Serious Problems!

A

ANGELA

Registered User
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Hello,

I Have Some Serious Problems.. I Have 2 Credit Cards (i Know) One As 6k Outstanding And The Other 2.5k... Nightmare. I Also Have A Boi Loan For 15k........serious Problems Here. I Dont Know What To Do, I Am Just Making Min Payments Every Month... What Would Be The Best Thing To Do Here?? Please Help
 
Approach MABS for advice and, if at all possible, get rid of the credit cards and transfer the outstanding balance to your BoI loan (or another). If you're only making minimum payments on the credit cards you are (no pun intended) compounding your problems at an alarming rate..!
 
Have you had a look at some of the links and resources in the key topics pinned at the top of this forum? Have you contacted MABS? You should cut up the cards now to stop running up even more debts.

Post crossed with previous one...
 
Hi
I have stopped using the cards altogether and its just clearing them. To be honest I dont think BOI would enterain me but I might try and see if they can help... at the end of the day, I would be paying the same out every month just not getting hit with the interest. I am not sure how MABS works, I ready the website, but I have worked on my budget over and over and its not looking any better.
 
I don't know much about Irish law, but I'd either do some calculations or ask some debt advice organisation for some help in working out your options. In my personal case in the UK , filing my own bankruptcy was straightforward. Here it now costs around £450. Whilst being bankrupt in the UK has become slightly easier with the 2004 Enterprise Act, I believe in Ireland it is a long old process and expensive too (someone said about €2500).

Best advice is to contact the lenders as soon as you run into problems. They can be quite helpful as they'd rather have some money back than waste time and money chasing after it. After that, get some debt counselling, to explore your options. There are plenty of avenues other than going bankrupt.

mac p
 
I think that personal bankruptcy is an easier/more cost effective option in the UK compared to Ireland. This issue was mentioned on another thread recently. Perhaps somebody with some insight into the issues involved could comment?
 
Angela,

have you thought about taking a second job? Not attractive I know but helped me once. I worked my regular day job and then got an evening job working in a local pub. All salary and tips from the pub only went to paying my over drawn credit card. Working some weekends also curbed my social life and meant I saved money. It took just over 6 months and I was exhausted but it worked and I have never gone into debt (with an exception of a mortgage) again.
 
Bankruptcy is not really an option in Ireland. You can't make yourself bankrupt - a creditor has to do, It involves a high court action so costs loads and to be honest the creditor is more likely to write off the debt than make a person bankrupt. Unless its a lot of money and there's a chance of recovering some. I certainly wouldn't go down the bankruptcy route on the amount you owe. Casiopea's advice is good if you could get and manage a second job just to clear the credit cards. I'd advise go to MABS as well - can't hurt to see what they suggest - you don't have to follow their advice. Or what about talking to BOI about rescheduling the large loan over longer period and using anything saved to get the credit cards down.
 
contact mabs. they seem to be good from what i hear. it is worth a try.

Alex.
 
I hope you are not beating yourself up too much about this, believe me a lot of people are in a similar position, who have been at some stage. Not Nice.

I know you said you did budget, but one other thing that I would recommend, it worked for me, is record what you are spending all you money on for a minimum of two months. You will be amazed at where you can safe money. If you live in Dublin then food and drink are huge costs and can if managed well generate significant savings. Do you have a car? Do you own or rent? I was in a similar position and sold my car and rented out a room to get rid of my credit card debt, drastic action, but it worked and it thought me a lesson. You could try and transfer you debt from one card to another with a lower interest rate, but if you already have two then you may have done this already and moving again will not help much. I have heard great things about MABS.

One final suggestion, one of my friends years ago found himself unemmployed coming up to X-Mas and he got a job selling hampers and made good money doing it, it payed his mortgage at least.
 
You have to get rid of your credit card debt as soon as possible. You will be paying at least in or around 17% interest on that. If you were even to get a Credit Union loan just to cover your credit cards alone and pay them immediately it would save you a huge amount in interest. I always set up direct debits when I have to pay any loan, at least that way the money is gone from your account and you can't spend it. I would agree with the other posters that MABS is probably the best route for you. I'm sure that all Credit Unions have a MABS advisor visiting on certain days.
 
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