Barclaycard 19.90% APR what to do?

SecretSquirrel88

Hi there,

As you can see from my sig me and OH have quite abit of debt. Everything is undercontrol and payments are always made on time and way over the min. payments. The one thing is his Barclaycard which is at 19.90% and stands at nearly £3k!! We are not able to get anymore 0% on balance transfer cards so I was wondering what my next option would be?

1)A loan for the £3k (if at a lower rate than 19.90% of course)
2)Maybe using an 0% overdraft to pay off the credit card? Can this be done?

The Barclaycard was originally 29.90% but they kindly offered to lower it to 19.90% and they have froze the interest for next month also which I am very happy with, but obviously if we can be paying it quicker with less interest it would be better.

Any other ideas?

Thank you for taking the time to read this. x

GeorgeUK

What is the limit on your egg card?

Not sure how often they give 0% offers, but some cards give promotional offers to existing customers. If you can get that to a nil balance, then you may get a 0% or low interest for life of balance offer.

SecretSquirrel88

I only have a £500 limit on the egg card. I have just checked my credit rating and its 838 which Im told is very good. So I can only think that the reason Im not getting accepted for any more credit is because I'm close to the limits of my current cards:

Virgin £806.82/£1000
Mint £705.75/£800
Egg £429.80/£500

these are the 3 that are in my name. I also have a Natwest card with £0 balance but £750 limit - is worth giving them a ring and asking for a 0% deal? if they cannot do that should I cancel it?

thanks x

GeorgeUK

You can usually have about 3 credit checks in a 6 month period before your credit score is afected. Too many checks close together may make you seem desperate for credit so this is not advised. Your credit score from the CRA's don't actually mean that much - they don't take into account your salary for a start. It's usually advised on these boards not to bother paying to see it.

I would contact Natwest and ask what the current APR for the card is, then ask if they have any promotional offers on at the minute. I wouldn't cancel the card though - they may offer something later. Not used Natwest so no idea how often they give offers to existing customers. Hopefully someone else can advise.

SecretSquirrel88

Ok thank you, I will ringing natwest abit later on. With regards to a loan as another option - in this current credit crunch - is there any point in applying? I know I wont know until I try but I was just wondering your advice. Im 19, 20 next month and I earn a sad £11k a year. We could do a joint loan but its OH who has the bad credit problems (late payments etc etc) and he is 25 and earns £14k - any hope? thanks

Ignatius_A

Can you get a relative to loan the £3k for a couple of months?

One trick is - pay it off the barclaycard then wait for an empty bill

Then take advantage of their 7% balance transfer interest rate to put it back on the barclaycard, but at a lower rate. :beer:

Obviously, do all your own research before taking this path, in the current economy there's no guarantee that even longstanding offers will continue to be available.

SecretSquirrel88

My natwest card is 16.90% and I can transfer 95% to it and be charged at 16.9% with no fee. I think I will ask for a credit limit, then see if i can get a 0% deal, if not, then atleast we could still transfer it to the natwest and therefore be being charged 3% less

SecretSquirrel88

Ignatius_A wrote: »

Can you get a relative to loan the £3k for a couple of months?

One trick is - pay it off the barclaycard then wait for an empty bill

Then take advantage of their 7% balance transfer interest rate to put it back on the barclaycard, but at a lower rate. :beer:

Obviously, do all your own research before taking this path, in the current economy there's no guarantee that even longstanding offers will continue to be available.

I dont think we would apply for that deal with barclaycard :-( have tried before

GeorgeUK

Your age is probably against you right now. If you get a joint account/loan, his bad credit rating will impact on yours. Sometimes asking for your credit limit to be increased will result in a credit check so be careful of that.

I would not get a loan to consolidate your debt. They are usually not flexible enough to save you enough to make them worthwhile. With cards, you can overpay without penalty and i think this is probably a better option.

SecretSquirrel88

ok thank you, i will not get a loan but will look into what I can do about my current natwest card. thanks again x