Hi, with the current debt level you have, i am guessing that your contractual repayments are supposed to be more than the £450.00 you can afford. so if that is the case and you have been turned down for the loan, it will start to feel like it is uphill. you can say to your card company you are thinking about moving to a lower apr card, but the rate is still an assessment of your situation and there is a chance they will credit score you, not only that if you have got a bad credit score, they may reduce your credit limit which will put you even worse off (it has happened to me and loads more i can say confidently), i am on a financial management plan, i pay £300 per month and they have managed to stop the interest to the accounts, and i dont have to worry about missing their payments. if you want their details drop me a line.

Hi Chalky

£18,000 get an IVA? I don't think so ! You are not in a critical possition your comitments are not huge and could be paid off within 5 yrs without having to take the route of an IVA.

Credit card company first or a loan consolidation for just the credit card debt which maybe more acceptable to most lenders than everything.

Keep us posted.

Yea that could work. Although an IVA might also be useful here too?

Do you know anything about them?

I've got some factsheets if you are interested?

Shaun

Hi Chalky,

I called my card companies after the holidays and told them I was considering transferring my debt to a 0% offer and they reduced my rate to 6.5%. If you could achieve this you could make a sizable dent in the balances. This effect is immediate and would allow the breathing space whilst reducing your debt until a better opportunity comes along??

Hi welcome to my first post!

I'm not sure what to do now with my finances now and could do with some advice please.

I am £18000 in debt and have just been refused a consolidation loan with hsbc.

My debts are as folllows:

£10856 hsbc personal loan (£201 a month and i'm 6 months into this to be paid over 5 years)

£2000 hsbc overdraft (charged £25 a month for this facility)

£3992 mbna credit card (£145 minimum payment per month)

£1079 halifax credit card (£35 minimum payment per month)

£152 natwest credit card. (£5 minimum payment)

I have tried to consolidate all of these with hsbc but the application was declined.

If it wasn't for my credit card debts i would be ok and can probably afford to pay up to £450 but would prefer 1 payment rather than the interest on my credit cards.

Any advice would be greatful.

Chalky white