Barclaycard debt advise welcome.

very_skint

Hi all, I'm new to this forum so please be gentle with me.

I've got £1600 left of Barclaycard debt which I am paying off at £40 pm by an agreed payment plan (debt was originally over £2800).

They have taken my card away and agreed to reduce the interest to 1%

Trouble is the interst is applying approx £16 back onto my debt and it is going down but very, very slowly.

I would ideally like to get this debt written off or the interest at least down to 0%.

I am unable to get any new credit cards because of my bad credit history so I cannot do the transfer trick.

I dont have any lump sum or savings to offer a final settlement.

Any ideas?

Al_Mac

I'll do it before someone else does.

1) Ask them to 0%

2) Tell us what your income and expenditure(s) are.

I'm sure someone will be able to help.

:xmassign:

mountainofdebt

OP, are you in a position to pay more than the amount agreed...although if income/expenditure details are posted then I'm sure that we can find ways of you being able to throw extra money at this debt....even if you could find an extra £16 a month, at least that way you aren't paying interest on interest.

To be honest if you are making payments I can't see Barclaycard writing off the debt nor reducing the interest rate further.

very_skint

I have phoned them a few times asking them to allow me a month off when I was off work due to a car crash, stop the interest, but they wont have any of it.

I have deviced my own excel sheet and according to that:
(Monthly)

Total income: £1294

Total Exp: £1253

Leaving £41 (on paper at least)

Oh that is with my new plan (not in action quite yet) of paying £15 pw to Barclaycard instead of the current £10

I am planning on giving them a call soon to try again with the 0% interest but dont hold my breath because like you said I am paying it and they dont really have anything to loose.

Do you think the extra £16 - £20 will make a big difference to the reduction?

Any one good at the calculations can tell me the total length of time and cost of paying this off with both £40 pm & £60 pm?

tomstickland

They have taken my card away and agreed to reduce the interest to 1%

Trouble is the interst is applying approx £16 back onto my debt and it is going down but very, very slowly.

1% per what? Per month?

YorkshireBoy

very_skint wrote:

Any one good at the calculations can tell me the total length of time and cost of paying this off with both £40 pm & £60 pm?

Play around with the calculators at http://www.whatsthecost.com/creditCard.aspx

BTW - I'm assuming it's 1% per month? That's around 12.9% APR isn't it?

tomstickland

Aha, simultaneous posting.
about 12.6% APR.
They're having a laugh at your expense. You could take out a personal loan at 6%ish, or transfer to a 0% card.

very_skint

Oh.....My....God.
It didn't take that long to spend it!! It reckons 15 years - Damn.

Yeah 1% per month when you look at it like that 12.9% APR thats a lot.

They are so kind arent they?

Assuming they will say no to 0% interest, I have no lump sums, saving, other cards, cannot apply for new ones, what can I do? am I stuffed??

tomstickland

Increase income or reduce expenditure. Sell stuff on Ebay, get a second job, cut back on all unnecessary expenditure. 6 month plan. List your monthly expenditure and let the vultures on here get to work on it.

YorkshireBoy

very_skint wrote:

Oh.....My....God.
It didn't take that long to spend it!! It reckons 15 years - Damn.

That figure is based on only ever paying the minimum payment. I've just put your figures in, with a 2% minimum payment + £30 and the duration is reduced to 36 months. As Tom says, earn more, spend less, and throw every penny at the debt.

What are your credit history problems, besides the "arrangement to pay" that you (possibly?) currently have?

very_skint

Yeah already done all that, Doing overtime, sold all my crap, sticking to budget, changed utility companies, you name it, we've done it. Unfortunately we also have a few other debts that we are also paying off and that cannot be combined as they are loans through relatives and paying back housing benefit that they reckon we should not have received.

My main goal is trying to get rid of this Barclaycard debt because with the interest it is a killer.

Just out of curiosity, what would they do If said I cannot afford it any more, take me to court, I'll pay a pound a week.?

To be honest times arent quite that bad here at the moment, but things keep getting worse here, and I think one day it might come to that.