Secured loan advice?

[Fishandchipsareyum]

Hello
We have a lot of debt , around maybe 14/15k on cards and loans , the cards are crippling just on minimums and interest.

I am a stay at home mother / carer. We are offerd a secured loan for most of the above to reduce outgoings, but I feel bad about securing. It just seems like the only option.

I worry about how it'll look when we need to renew the mortgage, I worry if we don't our credit files will be affected.

How does it all work? I said I'd get back to them later. We are currently not in the best position to nake extra payments above the hundreds we have to pay out on loans and minimums.

I wouldn’t get a secured loan.

As you are paying the minimum increase the payment slightly. Example- if the minimum payment is 99 then pay 100 and keep doing that. Each time it will shave a little off the debt.

You have to get more money coming in if you can’t pare back your outgoings any more.

Have you checked that you are getting all the benefits you are entitled to? CAB can help with this. You may also be signposted to other support means by them.

Can you not move some / all via Balance Transfer to another O% card or lower rate / longer term loan? Have a look on MoneySavingExpert- you can check your eligibility without it affecting your credit rating.

Also check all your expenditure/ do a full budget. It's amazing how saving/ pulling in a few £ spend from here and there can make such a big difference to your budget & overpaying. Are you also getting the best deals on your monthly spending? I would rather just stop ALL spending on anything other than the bare necessities and use the snowball method or similar to attack those debts.

Why not post a breakdown of your outgoings etc to get some more ideas & help.

Don’t get a secured loan. The best thing it to try and get interest free card/s.

Or get advice from a free service like Stepchange.