Consolidation advice needed

Apestyler · 28 June 2005 at 10:55PM

Hi all,

Been lurking in these forums for quite a while and witnessed lots of decent information, so I thought it would be time for my first post.

I currently owe the following;

Credit cards:
==========

Barclaycard: £350 (Limit £3,500) @ 18.9%
MINT: £2,150 (Limit £2,350) @ 0% until August
Intelligent Finance: £1,000 (Limit £1,000) @ 0% until March 2006

Bank overdraft:
============

£1,300 (Before I get paid) @ 0% (This could be revoked at any time!)

TOTAL DEBT: ~£4,800

I have attempted to apply for several unsecured loans and have been rejected by Egg (after 1 hour of talking to an underwriter) & Nationwide. I am still awaiting decision from Barclayloan and Victoria Liverpool (as recommended by Martin). I am worried that I will also get rejected by these aswell.

What I need to gauge is whether a *shudder* secured loan would be the answer - I really don't like the sound of this as it appears to be a very risky and binner product. In an ideal situation I am looking to borrow £5,000

Any and all constructive opinions and advice would be extremely appreciated.

Many thanks,
Sam

Xbigman · 29 June 2005 at 2:42AM

You don't say how much you have available each month to reduce the debt so I assume its a few hundred. As you already have several 0% deals you should keep these going for as long as possible and only consolidate when they run out. That gives you a lot of leeway to reduce your debt before a loan is needed.

1. Don't apply for anymore loans.

2. Pay off the barclaycard and get rid of it.

3. Budget and stay at least £200 under your overdraft limit. That 0% overdraft should be treated with care and respect.

4. Start paying off the Mint card.

5. Forget any idea of a secured loan for this amount.
Regards

X

Apestyler · 29 June 2005 at 8:01AM

Hi Xbigman,

Thanks for the advice on the credit cards. However I am quite worried about my overdraft as I am nearing the end of my Graduate & Student account with Barclays as I have been working for nearly 2 years Barclays are in their right to pull this facility from me at any time and put me back on a £200 overdraft limit. Current details are;

Overdraft limit: £2,500
Currently overdrawn by: £1,400
After pay (28th of each month): £300 overdraft
Take home pay per month: £1,080 (although hopefully due for a promotion soon!)

margaretclare · 29 June 2005 at 10:29AM

Apestyler wrote:

However I am quite worried about my overdraft as I am nearing the end of my Graduate & Student account with Barclays as I have been working for nearly 2 years Barclays are in their right to pull this facility from me at any time and put me back on a £200 overdraft limit. Current details are;

Overdraft limit: £2,500
Currently overdrawn by: £1,400
After pay (28th of each month): £300 overdraft
Take home pay per month: £1,080 (although hopefully due for a promotion soon!)

Well, you need to go to your bank and talk to them. Explain you are worried that they might withdraw the O/D facility and ask them not to.

IMHO it would be a very very bad idea to 'consolidate' your graduate loan on to a secured loan. 'Secured' means that 'your home is at risk if you do not keep up payments...' as it says in all the ads (does anyone take any notice of these warnings??) Also you would likely be paying for your graduate loan for donkey's years to come.

Follow the advice already given to you!

Aunty Margaret

Apestyler · 29 June 2005 at 1:10PM

margaretclare wrote:

Well, you need to go to your bank and talk to them. Explain you are worried that they might withdraw the O/D facility and ask them not to.

Thanks - I will give them a call tonight

IMHO it would be a very very bad idea to 'consolidate' your graduate loan on to a secured loan. 'Secured' means that 'your home is at risk if you do not keep up payments...' as it says in all the ads (does anyone take any notice of these warnings??) Also you would likely be paying for your graduate loan for donkey's years to come.

Fully aware of the risks and I am not keen on getting one.

mrcow · 29 June 2005 at 4:27PM

Apestyler wrote:

In an ideal situation I am looking to borrow £5,000

Hi Sam,

Actually, in an ideal situation, you'd port the enitre £4800 onto 0% and pay it off as quickly as you can

You don't need to be looking for a loan to cover your 0% deals, as you'll lose money this way. Have you looked into getting a replacement card on a 0% deal for that Mint card yet? Just wondered if you'd had any luck?

