and that isn't listed in our debts. Would we still be able to use that to purchase them a new laptop? If not, does anyone have experience of similar situations and how did you do it? 
For those with existing mortgages did you just accept that you had to stay with the same provider and move products rather than try to apply for a new mortgage elsewhere?

Many thanks,

fatbelly

In reverse order, yes, poor credit history usually means you stay with your original lender.

To consider a dmp, you must have a reasonable amount of surplus income to fund it, in your case around £1000. So here's an idea. Stop paying your nonpriority debts, stop taking out further credit and buy the laptop with cash.

Have a look at our newbies thread here

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6496941/in-debt-and-wannabe-debt-free-first-steps-to-take -are-here-please-read-then-ask-questions