Consolidation Loans, do they even exist?

Sncjw · 29 November 2019 at 9:13PM

You will be paying the loan for a lot longer if payments are£300 a month compared to £700.

MusS10 · 29 November 2019 at 9:17PM

yksi wrote: »

People offered advice because they wanted to help. You seem unwilling to hear it.

Yes, no matter whether they're called consolidation loans or personal loans or "other" loans, these loans do exist and it is possible for people to take them out successfully. Your problem is that you have a high debt (this is not a criticism, it just "is"). You have lived to this level of debt by choice and that's your right, and you are fully aware that your choices mean that everything's costing you more - and you are ok with this. But you now seem upset that there are other consequences to your life choices, and in this case, the consequence is that lenders don't readily trust your ability to repay the TOTAL repayments of both your existing £700 and the added £300 repayments.

I'm aware that the £700 would disappear and you'd be £400 per month better off. Unfortunately, lenders can't control other lenders and force those card issuers to close your accounts or to stop issuing you credit. All they can do is look at their own risk, dispassionately. In this case, they see that offering you a loan would potentially mean you have to pay £1000 per month just to stay afloat, and they don't think you can afford that, they think you might default on their loan. (It's neither here nor there that you wouldn't put yourself into that position - it's the potential risk that they consider.)

If your debt load had been low enough that the addition of the loan repayment would have kept your total repayments in the affordable range, you would have been approved for the consolidation loan.

The replies that others have given were the most appropriate suggestions for someone unable to consolidate. They have all been "Plan B" suggestions in the face of your unfortunate situation with the loan rejection, and people do actually care. Getting aggro and stamping your feet won't change the lender's mind, but cutting back on your living-large-lifestyle and paying down some of that debt, might, with a few years of discipline, allow you to consolidate then get to the 19th hole by lunchtime on a Tuesday. Your call.

SIGH..... Please read my post again: I do not have a problem. I can pay off the full debt tomorrow if I wish to. I will have to lose my savings and few rounds of golf and possibly drive an old banger for few years.. Doable? yes. Am I gonna choose that route? No
Life is like a sandwich: one slice is birth the other is Death. What you put in between is entirely up to you. I choose a happy sandwich not a s**t sandwich. I wanna be the happiest man in the world not the wealthiest in the cemetery.. But hey that's me and I never asked you to follow suit.. Have whatever sandwich you like and be whoever one you like in the cemetery. It is your choice and I fully respect it and wish you the very best of luck. I wish you do the same towards me

Meanwhile, I will stick to playing 18 hole golf and let you play with your 19th hole :rotfl:

MusS10 · 29 November 2019 at 9:46PM

EssexHebridean wrote: »

Yes - as I said earlier. And the issue with Sub prime is also of course that it makes your credit file look even worse, down the line.

OP - firstly, please don't shout at people on here - it's incredibly rude. Remember that this is not an organisation with paid staff to answer your questions - all of us who spend time on here trying to help people do this as volunteers - we absolutely don;t expect thanks - although we often get those in spades - but we do expect courtesy.

You inferred earlier that those of us who choose to live without using "other peoples money" to fund our entertainments are somehow less happy than you - I can't speak for all of them, but having experienced life lived like that, and life lived the other way - from my point of view there is no comparison. Debt free, mortgage free in 13 years rather than the standard 25 year term, and now working to a budget that enables us to save money each and every month towards the future, go away on holiday several times a year, and replace cars when the time comes with a cash purchase - that all feels far better than the debt ever did. Am I happier now? Hell yes - no question. Can happiness be bought? No - I don't believe it can. Pleasure, for sure - but happiness, no, I don't think so.

The problem with your "simple question" is that the whole subject is far more nuanced than that. Also - this is a public forum and while we always try to advise the OP of a thread directly, we also try to bear in mind that others will happen along, research as you say you have on a particular subject, in this case consolidation, and will find this thread. Some of those people may realise that they are reading things that make them uncomfortable, and that perhaps there is a good reason for that, and as a result of that reading will decide to step back from consolidation and ever increasing debt. If just one person does that, the detail that several of us have taken the trouble to put into this thread will have been well worth the effort. To be blunt - public forum = not all about you.

