I want to stop drowning

debtaghh · 9 June 2017 at 8:23AM

Sorry for all the posts today!

I am after some advice. From July I will be paying 10.2% interest on my barclaycard balance of £2100 and am wondering if I shoud

a) clear all my savings which are for emergencies, xmas and holiday and clear the balance and then use the cc as and when I need it for these
b) keep allocated savings and just chip away at it and just put any extra money towards this
c) hope we get another 0% soon that I can transfer it too whilst chipping away at it ( this is out of my hands and will be a waiting game)

I know option a would save interest but I do feel a bit anxious about this so would appreciate people's advice:cool:

clearmydebts · 9 June 2017 at 9:45AM

debtaghh wrote: »

Sorry for all the posts today!

I am after some advice. From July I will be paying 10.2% interest on my barclaycard balance of £2100 and am wondering if I shoud

a) clear all my savings which are for emergencies, xmas and holiday and clear the balance and then use the cc as and when I need it for these
b) keep allocated savings and just chip away at it and just put any extra money towards this
c) hope we get another 0% soon that I can transfer it too whilst chipping away at it ( this is out of my hands and will be a waiting game)

I know option a would save interest but I do feel a bit anxious about this so would appreciate people's advice:cool:

Not sure this makes financial sense but my gut says keep your savings. From this month I am going to build up savings. I am not an anxious person in general but when it is coming up towards payday (1-2 weeks beforehand) I always get anxious when I look at my balance. I like to know that I can dip into them if there is a crisis.

debtaghh · 9 June 2017 at 9:54AM

clearmydebts wrote: »

Not sure this makes financial sense but my gut says keep your savings. From this month I am going to build up savings. I am not an anxious person in general but when it is coming up towards payday (1-2 weeks beforehand) I always get anxious when I look at my balance. I like to know that I can dip into them if there is a crisis.

That is how I'm feeling. Like you said I'm not sure it makes financial sense but I think I'd feel more secure having the savings . I would also hate to have to use the credit cards again.

clearmydebts · 9 June 2017 at 9:56AM

debtaghh wrote: »

That is how I'm feeling. Like you said I'm not sure it makes financial sense but I think I'd feel more secure having the savings . I would also hate to have to use the credit cards again.

Personally if I started using the credit cards again it would be a slippery slope to overspending. Whereas I hate to dip into my savings unless absolutely essential!

debtaghh · 9 June 2017 at 9:58AM

clearmydebts wrote: »

Personally if I started using the credit cards again it would be a slippery slope to overspending. Whereas I hate to dip into my savings unless absolutely essential!

That's what I'm scared of, that if I start using the credit card for Xmas presents I won't budget as well. Where as if I physically only have £200 for presents then that's all I have.

clearmydebts · 9 June 2017 at 10:00AM

debtaghh wrote: »

That's what I'm scared of, that if I start using the credit card for Xmas presents I won't budget as well. Where as if I physically only have £200 for presents then that's all I have.

We must have a similar midset! Lol

enthusiasticsaver · 9 June 2017 at 11:58AM

I would say keep your savings as at least you will then spend within budget.

Spending on a credit card and increasing the debt regardless of the fact you have cleared some of it by using savings means you need less discipline as you have effectively given yourself permission to add to the debt and not necessarily within budget.

debtaghh · 9 June 2017 at 12:03PM

enthusiasticsaver wrote: »

I would say keep your savings as at least you will then spend within budget.

Spending on a credit card and increasing the debt regardless of the fact you have cleared some of it by using savings means you need less discipline as you have effectively given yourself permission to add to the debt and not necessarily within budget.

Thanks, I agree and will keep my savings and just chip away at my barclaycard as that way I will stick to a budget more.

reality_check · 9 June 2017 at 12:57PM

I would personally use savings to avoid interest charges! x

glass_half_full · 9 June 2017 at 2:01PM

Hi debtaghh,
From a financial point of view reality_check is right, you would pay off debt with savings in fact Martin Lewis has posted about this http://moneysavingexpert.com/savings/pay-off-debts
For me though, having an emergency fund has been essential in getting myself of using CCs. So if your savings are your EF then I would keep them.

I want to stop drowning

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