New user with 30K debt

Penguin_2

Things will definitely get better for us both I am sure - cos lets face it, can they actually get any worse?? I hope that the doctor can help you out.

I am just hoping that once I have spoken to CCCS at beginning of August they will be able to really help me sort things out. At the moment I can cover the payments to credit card and loan each month but after rent and bills this basically leaves me nothing. Literally nothing!!! Its agonising.

Kigu

I know where you're coming from and do feel for you. I'll keep an eye on your thread to get updates on your progress. I'll do the same. Seeing what other people are going through, and seeing how they cope, is quite inspiring. Gives me confidence to try to make things better.

Kigu

Dear Westernpromise,

Yet more good advice. Thanks.

What an awful story about Nat West. No wonder you hate banks. I hated Midland for a similar reason but Nat West have alwys been okay for us. So far.

Yes we have done quite a few debt busting things though we seem to have a simpler life than most anyway - no car, hardly use mobile, no satellite, no gym. Pity in some ways as getting rid of such excess would help, but we've never had it in the first place! So where did the money go eh?

Phonix

Some tips to reduce the debt.

Sign up to an A&L account and get £125.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=62624&highlight=alliance

If you have an egg financial product, signupto egg money manager add one of your accounts and get £15. If you don't have an egg product, just sign up to eggpay, then signup to money manager and add an account.

Do you have a mobile phone?

If you do, cancel your current contract and sign up to the £1.99 for ten months v3 deal on orange 200 at carphone warehouse and sell the phone on ebay for about £200.

Be referred through https://www.quidco.com to recieve a further £22 rebate on this purchase, because £110 is raised to your card in the first two months, if you add all these totals together they should cover, if not, almost cover the cost of your contract which means that any cashback you recieve later will be profit.

I have been told (due to complaints from rpoints members) that I should not recommend quidco on mse. however in these circumstances and many other instances lately, I feel I have to because there is a clear need.

unfortunately financial cashbacks are not available at quidco so please signup to an account at https://www.linemypocket.co.uk or https://www.rpoints.co.uk and recieve money for successful credit card applications.

Kigu

Thanks so much Phonix!

We do have mobiles but they are pay as you go and we hardly use them so they aren't an issue. But the other stuff is very useful esp. A&L as I need a new account for my little business....

westernpromise

Kigu wrote:

We owe:

£1692.12 to Laura Ashley.I pay at the moment almost £70 a month to them on a direct debit. This is 35.70 interest and 25.01 account cover.

Cancel the account cover. It costs at least 8 times more than equivalent insurance you can buy from places like https://www.goodfellows.co.uk and it pays out less anyway (if it ever does).

Kigu wrote:

£7773 to Visa. We pay 18.78 per annum.

£9666 to Access with 1.466 per month.

£9632 to Egg with 1.167 per month.

I assume these are all percentages, right?

Kigu wrote:

Route 1 is to ask for a consolidation loan. I'd only really like to consider a flexible one so I could pay it off asap. Cahoot is in my mind - or Goldfish. But how much would they offer me?

Apply and find out. If they don't like you, they'll eithr turn you down or offer you a higher interest rate than the headline one they use in their advertising.

I'm trying to work out the weighted average interest rate on the most expensive £25k of your debt. I'm guessing you're paying about 25% to Laura Ashley even excluding the purchase protection; 27% to Principles; 64% (?!!?!?) to La Redoute (who they?); 19% to Visa; 18% to Access; and 14% to Egg. Dunno what your O/D rate is.

So anyway, that means that your worst rates are La Redoute (though I guess you are actually overpaying that one), Principles, Laura Ashley, Visa, Access, and Egg. I make that 19.6% or thereabouts. Any rate better than that will save you money.

Kigu wrote:

They would only lend me £25K max. which still leaves a shortfall of 9K. Could I then take out an 0% credit card for 9 months?

You could, but the thing to remember is that a rapid succession of credit applications looks bad. So you need to decide what you're going to do and apply in that order. Eg if you can get a £25k loan at 10% but the credit check means you subsequently don't get the 0% cards, that's a better result than the reverse. Also, it is possible that even if you don't get the 0% deal, you'll get offered something else.

In your shoes I'd try MBNA, Morgan Stanley, and FirstDirect; in my experience - which of course reflects my circumstances and not yours - they offer good credit limits.

Kigu wrote:

Route 2 is to take out a 0% credit card from either Virgin or Halifax - or both. Could I get two?

I managed to get five out of six recently, by applying to all six online on the same day. I suspect this may have meant the credit searches they each did did not show up to each other. So yes this is feasible, but don't overplay your hand. Also, Halifax was the one that turned me down. You're better off with Virgin I reckon, though it's just a rebrand of MBNA. It doesn't charge for BTs as yet so not a bad choice.

Kigu wrote:

Route 3 is to take out a 0% credit card from Virgin. Move one of our debts from either Visa, Acess or Egg, plus as much store card debt as I can. Close that card and see what they offer a la Rochdale lad.

Why not do that as well?

Kigu

Western promise you're a star.

Yes those are percentages - about 2% a month I guess on each.

La Redoute are a French catalogue company.

Himself and I have had a huge talk based on my copious notes. If only we knew who would say yes and what they'd offer? It's a bit of a punt isn't it? I'd prefer to snowball, rather than a loan, and if we could do a Rochdale Lad I'd be well pleased. Watch this space - I will go into action next week and post my doings on here. By teh way I am looking into switching my account from Nat West. Your comments made me look into our current account and boy are we being fleeced! I looked at Alliance and L as Martin had written something about them and they look good. Need to work on our OD before we could go there though - but will will asap.

So thanks again.

Kigu

Anyone else out there with any advice about snowballing versus loan in my case?

Kigu

Now at the risk of looking even more stupid than I look already....



When we moved my husband and I didn't register on the electoral roll, for no other reason than we lost faith with politics after having been quite active. I now realise this isn't good credit rating wise. I am now registering. Anyone know how long it takes to show up to a credit agency? Or if indeed it's not such a big thing given we pay our council tax on time?

For the record we have decided to take out a loan from Northern Rock for £3500 to cover the store card debt, go for a Virgin card at 0% for 9 months and shift our OD onto that, and also go for a Texaco card and shift a credit card debt onto that. Then close that card and see what they'll offer us to move another debt over. Please feel free to rubbish this. I seem to change my mind every few days - this is the latest incarnation.

Oh I have also seen the doctor and am now on pills to get me over this depression I am in. Hopefully in a few weeks I will start to see a light at the end of the tunnel!

Thanks in advance for your advice.

martinpike

I'm no expert, but what you've done sounds like a very good compromise between the perfect answer and the simplest answer.

There's no point squeezing every penny of savings out if the complexity of keeping on top of it is a worry in itself.

I reckon you've achieved the 80/20 rule. 80% of the benefit, with 20% of the effort and hassle.

Good on you for getting on top of your situation.