20K of debt and stuggling

stu_2008

I need some help with this one...

20k of debt in a loan, and credit cards...

my repayments per month for the loan is £286 which is fully paid off in September 2009...

i have around 5 credit cards totalling around £300-3400 repayments....

me and the mrs would really really like to get our own house, but whats my best option....???

i can hold out rill sep 09 when loan is paid off, but thats a year and a half of struggling repayments and the possibilty of getting deeper in debt.

thers an IVA which is on my mind but im still paying debt fof next 5 years around £200 a month and will make it harder to get a mortgage.

borrow money from my mum (10k) and get a loan for 10k to consolidate what i have left for low repayments.

get a loan(which i have been accepted for) for 20k with 108 monthly repayments of £319.48 a month.....

anyone got any ideas?????

im stressed out to hell and i just cant see the end of it all

p.s im 24, living with my girlfriends parents earning around 21k a year approx

many many thanks

sallyx

Can you post up your SOA with all your incomings and outgoings so that we can see where you might be able to save some money and pay off your debt quicker. Personally I wouldn't go down the consolidation route, you need to tackle this head on and cut back on your spending
Have a look at this post to give you an idea of what you need to do

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=107280

stu_2008

what is an SOA???

Thanks for the urgent response, its what i need right now

sallyx

Have a look at the link I have posted above

stu_2008

ahhh

my SOA is approx..

earnings after tax; £1149

I also get a 6 monthly bonus from work of roughly £2000 every 6 months (taxable)

my outgoing....

Loan £286
all credit cards roughly £300-£400
phone £50(contract which i cant change till april)
thai boxing £30
petrol £200
rent £100
protein shakes for training £20
errrr, im struggling to think of other stuff but for some reason im struggling..sorry

i just feel like ive been paying all of this off for a few years and not even gone down...

but it all happened because i bought a car with a loan, then i was ill every month for 6 months so all i got was stautory sick pay, then i had an op so off work another 2 weeks, got an infection so off another 3 weeks then the company cut down on hours and went into liquidation..

i really need help with this as i just dont seem to be going anywhere

many many thanks

peteskies

I think before even thinking of a mortgage you need to address ways of reducing the interest that you are paying on your debt and then once it is manageable you can clear it up as quickly as you can.

Who are you with and what is the APR of your loan and your various credit cards?

If you are serious about clearing your debt then you may benefit from transferring your credit cards to a balance-transfer credit card (see here: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cards/balance-transfer-credit-cards) it's important you don't spend anything on this new card as you will be penalised heavily for it.

Do you have a deposit for a property yet? You need to bare in mind that you ideally need a 10% deposit. I suspect in this current climate, a mortgage lender will not touch you with the debt that you have.

If you can get your debts in order now, and you give it 12 months, your finances will be in a much better order and you'll have a better idea of where the property market is heading.

Whilst you are living with your girlfriend's parents, make the most of the reduced rent, you'll come to really appreciate it once you do take that big step...

lindens

Sorry to hear of your troubles but at least now I take it you have good health and a good job and can move forward.
I just wanted to check that when you were ill, did you have payment protection on your loan and cards, and did you claim off them?
If you are struggling to think of your outgoings, then many people find it helpful to keep a spending diary for a few months. In fact most people find it an eye opener to see where their money is going (mainly on rubbish). Every single penny that you spend, write it down and after a month see where it goes and if necessary do some cutting back. Look up the APR's on your loans and CC's and goto www.whatsthecost.com , have a play around with your figures and see how you can overpay on some of them to bring the balances down quicker.

stu_2008

to be honest i have a few cards on 0% apr for life of the balance....

i hve 17k wrapped up in credit card balances, and arond 5k in loans...

i did have payment protection on my loan and credit cards, but one of the cluases is you have to be ill more than 30 days or something, i was ill for 2 weeks then back to work so couldnt make a single claim and this happened around 6 times before my op.

it was only tonsilitus but i ended up in hopsital 3 times because of it before my op, but like i say never more than a few weeks off so couldnt claim.

i feel like its all spiralled out of control, and i cant see a way out

stu_2008

Anyone....

im going out of my mind here with what to do

Bismarck

apologies if I've missed something but what does your partner earn to contribute to the house you're looking to get together?

re timing of posts....the forum will get much busier after tea-time...

stu_2008

she earns 15k a year(new job not even had first pay check yet) but she pays £400 a month to0 have her horse on full livery