Help Credit Card Charges !

flowerscotland

Hi everyone

I just wanted to ask some advice, I am trying to pay my tesco credit card off, the balance at the moment is 2108, the balance on the previous statement was 2130.

I have paid £74 this month, and I have received an interest charge of £26.52 and £1.45 and a late payment fee of £12 and overlimit fee of £12.

:eek:

I feel like I will just be going round in circles and paying these charges and the balance wont go down, is there anything I can do, or is it just my tough for going over the 2000 limit in the first place, they also want a payment of £170 this month, which is just too much, thats about 1/4 of my wages :eek:

Does anyone have any advice please ?

Gemmzie

You'll be charged the late fee and the over limit fee until you get back within your limit unfortunately.
Do you have any other cards that you could transfer £200 to?

beanielou

Can u get money from anywhere ie ebaying, car boot ect to get you back within your limit?
Could you pick up a wee part time job to help?
If you pop up a SOA we can maybe help you to cut back.

flowerscotland

thanks hun, no I dont unfortunatley

I tried to get a balance transfer, a wee while ago but I think I have too much credit, both mine and my fiance car agreements are in my name.

flowerscotland

thanks beanie

I work part time at the mo, I have two children age 5 and 6 who I look after during the day etc, I work at night, and ay overtime I can get during the day when they are at school, Im not really flexible enough to pick up a second part time job Im afraid Ive thought it through many a time.

I will have a check, see if theres anything I can ebay.

thanks again

flowerscotland

anyone else

Jesthar

Hi flower,

Not much comfort I know, but at least the balance did go down a little even after the charges, so you are making some headway. If you can afford to pay the same amount off each month as you did this month, it will take about 5 months to get back within the limit, which will at least take care of the over limit fee. Not sure of your finance standings, but if you have no other debts which are hitting you with charges then if might be an idea to put any spare cash you can muster towards this card for now.

Just a thought, have you done a Statement of Affairs lately? Might help you to spot any areas in which a little extra cash could be freed up.

Oh, and have you thought about trying to reclaim any credit card, bank account and catalogue account charges you have been hit with in the last 5 years (I think it's 5 years if you're in Scotland; it's 6 in England)? If you haven't, it's worth a shot - could make a sizeable dent in your debts! See the following part of this site for more info:

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/

Keep smiling, hon - you'll get there!

~Jes

flowerscotland

thanks for the advice

I have some other debts, most apart from a catalogue are on fixed monthly repayments, I think I will do as you suggested and ust put any spare money into this, as it sounds a bit scary when you said it will take me 5 mths to get back into the limit. I dont want to be paying them charges and stuff for 5 mths.

Last time I did a SOA I ended up over and it made me depressed, but I was including money for birthdays and stuff.

I will have a look at the charge reclaiming info

thanks again

bathgatebuyer

Definitely reclaim! As it credit card charges you are in a slightly better position than if they were bank charges (due to the test case). There are template letter on this website and the consumeractiongroup website too which take you through every step of the process, but it will be possible to get it back.

flowerscotland

thank you, I am just about to go out in a mo, but I will defo have a look and write out the templates when I get back.

coolcait

Hiya flowerscotland

I have the feeling that you've said in the past that you don't want to go on a DMP (although I may well be mixing you up with someone else - wouldn't be the first time! ).

If you DID want to think about it, the Debt Arrangement Scheme might work for you. If you get accepted onto it, your creditors would HAVE to frezze interest, fees and charges, and write them off when you'd paid off your debts under the programme.

There's more info here: www.moneyscotland.gov.uk

You need to go through a speciailist adviser at CAB or your local authority money advice centre. Even if you don't want to go for DAS or anything like that, it might be worth while having a chat with CAB - maybe you are entitled to some benefits etc?

good luck whatever you decide.