A lot of input has been given on this thread from people with a combined huge number of years of experience on here. Of course you can absolutely ignore all of it - that is your absolute right - but hopefully the explanation above has clarified for you why we're gone into extra detail. As with all everyone in your situation, you will be welcomed back here in the future to help you sort out your situation - although I can't promise that we won't remind you of this thread, at that stage...

WOW!!! thank you for yet another lecture. I would have never posted the question if I found the answer within the forum. I read over and over and in spite of many people asking the question many times before, nobody has ever given the direct answer without promoting the debt-free wannabe which has its own thread anyway..
I am sorry to come across as ungrateful or rude ( Which I certainly am NOT) but if you look at the very first post, the initial question, I clearly stated that I was seeking a direct answer and was not interested in becoming debt-free. Please respect my wish.
I believe that I was polite throughout the whole thing despite of being accused of living beyond my means and being referred to as a debt accumulator etc.. I have never failed a single payment towards any debt in my entire life including my student loan which I fully paid off within 2 years of my graduation. I consider myself "Excellent" in money management and I feel somewhat offended when people assume that anyone with debt is "Bad" at money management but I still allow people to have their free will in choosing how they want to live.
If anyone asks me a question which I know the answer to, I will reply to them without judging them. On the other hand if I don't feel that I know enough to reply, I will say sorry i do not know ( in this case, just not comment on their thread)
You say that you want to help people on the subject that they search then it will be wise to stick to the subject don't you think? This thread was a humble question about someone looking to get a loan to put all his debts in one. Some of you have turned it into debt-free or anti borrowing thread..
Once again, I deeply apologise to everyone who finds me rude. I TRULY AM NOT THAT TYPE OF PERSON :A

yksi · 29 November 2019 at 10:25PM

MusS10 wrote: »

Meanwhile, I will stick to playing 18 hole golf and let you play with your 19th hole :rotfl:

Honey, proper golfers know what the 19th hole is, so it sounds like you don't actually play golf. Never mind. Those of us who have spent hundreds of hours in the 19th are having fun without you and spending lots of money there on our "sandwiches".

:beer:

Try an internet search before you embarrass yourself any further with your lame dirty jokes.

Davy_Jones_II · 29 November 2019 at 10:26PM

MusS10 wrote: »

SIGH..... Please read my post again: I do not have a problem. I can pay off the full debt tomorrow if I wish to. I will have to lose my savings and few rounds of golf and possibly drive an old banger for few years.. Doable? yes. Am I gonna choose that route? No

Then you seem to be being quite foolish. If you have savings and also have debt then you are paying interest for no reason.

You don’t really seem to understand the net effect of your choices you seem to imagine that you are living a better life by paying interest when clearly yo can’t be, it is, looked at holistically, reducing your disposable income and making your lifestyle more austere than it otherwise would be.

MusS10 · 29 November 2019 at 11:17PM

Davy_Jones_II wrote: »

Then you seem to be being quite foolish. If you have savings and also have debt then you are paying interest for no reason.

You don’t really seem to understand the net effect of your choices you seem to imagine that you are living a better life by paying interest when clearly yo can’t be, it is, looked at holistically, reducing your disposable income and making your lifestyle more austere than it otherwise would be.

Totally agree but it's not so much the case. My savings are for emergency only also my loans are low interest and even interest free on most of them. I tend to look for 0% interest when making furniture or appliances purchases.

MusS10 · 29 November 2019 at 11:32PM

yksi wrote: »

Honey, proper golfers know what the 19th hole is, so it sounds like you don't actually play golf. Never mind. Those of us who have spent hundreds of hours in the 19th are having fun without you and spending lots of money there on our "sandwiches".

:beer:

Try an internet search before you embarrass yourself any further with your lame dirty jokes.

I do not drink so I am happy finishing at the 18th. I prefer searching the internet to learn educational stuff. Thanks

TriathNanEilean · 30 November 2019 at 3:35AM

MusS10, thanks for continuing to engage with the thread you started. Your posts made me think (an outcome becoming rarer as habit replaces curiosity). Hope you'll forgive this totally truthful *cough* response.

