By its very nature, personal debt is a lonely place.  In our experience, nobody means to get to a place where they are awake at night worried about paying the bills and worse still, frightened about losing the roof over their head.

Remortgaging isn’t always the first option considered when it comes to debt consolidation.  You try to go through the options such as credit card consolidation and read things online like Individual Voluntary Arrangements (IVA) or bankruptcy and they can even seem attractive – at least in the short-term.  It comes back to that lonely place doesn’t it? You often search around for options on your own because you might be keeping it a secret from someone close to you and feel embarrassed to ask others.

But remortgaging for debt consolidation can work if you seek advice.  We recently dealt with a client after he had already contacted his local Citizens Advice Bureau and was presented with some of the options above. Thankfully he then asked his friend for advice, who recommended speaking to us.  Our client got to the stage where his credit card bills and loan repayments were nearly £1000 a month and he was deeply worried about the interest free period expiring on his Help to Buy Loan.  This meant that unless he paid back the Help to Buy Loan, he would also need to start making repayments on the loan, adding a further £77 per month to his already stretched budget. Here’s the scenario he was facing:

As usual, we listened very carefully and sympathetically to his personal circumstances before exploring options through remortgage debt consolidation. What was clear, to his huge relief, was he had options.  Not just options to make this a little bit better and survive but options to restructure his debt, maintain a credit score and keep the roof over his head he had worked hard for.  After just 3 weeks we were able to agree a mortgage offer of:

Clearly the difference is huge.  The new Mortgage is fixed over 30 years at 1.95%

Our remortgage expert Clare Halfyard explains: “Most people have credit card debt and indeed you are encouraged to take out cards and loans to build your credit score. Often debts can get out of control for a wide variety of reasons so we certainly don’t judge how people get to a place where they don’t want to be.”

She adds: “As independent financial advisors, we focus on getting people into a more affordable and sustainable place by carefully listening and showing them they have options with established lenders.  So our message is to seek an expert second opinion to explore debt repayment options through remortgaging.  In the current market, with growing house prices and historically low interest rates, the options are much wider and more accessible than many people think.”