Newbie seeking advice

whatsonjack

Hi
I've been reading the forum for a while and have decided to take the plunge!!
It seems a bit trivial when I read some of the problems on here but I could do with some advice.
I currently owe about £9.5K (total) spread over four credit cards as personal debt.
I am self employed and also have a large balance on another card I use solely for business purposes. There is regularly £8-9K per month going on and a similar amount being paid off but it's NEVER clear as it's in constant use.
Im' married with two kid and have between £250-300 left per month to service the debt so am basically paying off the minimums. At the moment I do not use the cards at all.
I have missed 2/3 payments on my personal debt cards in the couple of years mainly due to not receiving statements and forgetting to pay (if I've got the paperwork I pay, if not I forget!!) but have been late on a number of occasions due to late payments to me by my customers.
I went through one of the brokers last november and they turned me down but I was contacted by Black Horse who said they couldn't see why there was a problem and were happy to offer me the £10K. I went to sign the paperwork and they wanted a APR of 17.4% !!! So I told them where to put it.
I've got my experian report and it looks fine with only a couple of late payments on the profile and I have paid for my credit score which only reads fair (833) for some reason??. I've lived at my current home for nearly nine years and been self employed for 12 and have had an HSBC bank account for 15. i have never had any CCJ or other judgements against me.

I'm now looking at applying again but don't want to just bash around blind and get loads of searches on my report. Can anyone offer any advice.
Forgot to mention I reckon I could comfortable pay of the £10k in 4 years paying approx what I do now on the minimums.

Like I say a bit trivial when I look at some of the amounts people owe but I want it under control before it gets any worse!!

Thanks for your advice

floss2

Why not post an SOA to see if more than £250-300 a month can be found to start to make a hole in the debts?

Take a look at MSE Andrea's sticky for newbies.

RAS

Hi

We need to see the APRs, minimum payments and maximum limits on those CCs.

You may also find it interesting to feed the information into the snowball at https://www.whatsthecost.com

whatsonjack

very quick breakdown
Earnings £1400 Nett
Household Bills £850.00 includes mortgage, utilities, insurances, TV
kids School Dinners £74.00
Daugters Mob £20.00
Savings Plan £80.00 15 year policy due to expire in 4 years
Private Health £40.00
CC Minimums £215.00

Leaves me about £30 a week to spend.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not too worried at the moment as the savings plan will more than cover the debt in 4 years but it would be nice to have as much clear as possible by then and keep the most part of the money I've been saving for 15 years.

It's just I get so frustrated realising that Sainsburys are offering a headline rate of 6.5% (I know thats the best you could hope for) which means by paying £239 per month over 4 years I'm completely clear!!! I just don't know if I dare apply!!

I was really looking for advice on who is more likely to accept my loan application - in hindsight I suppose I should be on the loan board - do you think??

onamission_2

you'll need to do a complete breakdown of outgoings for us to help you. the guys on this forum are excellent at spotting savings to help.

whatsonjack

Right - heres a breakdown of household expenses
Mortgage £458.15
endowment £99.40
Insurances £28.48
Gas £27.00
Council Tax £123.00
Brit Gas Serv £25.85
Sky £52.00
Water £35.00
TV £11.61

I know sky is an unnecessary expense but with two young kids it's worth it

Cheers

RAS

whatsonjack wrote: »

Earnings £1400 Nett

Right - heres a breakdown of household expenses
Mortgage £458.15
endowment £99.40
Insurances £28.48
Gas £27.00
Council Tax £123.00
Brit Gas Serv £25.85 - what is this?
Sky £52.00 I know sky is an unnecessary expense but with two young kids it's worth it - What matters most, feeding them or SKY!!!!!
Cancel it and let them watch the freeview channels for a year.
Water £35.00
TV £11.61
kids School Dinners £74.00 - do pack up

Daugters Mob £20.00 - pardon? PAYG if you must but no more than £10 per month
Savings Plan £80.00 15 year policy due to expire in 4 years
Private Health £40.00 -do you needs it?

CC Minimums £215.00 - can you break these down by card, APR, minimum payment and maximum limit.

Leaves me about £30 a week to spend.

if you cut the luxeries, you can make this work.

whatsonjack

Aah..... Sorry, I just read my first post and probably didn't make myself very clear.

The monthly household income against expenditure is in the black with the good lady paying for the food / clothes etc. If I'm £50 short a month I get it off her;) . We're not rolling in money but can afford the odd luxury and I will have the means to completely pay the debt (from when the youngest was born and the wife had a year off - six months unpaid) when the savings plan matures in four years anyway anyway

What I'm trying to do is put the money I'm currently paying to the cards to better use as I'm just ticking along and not making a big dent in them.

I was really trying to find who, if anyone, are easier lenders to us self employed folk.

Does that make more sense?? Like I said in my original post, it's very trivial compared to some of you guys but being the experts on larger problems I thought you may be able to point me in the right direction

Thanks for your help

Regards

tallyhoh

Does your income include any child tax credit/working credit? Not sure how they work it on self employed but I am sure you should be getting some.

whatsonjack

Sorry, just come back online
yeah we get the tax credits and famility allowance - goes into the wifes pot!!