In some ways, you remind me of .. me. And some of the other posters remind me of my brother. We started our first jobs around the same time but he seemed content to lead a boring life for the first 3 or 4 years afterwards; cheap car, no foreign holidays, quiet nights in, etc. Whilst I enjoyed life.

Mind you, after that initial time he started to live more like I did. He bought a new car, having saved up for it, and began to live a very similar life to me. In fact, in our thirties & forties he spent even more than I did. Not surprising, I guess, since I was paying £700 a month or so in interest (at today's prices after inflation - it was less at the time) whereas he always seemed to have enough to pay cash.

Today, 30 years later, I guess his savings must be close to £500k now. No interest payments for him and decent if not spectacular returns on his investments.

But at least I had those first 3 or 4 years in my twenties, enjoying life when he wasn't - can't put a price on that.

Davy_Jones_II · 2 December 2019 at 11:10AM

One of the other reasons that I counsel against debt to just fund a better lifestyle is the effect it can make on other, more serious decisions.

I’ve not borrowed for the things I need, I’ve saved up, and that’s no fun at all. Because of this I realised that to make life better the only available route that I had was to earn more. I therefore sat down, and worked out how to make this happen, then out that plan into action.

This involved me giving up my civil service job to do a good doctorate in physics, and then putting a very serious effort into making myself into the sort of candidate that investment banks would want to have on their graduate course.

After getting my foot in the door to my chosen career I still avoided borrowing, and instead looked at how to progress in the organisation. Again, this took planning, and work, and it was hard.

The end result is that as I am getting into my middle years I don’t need to borrow to fund my lifestyle. In fact, I can live the lifestyle that I want without getting close to spending my wages.

So the hard choice early on, to not borrow for the motorbike that I wanted turned out to be one of the best decisions that I have ever made, which is one of the reasons that my advice tends to take the form that it has.

MusS10 · 2 December 2019 at 10:01PM

I think that I have been totally misunderstood by many in here.
I am not a debt lover by any means. I do not drink, I do not gamble and do not do drugs.
I am not a shopaholic either. All the debt that I have under my name was created by furnishing a brand new house where I moved in less than 2 years ago after giving up my own house to my ex wife and my kids. Since I got divorced, I decided to stay single from then on and enjoy life to a degree by doing the things that I like doing the most. I use my earnings for my hobbies. Had I not moved houses, I would be on hardly any debt but a mortgage and a car hp..
Nonetheless, I totally agree with all of you that debt is not a good route for anyone who cannot control their way of spending. Fortunately, I am not that type of guy, hence why I keep pointing out that I do not need lectures on debt.
Just like Technology, loans are a very useful tool for those who know how to use it correctly. People blame smartphones, video games and social media for ruining their lives. Smartphones are a wonderful piece of technology, you can check your emails on the go, connect with friends and family, search the net, the news and many other useful apps to make our life better. On the other hand many people get easily addicted and hooked on gambling, pornography and other bad habits such as spending every minute of the day using that very same smartphone..
Loans are very similar, used wisely they can allow us to achieve our goals and needs instantly and spread the cost over time rather than waiting 20 years to buy your dream car in cash and by the time you get to afford it, it will become classic lol..
Loans and Technology are like a very sharp knife. Given to a skilled butcher he would cut brilliant steaks, lamb chops or kebabs.. Given to a skilled carpenter he would create magnificent pieces of furniture.. But if you give it to a clumsy person or a child, heavens know how much damage they can do to everything nearby or even themselves...
So to summarise, I thank everybody who genuinely tried to help steering me away from loans and debt. I apologise for being a little blunt at times.
I doubt i will be posting questions again any time soon, I will rather phone the bank and ask them directly so that I get the answer straight from the horse's mouth. No offence to all the good Samaritans amongst you.
So take care ya all and Merry Xmas and Happy New year.
And remember Life is a gift not a chore,we are spiritual beings having a human experience and our fuel for life is not Money it is Happiness. So enjoy the ride of life.
God Bless us all .. :A

Consolidation Loans, do they even exist?

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