Tweet
What to do, I'm in a credit card mess, please help :-(
Hi there,
I am new to this forum and hoping for some advice on what to do with the credit card mess I've ended up in :-(
My story is a little different and as such as I have not been able to find any other posts with someone in a similar position.
Basically, in May last year I went through a messy break up with my ex fiancé, lost my job and lost the plot a bit.
I needed to get out of England to clear my head so I decided to travel. I had enough money for travel and hostel costs and have been working away, passing from one job to the next.
I love my life out here and have since landed a job in Vietnam making good money by Vietnamese terms.
I have no plans to return to the UK but at the same time I don't want to just ignore my debts just in case I do have to return some day.
The problem I have is that I just don't earn enough money out here to repay them at the rates they are now at. My monthly income equates to around £500, of which £100 is for rent,
another £100 or so on food and general living expenses etc. So after everything has been paid I have around £300 left,
which doesn't sound like much but to me it is worth every penny for the simple life I am now living.
My credit history is excellent and I have never missed a payment, it is only last month that I realised the scale of what I owe.
To keep a long story short, these are my half of the credit card debts me and my ex fiancé built up over 10 years (if only I could turn back the clock).
Credit card balances and credit limit in brackets:
Halifax - £8,250 @ 17.9% APR (limit £8,750)
MBNA - £4,700 @ 19.2% APR (limit £4,800)
Virgin - £4,100 @ 0% APR until August 2013 (limit £4,100)
Tesco - £795 @ 16.9% APR (limit £2,650)
Creation - £0.00 (limit £5,000)
A grand total of £17,845.
I know some of you might say I should go back to England and face the music but I really could not go down that route just yet. I am not a skilled worker and I lack a university degree.
In fact my education is very limited and therefore I feel with how things are at the moment I would struggle to find any work at all.
I thought about bankruptcy but it is daunting and I really would like to consider all my options first before I make any final decisions on what I am going to do.
Plus I would have to make a trip home to file for it and the cost of a plane ticket is too much.
I'm not sure if this is relevant or not but I have absolutely no assets in the UK, other than a small TV at my parents house.
The thing that is worrying me most is that before I left England I changed all my addresses to my parents house. I would not want anything I did to result in a problem for them.
I should also point out that me and my new partner have just had a little baby boy who is now 2 months old.
I would really appreciate any advice, criticism, abuse or whatever people want to throw at me. I am all ears and keen to put right this mess.
Thank you for your time :-)
I am new to this forum and hoping for some advice on what to do with the credit card mess I've ended up in :-(
My story is a little different and as such as I have not been able to find any other posts with someone in a similar position.
Basically, in May last year I went through a messy break up with my ex fiancé, lost my job and lost the plot a bit.
I needed to get out of England to clear my head so I decided to travel. I had enough money for travel and hostel costs and have been working away, passing from one job to the next.
I love my life out here and have since landed a job in Vietnam making good money by Vietnamese terms.
I have no plans to return to the UK but at the same time I don't want to just ignore my debts just in case I do have to return some day.
The problem I have is that I just don't earn enough money out here to repay them at the rates they are now at. My monthly income equates to around £500, of which £100 is for rent,
another £100 or so on food and general living expenses etc. So after everything has been paid I have around £300 left,
which doesn't sound like much but to me it is worth every penny for the simple life I am now living.
My credit history is excellent and I have never missed a payment, it is only last month that I realised the scale of what I owe.
To keep a long story short, these are my half of the credit card debts me and my ex fiancé built up over 10 years (if only I could turn back the clock).
Credit card balances and credit limit in brackets:
Halifax - £8,250 @ 17.9% APR (limit £8,750)
MBNA - £4,700 @ 19.2% APR (limit £4,800)
Virgin - £4,100 @ 0% APR until August 2013 (limit £4,100)
Tesco - £795 @ 16.9% APR (limit £2,650)
Creation - £0.00 (limit £5,000)
A grand total of £17,845.
I know some of you might say I should go back to England and face the music but I really could not go down that route just yet. I am not a skilled worker and I lack a university degree.
In fact my education is very limited and therefore I feel with how things are at the moment I would struggle to find any work at all.
I thought about bankruptcy but it is daunting and I really would like to consider all my options first before I make any final decisions on what I am going to do.
Plus I would have to make a trip home to file for it and the cost of a plane ticket is too much.
I'm not sure if this is relevant or not but I have absolutely no assets in the UK, other than a small TV at my parents house.
The thing that is worrying me most is that before I left England I changed all my addresses to my parents house. I would not want anything I did to result in a problem for them.
I should also point out that me and my new partner have just had a little baby boy who is now 2 months old.
I would really appreciate any advice, criticism, abuse or whatever people want to throw at me. I am all ears and keen to put right this mess.
Thank you for your time :-)
Comment