To be considering using ocean finance

[mrswhiskerson]

My dh and I have found ourselves in pretty desperate financial situation due to a few unfortunate situations and having to use my credit card just to buy food and get by , we have now had a huge electric bill which we just can't pay.

Our credit history is not the best so a normal bank loan is out .

I had a look on the ocean finance website and it seems the only answer but I have heard they are bad news which is a bit gutting because short term I don't see any other way long term we are both searching for better jobs but we don't know how long that will take.

We need to borrow six thousand .

Has anyone used them or know of an alternative?

My mother used them 20 years ago, they put a charge on the house when she chould not keep up the repayments they took her for reposession forcing her to put the house up for sale and selling it.

Have you gone to your building society to remortgage?

Ocean Finance claim that their loan rates are competitive, yet the inconspicuous text mentions a typical APR of 10.7% variable - which is not really competitive at all. That said, it could still be a lot cheaper than you are paying on your credit card.
My advice to you would be to contact the electricity company, explain the situation to them, and ask them to install a prepayment meter so that you can pay as you go - they set the rate so that it gradually reduces your bill to them as well.
Alternatively, remortgaging is usually the cheapest way of getting new money.

The very simple straight answer is your finances will not get better by borrowing more. I used to work for a credit union and saw a lot of people in your position. We used to loan money at low rates of interest to people with poor credit histories although usually not very large amounts - we also used to direct people to get debt advice where necessary.

I strongly advise you don't delay and do look at this thread from yesterday. Go and look at the CAB website on money management and debt. Then make an appointment with your local CAB office and then consider a debt management plan which is free from CCCS or Payplan.

Do not pay anyone to help you with debt management advice. Getting on top of it now using CAB advice and some kind of managed plan to get out of debt will save you a lot of heartache later.

I'd make an appointment at the nearest CAB office and take in all the info about what you owe to whom. It is possible to make agreements with card companies that freeze the interest and lay out an affordable repayment plan. I think a loan from a company like that, when you've already had debt problems in the past, would be a really bad idea. There is a lot of free advice out there and most of the companies will enter into repayment agreements. Places like Ocean want you to get deeper into debt.

Agree - it sounds like an expensive short term fix which may simply escalate into a further problem. Can you really afford to meet these repayments on top of everything else ? Better to taken an overview of the whole situation with someone independent like CAB and prioritise your spending.

Oh. and don't let the electric people 'helpfully' install a meter. They will arrange a repayment plan without one, and you pay more per unit with a meter.

Excellent advice from MoreBeta. I would also add that the companies you owe money to may be willing to sort out a repayment plan that puts any interest on hold. They can be very helpful if you let them. They'd rather that than have to chase you for money you clearly don't have.

all the big energy providers have a charity that helps people with large bills just ask u provider for the no they do not advertise it buts there and they will pay allof it or a percentage for the other debts cccs

You need to sort your finances out rather than borrowing more, you need a debt management. Try payplan or CSA for advise.

OP can I ask why you have linked search engine friendly terms to a credit check site in your post? That is a widely known and considered rubbish seo technique used to spam forums and whilst your op may be genuine it appears not to be as a result of your using it to promote other companies - do you actually have debt problems or are you promoting something. If this is a new mumsnet thing apologies but I dont like it.

I have worked with this part of the credit industry and would strongly counsel you AGAINST doing this. It leads to more problems, not less. Please take the excellent advice offered to you by other posters above, I can't add anything more.

prettyfly how does that work then? The op looks normal to me!!!

OP I think you have had some excellent advice here, good luck with it all

prettyfly do you mean me ? I am a regular poster here and I am genuinely in need of advice and genuinely have ocean finance ringing me tommorow , I googled what they were like after I set up the appointment a d found a lot of negative stories and so e positive ones too amd because I don't want to get further into trouble by blindly going ahead with something out of desperation .

