Debts coming out of our ears

[Wealldancelamacarena]

Hi there ! I hope you can help me because I don't know where to start. We have 30 k of debt , 15k is a loan and 15 k is in credit card...we are paying, never missed a payment but we are drowning now. Our outgoings are superior to our incoming. We cut of on lots of stuff but we still can't manage. Is there a good service regarding debts ? How to manage them ? Someone we could talk to ?

You could post all of your outgoings on here and then people could try and help you.

Agree with last poster. Sometimes a different perspective can help

I'll do it when the kids are in school, thank you for answering !

StepChange you need to talk to these folk.

Hi Macarena
Come and join the big debt thread.

The first thing you need to do is to convert the repayment on the credit card from a direct debit into a standing order : then it will start to shrink quite fast

Plug your numbers into my spreadsheets (link at the top of teh debt thread) to see how it works

what are the terms of the loan?

Few tips we use: Food shopping at Farmfoods and Homebargains and the rest at Lidl. Cut out alcohol completely it's not an essential. Buy clothes at car boot. Get rid of BT landline and make pre-paid Skype calls to landlines or free Skype-to-Skype calls. Cancel all subscriptions to magazines and sports facilities and cycle/jog instead. Buy rice and lentils in large quantities at ethnic food shops. Porridge for breakfast, eat fresh fruit and don't buy any fruit juices and expensive cereals.

If your outgoings are exceeding your income then you probably need more specialised advice tbh. There are ways in which you can settle debts without having to pay off the whole balance, and avoid further interest charges, but they are best done through an organisation like Stepchange or CAB. If you try to tackle it all on your own, you will end up having to cut back on much more (as living costs are fairly reasonable on debt repayment plans) and generally pay off much more over a longer period.

If you try to tackle it all on your own, you will end up having to cut back on much more (as living costs are fairly reasonable on debt repayment plans) and generally pay off much more over a longer period.
Nope.