How can I consolidate my debts

E

Ellie

Guest
I am at present paying off 3 loans every month along with 3 credit cards. And it has got to a stage where I am playing catch up constantly. I havent missed repayments but I can see it happening in the future. The debts total approximately 30,000 and have built up since I was in college. I want to get a loan to consolidate all of my debts into one monthly repayment, and also to pay off credit cards. Each of them has been cut up and are no longer in use!! They are a curse! Can anyone tell me of any institution that could entertain me. Most places I have checked out keep bringin mortgages into it but living at home with my parents I dont have a mortgage. I have approached AIB, BOI and Permanent TSB but to no avail as its such a high amount. If I get this laon I can finally regain control.

Any advice is welcome.

Thanks!
 
Tesco finance might be worth considering. According to the info in the link they give refinance loans. 30k would have repayments of around €589pm over 5 years. [broken link removed] is another lender you could try.
 
Ellie said:
I am at present paying off 3 loans every month along with 3 credit cards.
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What are the details of the loans/cards - e.g. original amount, outstanding amount, term and rate? What is your income?
 
are these credit card accounts closed as you have paid them taking out a loan each time? Could you get a non intrest loan from your parents and pay them money each week (€100pw for 6 years without intrest). The likes of GE money may be the same issue in under a different name as some of these lenders charge as much as the credit card rate in teh first case. so if i were you i would go to MABS and see what loan product that they may advise for you.
Its a huge amount to have to pay back but one you start time flies and its important not to dispair, well done for facing up to the bills and working on getting them behind you.
 
Thanks for the response guys and I apologise for the delay in getting back to you. I have since cut up the Credit Cards. Am just paying off the balance on them. I have tried tesco finance and I got refused and unfortunately one of the Loans I have is with GE Money and they wont accept my application to top up my existing balance.

Im at a loss. I am with a credit union and I am at present applying for a budget account, whereby payments come out of my wages at the end of every month and the CU pays each bill. However this is costing me 200euro more a month that it would if I got a loan to refinance.

As it is I am scraping by, I actually cant afford the extra 200 but feel I have no choice. My own fault I know. I will never ever get this way again!
 
You should post detailed information as I asked for earlier (e.g. of the loans, rates, terms, income, expenditure etc.) and maybe people can suggest ways for you so save. Of course you should be doing this anyway now after talking to MABS and tackling their budget spreadsheet to see where the money is going and making savings if possible.
 
Ellie if you don't mind me asking, what age are you and how much are you earning? Do you pay rent or a mortgage?
 
I am 24 and living at home, so no mortgage. I earn approx 25000 per annum
 
Ellie

You do not say whether or not you have actually contacted MABS.

If you haven't, i would advise you to do so immediately, as they have a [broken link removed] for dealing with situations such as yours, which is not painless, but will get you back on the straight and narrow.

As MABS suggest, you such write to your creditors, as per MABS advice:


You can check out the closest MABS contact point [broken link removed].

Please please contact them, and do not get into further debt. When in a hole, stop digging.
 
Ellie - You may also need to consider boosting your income and reducing your expenditure.

How many hours per week are you working? Have you any capacity to add to your income by working part-time @ weekends or evenings? Or can you do overtime? Have you a car that you can sell? Can you cancel foreign holidays? Can you avoid shopping for a while? Stop buying Lotto tickets? Can you eat less Chinese take-aways?

Bob
 
I have cut back on shopping, Im a real woman when it comes to that. I havent contacted MABS as I was going to try this budget account with the Credit Union. As it means the money is gone out of my wages before they even hit my bank account and the Credit Union distribute the money to each organisation accordingly. The beauty of this is then whatever goes into my account is mine to live off. I already save (thru my wages also, same process) each month so as far as savings are concerned Im not worried. However i want to beat this without dipping into savings if at all possible!!
 
Thats money I dont even think about to be used when it comes to buying a house etc. I just need to get these debts cleared, before I get bad credit record. I have thought about part time job, but at the moment I have very little time as aswell as working full time I am studying part time for a degree. Maybe over the summer months I will consider a temporary part time job.
 
I think the main priority should be the credit cards as presumably they have a high rate of interest.
You save a lot in interest by applying for Halifax and Ulster Bank credit cards which are interest free for transfers and purchases for 6 months and 9 months respectively. After the 6 months the Halifax card is only 9.5% interest.
Try and get them to match the credit limit on 2 of your current credit cards - you'll probably have to send in evidence of your current credit card limit to do this. Make sure to cancel your old cards as well to avoid the €40 stamp duty.

Going by your rejections so far it seems unlikely you'll get the full amount from one bank and thus at the cheapest interest rate possible unless you can get one of your parents/rich relative to be a guarantor - is this possible?

Also, have your asked PTSB, AIB and BOI how much they would be willing to loan you? Even if you can't consolidate your debt into one loan, perhaps try consolidating into two loans as anything that gets rid of the credit card debt is a positive step.

A €30,000 loan at 8% interest can be paid off over 5 years at €600 a month which would make you debt free at 29. Being free of debt would make a big difference if you were applying for a mortgage. Is €600 a month something you can manage or do you need Eddie Hobbs to come in and help you make a few lifestyle changes?

The €200 per month for the Credit Union service is way too expensive.
 
Ellie said:
However i want to beat this without dipping into savings if at all possible!!
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Hang on - you have savings? It is absolutely in your interest to use your savings to pay off your debt.

Looking on the bright side, you're young and (I presume?) have no rent. If you cut out the alcohol and junk food, you can defo add a few more hundred to your bank account every month.

I'd forget about the savings plan though... Seriously, saving money while paying high interest makes no financial sense whatsoever.
 

I think it's always worthwhile to have some savings for emergencies.
 
Good point. Maybe 2-4 weeks' income, max. In this case, Ellie does not own a house. If you own a house, then maybe three-six depending on the mortgage/circumstances.
 
She lives with her folks though, so she's not exactly on her own. I think if I were her I'd forget about the savings.
 
Yeah - savings changes the picture dramatically. Use them all to reduce or clear your debts in my opinion. You are living at home so you don't have to worry about that presumably. Once you have cleared your debts then worry about saving/investing.
 

Joe €600 a month is definitely affordable. That is what I had worked out the payments to be when I decided to go for consolidation loan. Problem is I cant get a loan newhere for this purpose. I know everyone is saying use my savings. I will use an amount to get the ball rolling but I want to keep some in the account. Its just the way Ive been brought up. I want to keep it in case of emergency.
 
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