The money I want to borrow would pay off all our debts and leave me with one payment which would be the same as my credit card so we could afford the payments on a loan , like I said what is worrying me is the bad stories I have heard.

Thanks everyone for he advice and links I don't feel quite as desperate knowing I can get help , we are trying to help ourselves by selling things we don't need etc but it just isn't bringing in enough .

can I check a few things?

you say you have been hit by a big electricity bill and need to borrow six thousand. Do you mean the electricity bill is six thousand, or do you mean you have six thousand in debts of which the electricity bill is one?

Do you understand that if you take out a secured loan, the creditor can take your house? Do you understand that is the reason they are willing to lend to you?

If you take out this loan, what is going to happen to stop you buying more stuff on credit and getting further into debt?

Sorry that this post is short on sympathy but that will come separately.

Hi piglet john , the total of debts and outstanding bills is six thousand this is my dh and I total amount some of it we had before we met , and some of it was used to help a family member out of a very bad situation which with the benefit of hindsight was not the best idea .As far as credit goes I have certainly learnt my lesson and the credit has been spent on essentials not holidays or anything like that. We could easily afford the repayment on the loan as the payment would be significantly less than what we are paying out now .

hnmmmm apologies op I just noticed the same thing come up on another site - think my pc has been hijacked as I keep getting random links coming up for posts on forums (its an seo thing). You have had some great advice here and hope you get it sorted but definitely dont think getting a loan is the way forwards.

Do you own a a house with equity in it Mrs W?

I have seen your name over time, I'm sure this is a genuine question.

Mrs Whiskerson, first, contact the utility and tell them you are having difficulty paying, they will not cut you off even if the bill sits there for a few weeks without getting paid (my student experience showed they sent about two red reminders before they got arsey!)

Secondly, under no circumstances take out a secured loan against your house. At the moment, you have unsecured debt, which means they can't take your house and your debtors have few rights to do anything about it, if you secure the amount against the house, you could end up having to sell the house to give them the money, even for quite a small amount, especially if you are in an uncertain future with regards to income (and may default).

I would not bother consolidating your loan if you are in a difficult financial situation, you may think it will be easy to pay back, but if anything else goes wrong, or breaks, or you can't make the payments, you are stuffed.

I would call one of the free debt advice lines, such as CCC or Payplan (the free charity ones, not the pay for ones). They will contact your creditors for you for free, and try to arrange a payment plan for you to pay back. They will ensure you pay the essentials first, so utilities such as electricity and rent/mortgage will be paid every month before the credit card.

Of course, if your desperate situation is really very temporary and your work very secure, consolidating (into an unsecured loan) may be ok, but if your financial situation is ongoing and you can't pay basic bills, I would take action now so you don't get into a debt spiral (where you are just borrowing money from one place to pay other debts).

We bought a house at the beginning of this year and it does have equity in , I enqiure about a loan with the same company but they rejected us that's why I was thinkin. They wouldn't remortgaged us epecially as our income has gone down since we bought it.

It's a nightmare dh wants us to borrow money off his parents bit they gave us the deposit for our house and paid for our wedding last year so I really don't want to borrow more of them especially since fil can make snider comments about us not standing on our own two feet and in his day no one had credit .

The ironic thing is I am due a large payout from work which would solve our problems instanly but it keeps getting delayed so I can't really rely on it for now .

Prettything I doubt the OP is promoting anything. I mentioned payplan does that mean I'm promoting them by mentioning them, no.
OP don't get into more debt wait for your payout from work if you can

Have you had independent advice from CAB or similar? I would trust their advice more than a private loan company. It is important that you make good decisions at this stage.

Good luck with it, it sounds like a stressful time.

kat I know that - it turned out to be a fault on my pc so apologised and will do so again - sorry op (again).

It may be worth you seeing if there is a CAP centre near you? It is run by Christians but the FAQ on the website confirm they are available to everyone and have a very respected standing within the financial industry - winning many awards. (worth a look if your CAB is over-boked anyway).