£40K In Credit Card Debt !!!!

Rubes007

Hello

I am looking for some advice ….Please .

I have nearly £40K of unsecured debt, Mostly credit cards.

I know this is a huge amount, My problems started several years ago when I bought a house with my partner , it needed a lot of building work and costs just escalated . He then left and not only was I left with a very large mortgage to pay on my own but also the credit card debts ( The 0% interest deals ran out) . I then borrowed more to pay the deficit . Anyway things just spiralled out of control thought I could pay it back if the property was finished and increased in value (sold it part finished and it didn’t) , kept telling myself it would sort itself out . I now realise that it wont .

I have now started to take action :T


I am sending of the template letters to my bank’s and credit cards in the hope of reclaiming some charges.

I’ve also final spoken to my family about the problem and they are going to help by paying off a very large chunk of the debt for me … I know I’m in a very lucky position and hopefully getting one loan( for an affordable amount) for the remaining amount.

I would obviously like to reduce the amount I have to pay to the credit card companies , as although I completely agree the this position is entirely my own fault .
It was very very easy to borrow the money …..FAR TOO EASY !

I don’t feel allowing someone on 20k a year to run up £40k in credit card debt is responsible lending .

On one credit card I have calculated that the interest I’ve paid on it in the last 3 years in nearly as much as my debt with them !

I am trying to pay the money back but obviously they have made a huge amount of money in interest from me and now I don’t wont to pay them any more money than I absolutely have too .
So my Question is :

• Is there anyway I can negotiating a reduction in the debt, if I pay of the balances in full without it affecting my credit rating
• How do I do it – What kind of things should I be saying ?
• How much will they reduce the amount by If any?
• How many people have managed to get the debt reduce for final settlement of the balance / Did it affect your credit rating ?

All advice is very much appreciated

[FONT=&quot]Thank You [/FONT]

tylersbabe

Hi
Just wanted to say hi and I am sure someone will be along to offer some great advice later. So hang on in there sorry of no practicle advice there are others out there who will help when they check out the posts.

Sorry if not making sense am quite tired now (sorry)

GeorgeUK

Hi Rubes

If you post up a SOA so that we can see what income you have and what expenditure it would be a help. Have you been missing payments on CC or loans? Can you post up what your debts are? Who they're with, how much and APR?

newmoneysaver_2

Just echoing what has been said above - pop up a SOA - there is all the info you need here - in the sticky for newbies.

Puzzledbubbles

Hey,

Well done for the light bulb moment!

Just bumping this one as i would be interested in the answers too

xx

immoral_angeluk

Are your credit cards in arrears or have they been passed on to debt collection agencies?
What are the details of your debts.. ie balance, limit, APR min payment etc...

stapeley

Why worry about credit rating ????? Are you planning to get in debt again once its sorted out ? Your first aim is to sort out any secured loans first ! The credit card companies can be left to last . How old are the cards ? Did you take them out pre 2006 ? Are debt with DCA??

megpt

I work for CAB, and we often help people negotiate with their creditors. If you call in to your local Citizens Advice with details of your debts, assets and bill payments etc, they should help you complete an income and expenditure sheet. Having done that, you can work out what money is available for creditors & come up with a realistic plan for addressing the debt. It's even possible your income may be low enough for you to get help from a specialist debt advisor. Even if you don't, a generalist advisor should be able to help you with the calculations and sample letters.

You will probably need to take time off work, and you may have a bit of a wait when you get there but we're all very friendly and helpful. CAB is impartial - and it's a charity, not a Government agency.

Rubes007

Monthly Income: £1511.96
Part Time income ; £400 (approx)

Total - £1911.96

Monthly Outgoings:

Rent - £475
Council Tax - £95
Gas + Elec - £57
TV License - £11
Phone+ broadband - £45
Mobile phone - £30
Food - £150
Car Insurance - £52
Petrol - £390 (looking at changing to a diesel car cant reduce the miles I do )
Life Insurance £10
Other Insurance £30
Health care - £60

Total: £1323 Before Debt
__________________________________________________________________
Debt

Egg Credit card
Limit £9200
Balance £9200

Capital One Mastercard
Limit £10000
Balance £9822

Barcalycard Gold credit card
Limit £8000
Balance £7430

Virgin Credit card
Limit £6000
Balance £5460

Cahoot
£6000

O/D £300 Cahooot
O/D £350 Lloyds TSB


[FONT=&quot]Total £38562[/FONT]

Rubes007

immoral_angeluk wrote: »

Are your credit cards in arrears or have they been passed on to debt collection agencies?
What are the details of your debts.. ie balance, limit, APR min payment etc...

No arrears / the odd late payment .
Untill Dec they where mostly up to date and on time .
Last few months payments have been late .
This month payments are late again - untill I sort out the action plan
I have no defaults . No letters from them . No debt collection agencys
All of the debt was taken out prior to 2006

Rubes007

stapeley wrote: »

Why worry about credit rating ????? Are you planning to get in debt again once its sorted out ? Your first aim is to sort out any secured loans first ! The credit card companies can be left to last . How old are the cards ? Did you take them out pre 2006 ? Are debt with DCA??

[FONT=&quot]

Absolutely NOT !!!!!
The 3 main reasons are [/FONT]
1. As you can see from my original post , I had to sell my house , I now rent . eventually I would like to be able to get a mortgage in the future.
2. Work reason , my line of work means that I am not suppose to get into this kind of mess and I don’t want to limit my career opportunity’s
3. My family are trying helping me. I am in a really lucky position, hopefully with enough help and advice I can avoid my whole future revolving around a sequence of very costly mistakes from my past coming back to haunt me for the next 6 years

[FONT=&quot]I’ve read enough posts from people about how hard it makes life when you are deemed to be a bad credit risk to want to try very hard to avoid this if possible .[/FONT]