Credit card debt

[Never-In-Doubt]

Re: Credit card debt

My only problem is the main £7400 we owe on a credit card, we pay just over the minimum each month but with the interest rates, it's 16.9% on this card at the moment, it's hardly making a dent in it.

Is there anything we can do to maybe try and reduce the interest rate for a few months to try and make a dent in it. Our credit rating is not great so we won't be able to transfer to a 0% interest card.

I would look to utilise these and see what the lender says.... allaboutDEBT | Our Templates | General Debt Templates

Try requesting interest freeze for 6 months first, see if that works.... Good luck

[SXGuy]

Re: Credit card debt

Any consideration of a remortgage with a different lender should be looked at before any UE route is taken, and idealy whilst min payments are being made.

Once you drop below min payments, you wont be getting a remortgage, bout the only option would be your original lender offering a new fixed rate after previous expires.

And some credit card lenders (not all) will tell you to default before they freeze interest, or will default you after 3 months of no interest, so gotta really be careful with what they tell you if you ask.

[SaltnVinegar]

Re: Credit card debt

Hi and welcome to AAD



You mentioned that you could pay off the catalog debts by November. Once these have been paid off how quickly do you think it would then take you to pay off the credit card debts?

I'm asking because the UE route is a long term commitment, and there are potential consequences you need to be aware of, especially with having only 9 years left to go on your mortgage, as with a repayment mortgage I will assume you have a fair bit of equity in the property.

The templates that Niddy has pointed you to are a good start. If your creditors come back and behave unreasonably then I think you have a good basis to consider UE.

Be prepared for the inevitable phone calls and harassment though which will start once they get a sniff you are in financial rough.

Do you have any other assets? Do you also have any other secured debt?

Best
SnV

[mgfboy]

Re: Credit card debt

Sincere apologies. If you have managed to keep making minimum payments, then indeed your credit file will not (or at least should not) be trashed. How much longer could you keep that up, though?

The balances aren't that big? Over £10,000. I suppose it depends on your definition of "big". Where I come from that would be called a fortune.

I'm certainly not an expert on mortgages, so I'll leave it to those who are. They may see strategies of which I would be completely unaware. If you could take in a lodger, you could gain a regular tax free income and use it to pay the alleged debts. That is the only way I know to turn home ownership from a liability into a potential asset.

I am a CCA 1974 and UE specialist, so I am completely out of my depth here. I'll leave the floor to those who can suggest alternative approaches. If you did decide to go down the UE route, I'll come back in and see what I can do.

SH

SH I wasn't having a go at you, all I was saying is there is more than one way to skin a rabbit, UE is great it the right places ( I've used it myself) but it's not a solution to everything. As for £10k being alot as you say it's all relative to your assets and income, but it's a sum in my experiance most home owners in employment should be able to find a solution for.

[rmcrr4]

Re: Credit card debt

Hi and welcome to AAD



You mentioned that you could pay off the catalog debts by November. Once these have been paid off how quickly do you think it would then take you to pay off the credit card debts?

I'm asking because the UE route is a long term commitment, and there are potential consequences you need to be aware of, especially with having only 9 years left to go on your mortgage, as with a repayment mortgage I will assume you have a fair bit of equity in the property.

The templates that Niddy has pointed you to are a good start. If your creditors come back and behave unreasonably then I think you have a good basis to consider UE.

Be prepared for the inevitable phone calls and harassment though which will start once they get a sniff you are in financial rough.

Do you have any other assets? Do you also have any other secured debt?

Best
SnV

We have approx £200k equity in the house at the moment, that's why we though remortgaging would be the best option, and didn't think that affordability would be a problem, they take £500 a month but don't think we can afford £480?!, I'm not entirely sure that UE is the best route for us at the moment, I think I shall pay off all the other bits & pieces as quickly as I can, and carry on paying just over the minimum payment for the main cc, then once they are all clear we can pay approx £400 a month on the card, taking off the interest which is approx £150, that would be clearing the card by about £250 a month, I know it's going to take a few years but for the moment it's probably our best option unless things change and we can't keep up with the mimimum payments. At the end of the day we have used the credit so just have to pay it back no matter how long it takes

[rmcrr4]

Re: Credit card debt

SnV Sorry missed a bit!

No other assets or secured debt, everything we owe is listed in first post

[Never-In-Doubt]

Re: Credit card debt

SH I wasn't having a go at you

Good or you'll have had big bad niddy breathing down your neck

As for £10k being alot as you say it's all relative to your assets and income, but it's a sum in my experiance most home owners in employment should be able to find a solution for.

Yep, with having a mortgage of only 9 years left remaining, I would not opt for UE at the first hurdle - chances are the lender may well try and enforce based on the fact there is clear equity. It's what I would do if I was a bank....

Best to test the water and see if they can either borrow to settle all debts and/or look at maybe coming to an agreement with the bank - in essence what you'd want is for them to change APR's at which point you can stay on that APR and the account technically closes for spending which then leaves a prepayment account as such.

A few options but definitely think things through prior to jumping in with UE - sometimes UE is simply not an option.

[mgfboy]

Re: Credit card debt

We have approx £200k equity in the house at the moment, that's why we though remortgaging would be the best option, and didn't think that affordability would be a problem, they take £500 a month but don't think we can afford £480?!, I'm not entirely sure that UE is the best route for us at the moment, I think I shall pay off all the other bits & pieces as quickly as I can, and carry on paying just over the minimum payment for the main cc, then once they are all clear we can pay approx £400 a month on the card, taking off the interest which is approx £150, that would be clearing the card by about £250 a month, I know it's going to take a few years but for the moment it's probably our best option unless things change and we can't keep up with the mimimum payments. At the end of the day we have used the credit so just have to pay it back no matter how long it takes

As I said find a good broker and you should be able to find a mortgage if you credit history isn't too broken. Also it may be worth looking at a secured/unsecured personal loan to allow you to reschedual the repayments to an afforable amount. Just be careful that your not totally ripped off on the rate.