My brother was in the same position with Barclays BTW on his graduate overdraft. They did eventually remove the facility, but offered him a loan to cover it, so it may not all be doom and gloom.

You are taking home over £1000 per month. Do you know where all of your money is going? I'm not trying to sound patronising, but when I was a graduate, I had no clue as to where it all used to disappear to! You've got the right idea with the 0% cards, and worrying about the overdraft before it's too late, but I really think that you should look towards doing a budget and working out a realistic plan to pay off your overdraft (and sort that Mint card out before they start charging you interest!).

Another call could be into Intelligent Finance to see if they'll give you a higher credit limit on your 0% and then you could balance transfer the Barclaycard and some of the Mint debt onto there til 2006.

Robert_Sterling_3 · 30 June 2005 at 11:51AM

The Sainsbury Credit Card lets you have 0% on purchases for one year.
DO NOT TRANSFER BALANCES ON TO IT.
Read the small print.

mountainofdebt · 30 June 2005 at 7:50PM

your Mint 0% is nearly over I would be tempted (and this is just a personal opinion!) to transfer the Barclaycard debt to it and then when the MINT deals runs out transfer the balance on the MINT card back to your Barclaycard., who are currently offering 6.9% on the lifetime of the balance.

I appreciate that this goes against the grain of the conventional advice of never spending or transferring a balance onto a card with a 0% APR but I think that in view of the relative short time the small amount would be there it would be worth it.

Apestyler · 30 June 2005 at 8:09PM

mrcow wrote:

Hi Sam,

Actually, in an ideal situation, you'd port the enitre £4800 onto 0% and pay it off as quickly as you can

You don't need to be looking for a loan to cover your 0% deals, as you'll lose money this way. Have you looked into getting a replacement card on a 0% deal for that Mint card yet? Just wondered if you'd had any luck?

Hi mrcrow & thanks for your comments

Yes I applied for Virgin card ages ago and they finally came back to me with a £3,500 limit 0% 9 month deal which is surprising - I know its 0% and getting a personal loan would be 6 - 8% but it would work out more managable for me if I consolidated my debts in one bang and would make me feel alot more comfortable

My brother was in the same position with Barclays BTW on his graduate overdraft. They did eventually remove the facility, but offered him a loan to cover it, so it may not all be doom and gloom.

I phoned them up and they agreed to extend my graduate status by a year but I will only get £500 interest free overdraft anything over that (upto £2,500) will be at 12.9%.

You are taking home over £1000 per month. Do you know where all of your money is going? I'm not trying to sound patronising, but when I was a graduate, I had no clue as to where it all used to disappear to! You've got the right idea with the 0% cards, and worrying about the overdraft before it's too late, but I really think that you should look towards doing a budget and working out a realistic plan to pay off your overdraft (and sort that Mint card out before they start charging you interest!).

Yes I need to do a budget planner as I went into Barclays today to find out about the Graduate loan they gave me a planner which I am gonna go through tonight - I am also supporting my g/f through uni but she will be getting a part time job soon and has promised to help out with bills etc

Another call could be into Intelligent Finance to see if they'll give you a higher credit limit on your 0% and then you could balance transfer the Barclaycard and some of the Mint debt onto there til 2006.

Already tried that they said they need to see 6 months of repayments before considering that!!!

Apestyler · 30 June 2005 at 8:11PM

mountainofdebt wrote:

your Mint 0% is nearly over I would be tempted (and this is just a personal opinion!) to transfer the Barclaycard debt to it and then when the MINT deals runs out transfer the balance on the MINT card back to your Barclaycard., who are currently offering 6.9% on the lifetime of the balance.

I appreciate that this goes against the grain of the conventional advice of never spending or transferring a balance onto a card with a 0% APR but I think that in view of the relative short time the small amount would be there it would be worth it.

Yes I have also considered this, and as I have just been offered a new 0% card I might transfer it to that plus the overdraft - Its just that'll mean 3 minimum repayments (I like to overpay) instead of 1 with the loan (which is more likely that I will overpay)

Consolidation advice needed

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