Paying off cards

INAMESS · 12 March 2017 at 8:29PM

Hi i have 4 credit cards, 3 of which are near there limit. The total amount I owe is approx 5500, I'm thinking about paying them all off but am unsure of the best way? If I get a loan I'll obviously have to pay interest on it, I've thought about balance transfer but in the past I've found that you usually only get a 1000 limit on new cards that offer zero percent interest on balance transfer and I'm not sure it's a good idea to open lots more credit card accounts in order to pay my debts off. Any advice would be welcome....

maas · 12 March 2017 at 9:36PM

You should target the card with the highest interest rate first. A 0% BT card can still help even if it only transfers part of one of the cards you currently have.

However as you've said, opening more credit cards can result in more debt. It might be worth going to DebtFreeWanabe board and posting a statement of affairs. They can help you cut down your expenses.

INAMESS · 12 March 2017 at 10:51PM

Thanks for the message. My budget is not really the problem. I just want to pay these cards off in the cheapest, easiest and quickest way possible. Hard to know which way is best though, loan or more cards etc

maas · 12 March 2017 at 11:09PM

You could try the MSE eligibility checker for credit cards. Sainsbury's have a BT and no fee for 28 months at the moment.

Dobbibill · 13 March 2017 at 4:45AM

A loan to consolidate rarely works so I would avoid that.

Work at overpaying the highest APR first. Whether you are paying one, two or five cards makes no difference so any deals you can get is just saving you money in interest. Throw ever spare penny you can at the debt.

As one card finishes put that payment on to the next highest APR card as well as your original payment and so on.

You can use the snowball calculator to see when your end date is likely to be.

MallyGirl · 13 March 2017 at 1:17PM

You might need to adjust your mindset - you would not be 'paying off' instead you are looking to move to a lower interest rate. Taking on extra credit is not paying off anything although it might help you to do so if you can get some of the debt onto 0%

INAMESS · 13 March 2017 at 4:02PM

Still a bit confused lol. At the moment I'm paying the minimum amount on the cards I owe money on which in total comes to about 100 pounds a month which to be honest is about all I can afford in terms of monthly payment, which is why i thought a loan with repayments around the same amount would be the better option? If I applied for more cards at zero interest it would affect my credit score and I guess I'd only get a low limit that I'd be able to transfer anyway?

Paying off cards

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