# 40k in personal debt & only 1 wage



## JJAA (29 Apr 2009)

Age: 32
Spouse’s/Partner's age: 30

Annual gross income from employment or profession: €35k
Annual gross income of spouse: self-employed - no earnings so far this year

Type of employment: private sector 

In general are you:
(a) spending more than you earn, or

Rough estimate of value of home €230,000
Amount outstanding on your mortgage: €240,000
What interest rate are you paying? 2.88%
€915pm 

Car Loan - €383 pm balance €13,300
Credit Union - €147pm balance €10,000
EBS - €125 pm balance €6000

Do you pay off your full credit card balance each month? No 
If not, what is the balance on your credit card? 2 cards balance €13,000.  only paying the minimum payment €245 pm

Savings and investments: none

Do you have a pension scheme? yes 

Do you own any investment or other property? no

Ages of children: 8 & 6

Life insurance: yes

Hopefully someone has some advice on what i can do.  My household salary was €80k last year and now it has more than halved. Partner is not entitled to any benefits as is self-employed and i can't see a solution to this mess.
Was thinking of going to the bank to consolidate everything over 5 years but doubt they'll take the risk.  Have kept all my payments up to date so should have a good credit history. Is there anything else i can do?


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## jhegarty (29 Apr 2009)

Would the car cover the loan if sold ?


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## BoscoTalking (29 Apr 2009)

service all your loans and with any surplus pay off the credit card. chop the cards now - you can't afford them. switch to 0% somewhere as soon as you can. 
There is no problem once you keep up with the payments but the credit card spiralling is your one concern , worry about losing your job if it happens.


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## JJAA (30 Apr 2009)

I tried to sell the car but no luck and what they are going for now I wouldn't have enough to pay the loan and get another car. I need a car for work as no public transport and have a round trip of 60km.
The credit cards are my biggest concern but I don't have any surplus pay.  I just about have enough to eat.


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## Mpsox (30 Apr 2009)

1: see if you can sell the car and get something cheaper, at least you'll reduce some of your loans

2:if your spouse is self employed and earning nothing, is it time to give it up and try and do something else?

3: do a full review of your tax and ensure you are claiming for everything you can and see if you have claimed for everything in previous years as well


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## BoscoTalking (30 Apr 2009)

if your partner is not earning i think he should sell his car and clear his loan as much as he can. If he needs the car he can drop you to work perhaps. As Mpsox says do the whole tax thing to see if you get a lump back to pay off the credit card. perhaps you could get a break from the CU to pay off the credit cards?
I would look at the mabs and itsyourmoney.ie websites for more advice.


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## JJAA (30 Apr 2009)

Thanks for the advice. Have already done the the tax thing and received €700 back. Have transferred spouse's tax credits to mine, getting a few extra €'s that way until next month that is when extra levies etc. are added.  Spouse doesn't have a car only a van worth about €1.5k maybe. 

"2:if your spouse is self employed and earning nothing, is it time to give it up and try and do something else?"
This is easier said than done.  has worked 15 years in the same industry but is willing to do other things, just hasn't found anything yet.  It's not for the lack of trying.  He has some work lined up but that isn't for a while yet.

Would it be a better option to get a loan to cover the credit cards only or to consolidate everything back over 5 years. 
If I can get a loan anywhere that is!


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