Getting myself debt free - consolidation?

JayRitchie · 11 June 2019 at 11:16PM

bertiewhite wrote: »

Please tell us which job is so secure!!!

To be fair his past posts do indicate the job - which is a line of work which is very secure and comes with a great pension. I'm not sure how much fun working for the 'minister for administrative affairs' would be ....

bertiewhite · 12 June 2019 at 12:54AM

JayRitchie wrote: »

To be fair his past posts do indicate the job - which is a line of work which is very secure and comes with a great pension.

My job is very secure with a great pension but as has already been suggested, even the police and armed forces can be made redundant.

ryanm8655 · 12 June 2019 at 4:53AM

Just re-read my thread from years ago, this last post &#55357;&#56875;:

Ok. So whatever was wrong with my credit rating seems to have been fixed...

I started using my Santander credit cards and then paying balance in full, not sure if this would have impacted it? Or perhaps it is the fact my address change has now registered...

Anyhow, I am now pre-approved for a whole host of different 0% credit cards.

I have several offers of 0% for 40 month credit cards with which I can do a money transfer, would you do this and then use the money to clear the loan?

The consolidated loan is for £10k @ 11% over 24 months and the money transfer rate is something like 4%...seems a no brainer? I can then use the £480/month to clear the credit cards instead...

EssexHebridean · 12 June 2019 at 10:33AM

JayRitchie wrote: »

To be fair his past posts do indicate the job - which is a line of work which is very secure and comes with a great pension. I'm not sure how much fun working for the 'minister for administrative affairs' would be ....

If it's the sort of thing I'm thinking it sounds like (if so we have a family member in a similar - although rather more senior I suspect - role, hence possibly recognising some signs) then the OP needs to be VERY careful indeed to get his debt situation sorted out without ending up in a real muddle as he may well find that his credit file will be periodically checked by his employer and is one thing that could very much impact on the security of that employment!

EssexHebridean · 12 June 2019 at 10:43AM

ryanm8655 wrote: »

Just re-read my thread from years ago, this last post ��:

Ok. So whatever was wrong with my credit rating seems to have been fixed...

I started using my Santander credit cards and then paying balance in full, not sure if this would have impacted it? Or perhaps it is the fact my address change has now registered...

Anyhow, I am now pre-approved for a whole host of different 0% credit cards.

I have several offers of 0% for 40 month credit cards with which I can do a money transfer, would you do this and then use the money to clear the loan?

The consolidated loan is for £10k @ 11% over 24 months and the money transfer rate is something like 4%...seems a no brainer? I can then use the £480/month to clear the credit cards instead...

This reads as though you're now thinking about consolidation again....hopefully that's not the case as it's still a bad idea for you now just the same as it was yesterday, last week and indeed however long ago it was when you did it before because you told yourself everything would be fine...

** For clarity almost the whole post I have quoted above is a copy of one of the OP's post from 2016 when he last consolidated.** (Hopefully this also means that he is NOT thinking again of consolidation.)

[STRIKE]

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly.. .APR
Barclays.......................7336.48...150...... .0
Santander x2...................8055.75...160.......23
Tesco..........................455.44....8........ .20
MBNA 2.........................4942.93...50........27.9 3
MBNA...........................1338.02...0........ .0
MBNA...........................3146.79...75.87.... .22.93
M&S............................1254.85...32.17.... .0
Tesco..........................2417.44...20....... .0
Total unsecured debts..........28947.7...496.04....-

Take up any 0% BT offers you have available to transfer as much of the balances on the cards in red to. Set the monthly DD's to these cards on just above the current minimum. Then focus ALL available surplus to any remaining high interest debt. Once everything is interest-free then turn your attention to the cards where the 0% deal ends first, and pay all available surplus to those, in date order.[/STRIKE]

Ryan it may be wise to pop the post you have quoted in your post above into a quote box, as otherwise others will likely read it as I did. So nothing has changed since your previous post then, in terms of the best way of dealing with your debts?

ryanm8655 · 12 June 2019 at 10:56AM

Don’t worry re: consolidation... that was the very last post in a thread from years ago, alas I obviously did take on the 0% option but didn’t use the cash to clear them...fool...thought I’d read it for some insight.

Never again!

Thanks for the advice, I’ve got about £300 of 0% spare on the Barclaycard and roughly £5k becomes interest bearing in August so will go with your strategy until then and then revisit. Hoping clearing the MBNA will lead to a further offer so that I can get rid of the Santander.

At the moment I feel like I should never bother with a credit card again and stick to saving for things...once this lot are cleared...especially having reread my previous thread from 2016 :-/

Re: my job - I don’t need to worry about them delving into my finances though in a previous role I would have. You saw people get marched out of the office on occasion and it was always rumoured to be down to finances. That’s one motivation actually, lots of interesting roles I wouldn’t get because of finances...

EssexHebridean · 12 June 2019 at 11:26AM

Definitely a good motivation on the work front there, and remember, they can always change the goalposts regarding the rules that apply in your sort of work too, so again a good reason to get yourself cleaned up financially to avoid that risk, too.

I'd suggest you might do quite a bit of reading back on some of your old posts - not just that one thread. The one where you advise another poster against consolidation and say how much you regretted it would be a good start...

Seriously, one thing that often gets said on here is to remember how being in debt makes you feel, then set those feelings aside until such time as you're thinking about using credit again - then revisit those feelings and decide whether it's worth a risk of going back there. You're part way there by re-reading those old posts I think. I'm genuinely really pleased to see you type "Never again!" above!

Well done Ryan - I think that light-bulb may have stopped flickering and started shedding its full light on things. Maybe think about a debt free diary to help you keep the focus and motivation going and remind yourself of the reasons you're doing things the way you are?

Good luck!

ryanm8655 · 13 June 2019 at 11:20AM

Any tips for making extra cash? Anything online?

I used to do matched betting until I got banned from most bookmakers (not sure if that’s a goer again with GDPR).

Someone mentioned tutoring, I could do that but it’s tricky when in a flatshare.

Considering a weekend job e.g. receptionist or similar.

I also have almost 50 days of holiday this year (carried over from previous years).

Thanks,
Ryan

Jox · 13 June 2019 at 11:49AM

Anything you can sell, take sandwiches to work, bike to work, spend less on a night out, have friends round rather than go out, don't buy coffees when out, do surveys, those sort of money saving things.

Some other ideas:

https://www.savethestudent.org/make-money/10-quick-cash-injections.html

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/family/make-money/

db2016 · 15 June 2019 at 6:21PM

great advice from all above me, and glad it's sunk in!

one point i noticed, is you say you didnt know the cards numbers coz your not an online shopper.

i'm not saying running out to spend online, but shops physically pay for bricks and mortar and more staff, so online IS OFTEN cheaper in my experience and going forward that's something to look at.

if you have a want, check prices online vs the shops. not helping the debt as such, but going forward it's helping your money go further). same as any utilites etc, write down the day any contracts end, and haggle or look for better deals elsewhere.

Getting myself debt free - consolidation?

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