Personal loan options for contractors

[NetwkSupport]

Ideally 15k but it's basically entirely for debt consolidation.

I owe bits of money all over the place and can't get 0% cards anymore. I've been juggling it for a while but I don't think that's an option now.

I'm finally in a position to pay the debt off (I can comfortably afford to repay 700 a month), but my credit cards have all just ticked over into ridiculous interest rates.

There may be a better way to do this, I don't know. Feel like i'm stuck between a rock and hard place tbh.

Speak to payplan they may be able to get the accounts frozen and interest held, especially if your a contractor (income not as guarunteed as a permie) or a lower repayment agreed, this will assist you to "snow ball" the debts?

[jim2406]

Alf W: That's not a bad idea. I think maybe I'd be better to arrange a face-to-face meeting with bank manager to explain the situation - speaking to someone on the phone doesn't seem to be bearing much fruit.

I hadn't looked into payplan etc, i'm not sure i'm "there yet", if I can get a managable loan with a reasonable interest rate I'm pretty sure I can make this problem go away.

Thanks to all who've posted for the advice so far, I really appreciate it. There are a lot of financially-savvy people here.

Dimprawn: yes, it was worth it )

[Xenophon]

There are a lot of financially-savvy people here.

There are indeed.

There are also a lot of experts here on where to spend your money. We actually have experts in particular areas of spending, as follows:

Property - DimPrawn

Cars - Churchill

Ex-wife - BrilloPad

Men's grooming - Xenophon

HTH

[ThomasSoerensen]

There are indeed.

There are also a lot of experts here on where to spend your money. We actually have experts in particular areas of spending, as follows:

Property - DimPrawn

Cars - Churchill

Ex-wife - BrilloPad

Men's grooming - Xenophon

HTH

what no expert on how to get the wife to accept a boob job as her x-mas present? I am dissappointed.

[ookook]

I think you need to be a bit more assertive with your bank. You should never 'ask' your bank for anything, you should just tell them what to do. Same goes for refunding any charges applied.

Tell them if they won't count dividends as income then you'll pay them into an account elsewhere. If the person you're dealing with still won't play ball, ask to speak to someone authorised to make decisions.

People seem to be scared of banks. I've never understood that.

WHS

I never had a problem getting a personal loan off Halifax - I told them my income from dividends and salary was X and they were fine about it. It does help if you speak to someone with a basic understanding of how contracting works though.

[jim2406]

Hi,

I had a chat withi Halifax on the phone, they said just divide my salary and divs by 12 and put that as my income, which sounds reasonable.

However, I noticed on their website it says only apply if you haven't been rejected for credit in the last month. I have very recently been rejected for credit by Abbey National - so don't want to damage my credit rating further.

Am I best to leave it a while before applying for another product?

Cheers
Jim

[DimPrawn]

WHS

I never had a problem getting a personal loan off Halifax - I told them my income from dividends and salary was X and they were fine about it. It does help if you speak to someone with a basic understanding of how contracting works though.

That was then, this is now.

Pre credit-crunch there was no lending criteria.

Now banks literally can't afford to take risks.

Getting a loan post-credit crunch involves a lot more hoops to jump through.

[Bob Dalek]

You should know better it's your own fault, etc.

[jim2406]

i spoke with mrs jim about this last night and we agreed that one way to go may be to ask family for a loan.

we both hate doing it, but her folks will be able to afford it (no mortgage, plenty of savings), and we know we can pay it back (unless something catastrophic happens).

i've done a fair bit of digging today and am quickly coming to the conclusion it's going to be extremely difficult to borrow money from anywhere bank-related.

[NotAllThere]

...I can comfortably afford to repay 700 a month...

What's the absolute max you can afford to pay each month? Pay that.