A little bit of advice needed please

jackkelly

Hi all,
Looking for some advice from those more knowledgeable than me. I basically have 8K of cc debt, which I am sick of being a mill stone around my neck. If I add up how much interest I've paid over last 5yrs or so I would cry. Now is the time to do something about it, for the last 12mths I have over paid on each card by £50 - 75 per month on top of minium payment. But is still like wading through treacle Now today did a application for the Halifax cc with 0% for 10 mths on BT's and got accepted :j ( on line application said £4400 credit limit) so feel like I can finally get some where and make a dent in the debt.
Now what do I transfer I have £4560 on mint with £3375 purchases @ 1.59% interest the remaining is £1180 cash advances ( hangs head in shame I know!) @ 2.075%
The other card is MBNA abbey card with £3600 all @ 2.271% . Now my thinking is all of the MBNA balance ( as worried about a rate hike aswell) this even with 3% fee leaves me approx £400 could I use this to reduce my overdraft by a third as I use it every month. If possible how do I do it, a transfer to my bank account?
Sorry for all the questions but feel really galvanished to make some head way over next 12mths, as we would like to move at some point and in current climate need rid of debts.
Myhuby and me have both started to put the hours in at work to get overtime to try and get rid of the damn cards, never again. And expensive and painful lesson learnt!

steveM1978

Cant you just get a loan and pay the lot off? looks like you have done your homework though so well done for that. Good luck.

GeorgeUK

Don't go with the loan - consolidation is not often a good idea.

I would clear the MBNA card.
Then a month later, call to cancel the card and see if they will offer you an incentive to stay (0% for 9 months or life of balance transfer). If they don't offer, ask if they have offers for current customers. You'll have nothing to lose.

jackkelly

Hi would have considered that, but unfortunately we have both had to replace our cars in last 12mths, so got a loan each for that. But feel with the end goal of moving once we have cleared the cc's they will be paid off earlier than say a 3yr loan.
After months of reading MSE and preaching to everyone about Martin I feel its now time to use ALL his advice on how to reduce my debt and get it paid off in the shortest period of time, cheers

kitkat84_2

Hi

I would go with the MBNA card also as this is the highest interest rate. Another tip would be just to cover the min with Halifax and plow as much as you can to the other higher interst cards that you have left.
Remember, the interest rates you are quoting, are monthly rates, the APR will be more like 15.9 or higher!
Some cc's don't let you transfer to bank account, so you would have to ask halifax - if they say no, transfer as much as you can to MBNA which will put you in credit. MBNA can they refund this back to your bank account free of charge.

Good luck!

jackkelly

Hi thanks for your replies,
Can I just clarify what the previous poster has suggested, I want to try and reduce my OD aswell the MBNA cc, so I clear the MBNA card then pay a extra £400 at the MBNA cc once the balance is at 0 then inform them of my error and ask them to refund this to my bank account with the OD? have I understood this correctly will they do this.
As a add on when I spoke to my huuby last nite he is going to apply to the Halifax for a cc as we have a joint account with them, then we can get some of the Mint card on 0% for 10mths, does that soon reasonable?
Sorry for all the ? just want to get this done now!
Cheers

kitkat84_2

Yes, say for example you have £1000 balance on your mbna card, you ask halifax to transfer as much as possible say, £1500 to mbna. your mbna card will then be in credit by £500 so just call them to advise and they can refund into the bank account of your choice.

However, halifax might be able to transfer directly into your bank account so ask them that first.

jackkelly

Many thanks, just wanted to clarify that was what you meant.
Cheers

Moggles_2

kitkat84 wrote: »

Halifax might be able to transfer directly into your bank account, so ask them that first.

Unfortunately, Halifax credit cards do not offer this facility.

The Hally issues credit card cheques which can be used to settle bills, but if you paid one into your bank account you'd normally be charged cash advance rates :eek:

Moggles_2

jackkelly wrote: »

My hubby is going to apply to the Halifax for a cc as we have a joint account with them. Then we can get some of the Mint card on 0% for 10 mths. Does that sound reasonable?

Other things being equal, a good choice of card, IMO. The drawback, in your situation, is that your 0% promotions will expire more or less together and you cannot transfer any remaining balances between two Halifax cards. If you will have cleared the balances in 10 months time, this doesn't matter. Otherwise, I would apply elsewhere.

To maximise the 0% period on BTs, 13 months is currently available to new customers from Egg card. There's a 3% handling charge.

http://new.egg.com/visitor/0,,3_84106--View_1763,00.html

Btw, this card does allow balance transfers to your bank account, so could come in handy when you want to reduce your overdraft

jackkelly

Thanks for that, think I will mull it over for a day or so then. My OH's bank is Barclays anyone now what Barclay card are like at present for 0% bt's and due they accept Mint or transfers to bank account.
I'm thinking when I get the new cc thru and do a bt what I nornally pay out (£150pm) to MBNA i could use this to help reduce OD overdraft if I can't transfer to bank account?