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Original poster

Please someone help sort me out.

48 replies

Waterfred · 07/03/2019 16:45

I’m ready for a flaming. Blush

So, I have a healthy income. But I have loans and mortgage and overdraft, which was ok until my Big Credit Card suddenly upped the interest rate and my payment almost doubled. I contacted them and they froze the account for a couple of months and they have said that they’ll put a default on if I don’t clear the arrears. I have enough in a separate account to clear the arrears but I can’t sustain the higher payment.

My credit rating is shot so I can’t get a loan elsewhere to clear the balance, and I was paying a colossal 27% before they froze it. (I took it as a 0% card and then forgot to move it.Blush)

I don’t want to go down the route of an IVA, or a DMP but are there any other options? I can’t secure a loan on the house as it’s in joint names and we operate our finances separately and he doesn’t know about this and would go mental.

Any ideas?

OP posts:
flirtygirl · 07/03/2019 17:25

If they froze the account for some months then did you not cut back and pay s much as you can at that account?

Can you and have you sold everything you possibly can and pay it?

If you cutback, pay all your income to it, sell things and use your savings, can you just about do it?

LovingLola · 07/03/2019 17:28

What’s the balance on the card.

Original poster
Waterfred · 07/03/2019 17:32

I cut back and built up a little savings balance which would enable me to clear the arrears

OP posts:
Original poster
Waterfred · 07/03/2019 17:33

£13000. Arrears are £1200. Savings are £1700

OP posts:
Original poster
Waterfred · 07/03/2019 20:23

Any ideas?

OP posts:
Helpmedecide123 · 08/03/2019 21:33

How much can you afford OP?

m0therofdragons · 08/03/2019 21:38

Can you put it on your mortgage? Not the cheapest long term but if you overpaid your mortgage then it would not have too big an impact.

CurlyhairedAssassin · 08/03/2019 22:11

Is your credit rating that bad that you are definitely not eligible for transferring the balance to a new 0% card (after using your savings to clear the arrears?)

Shinesweetfreedom · 08/03/2019 22:59

So if he doesn’t know about the debt I take it he doesn’t know about the savings.
I would throw the savings against the debt and as you say you have a healthy income go all out in clearing this debt and cut up the credit card.
There is more chance of him finding out about it if the credit card company take it further as it may come up for future purchases/remortgaging,so use the healthy income to make the debt and any future problems go away.
I take it you have tried to see if you can get a bank loan at a lower rate of interest than the credit card.

Original poster
Waterfred · 09/03/2019 10:35

Thankyou. Yes, can’t get further borrowing anywhere, I did the eligibility thing on the moneysavingexpert site.

I have £6k of available credit on another card I’ve already paid off.

Ok, so clear the arrears and then throw everything at it? It’s the interest rate which is crippling me.

OP posts:
Hoppinggreen · 09/03/2019 10:43

Yes, forearm the arrears and then pay as much as you can
You might find that in 6 months or so your credit will have improved enough for you to do another 0% transfer

Hoppinggreen · 09/03/2019 10:43

Forearm = clear

CurlyhairedAssassin · 09/03/2019 10:49

I take it it is your husband who you jointly own the house with?

The more I think about this, the more I think you are just going to have to come clean with your DH and make a plan to sort out the debts jointly. It’s a slippery slope otherwise. I would go ballistic if I found out that the person who had joint responsibility with me, and who was supposed to be my life partner was running up debts and putting my house and credit rating at risk, but I would be even more angry if they insisted on keeping this a secret and things got worse and worse.

How do you think you are going to hide it long term? When it comes to things like nights out, Christmas, holidays, these are all things that you can’t do when you have debts like that as they are unnecessary luxuries. How are you going to mask the fact that you don’t have money for this kind of thing? He won’t understand why you can’t afford to do those things when you have a healthy income and sooner or later will smell a rat, unless you mask by going even further into the red.

You are at a point where between you this will be salvageable. Yes, he will be angry when he finds out that you’ve been hiding this from him but you'll just have to suck that initial anger up. You CAN’T enter a life partnership and a joint financial partnership wirh something as big as a mortgage and not be totally transparent about finances. It just won’t work. It’s one of the main problems with choosing to keep all finances separate when you get married or settle down for life together as a non-married couple.

Incidentally it’s also why I view marriage as still being valid today, “for richer for poorer” etc. You are a COUPLE and you support each other.

newlyfrugal · 09/03/2019 10:54

How much is the monthly payment?

Movinghouseatlast · 09/03/2019 11:13

When I discovered my partners secret credit card debt we very nearly split up. He had to tell me as he lost his job and couldn't pay it.

Assuming that you and your partner are financially associated by a joint mortgage, this will effect his credit rating too. If you want to remortgage with a different lender this could prove tricky if you have a bad credit rating.

He will find out anyway.

To really sort this out you will need his support. We cut down to the barest bones of spending. So no lunches, coffees etc at work for me. Bean casseroles, home made bread, homemade wine, no nights out, no new clothes. £25 per person per week for food. We both had to do this. Everything went to pay the cards off. Live like you are on the dole was our motto! Showing my age there.

It also depends what you spent it on. Was it stuff for you or household expenses you both benefited from? If the later then your partner should be a bit more understanding.

You don't have to do a formal dmp. You can approach each lender and get them.to freeze the interest. However, you do have to prove financial hardship for this, which doesn't sound the case here.

We paid off my partners debt after 4 years of being on an informal dmp- so interest was frozen. The debt was HUGE though- over £50k. His debt was from trying to keep a business afloat, so we didn't even have anything to show for it. Tough times.

LewesHamilton · 09/03/2019 11:15

You need to tell your DH. Can you visit CAB for advice? I'm wondering if they could help sort out an agreement with the credit card company and help negotiate. A friend got into debt equal to her mortgage and didn't tell her husband for years. It got better for her once she told him and they worked together to sort it out.

Movinghouseatlast · 09/03/2019 12:07

Be careful of CAB. It very much depends if the volunteer knows anything about debt.

If we had followed the CAB advisers advice we would be homeless now! She was lovely and so well meaning but knew nothing about debt.

Money Saving Expert is where to look for advice. Or phone Step change who really are excellent.

Original poster
Waterfred · 09/03/2019 13:11

Told husband. He was not sympathetic and basically said suck it up. I didn’t tell him yet about the arrears or my total credit blackout.

OP posts:
Original poster
Waterfred · 09/03/2019 13:12

Monthly payment is £359, £134 is capital and the rest is interest.

OP posts:
CurlyhairedAssassin · 09/03/2019 13:12

So what HAVE you told him? I can’t undersrand why “suck it up” is the end of the conversation and there was no further discussion?

CurlyhairedAssassin · 09/03/2019 13:14

He won’t be sympathetic, will he, so you can’t expect him to be.

IncrediblySadToo · 09/03/2019 13:16

Well, he sounds lovely.

Not.

What exactly did you say to him because ‘suck it up’ seems like a strange response to your actual problem.

Original poster
Waterfred · 09/03/2019 13:17

He basically said it’s my business not his. I said that the minimum payment had gone up and the interest rate was not 0% as it was and that it was at full rate. I asked him to either settle it and I’d pay him back or take out a 0% card in his name and I’d settle it that way. He said no, just pay it.

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OhTheRoses · 09/03/2019 13:18

If you can't afford the £349pcm then your income is not healthy. I think you need to get another job tbh.

IncrediblySadToo · 09/03/2019 13:18

FMD that’s a shit load of interest.

You NEED to find another way of dealing with that debt.

Does he have enough savings to pay the debt for you then you pay him £350 pm instead? Or your parents?

That’s a ridiculous amount of interest.