Credit Card Options

daniel_9

Hello,

After a bit of advice really to anyone who is kind enough to give it. I am just over half way paying back my debts, things are going good and I am on target to be debt free by August 2009.

I have already 0% balance transfered my debt all over the place and closed down most of the cards, however, I've still got £1,668 on a Barclaycard which runs out of 0% in Janruary, and £1,940 on an Egg Money card I also want to BT.

I use an ASDA card (which I pay of in full) for all my spending, and get 2p off per Litre which is quite good now prices have come down.

I've just applied and been accepted for a Virgin Credit card with 0% balance transfers for 16 months, with a £7,000 credit limit.

Thats fine, and I have transfered my Barclaycard to this (with a ~3% fee).

I now have the following credit cards:

ASDA - Limit £3,500 @ 14.9% use daily, paid in full each month
Egg Money - Limit £3,900 @ 12.9% - balance £1,940
Barclaycard - Limit £6,200 @ 0% (ends Jan then 14.9%) - balance £0
Virgin - Limit £7,000 @ £1,668% (BT) for 16 months

That leaves me with just under £17,000 available credit (if my maths is correct!).

Now, I am fully in control of my spending. I am working hard at paying my debts. I am not looking at making any purchases or using the credit for anything but....

Sorry, I know this is a long post but if its relevant, I have a mortgaged house which cost me £60,000 in 2005 (not sure what its worth now, have done lots of work to it). Mortgage doesn't have any extra secured debt on it. I would like to look at buying an additional property end of next year, my circumstances will be changing then and I would like somehwere nicer to live.

Credit rating is good for anything in the last 3 years, after that 4-5 years is 1 or 2 missed payments and 5+ is 3-4 missed payments (so short term history is good, just under 6 years is 4 missed payments max)

Is there anything I can use this for to my benefit? Stoozing seems pointless with saving rates so low, and I;ve never done it before.

Ideally I would think about just closing the Barclacard, BT Egg and closing leaving my ASDA for spending and Virgin for the BT. Is there any advantage to leaving them open, even though they wont be used?

Any disadvantagess to leaving them open, other than potential fraud and my "available credit" frowned upon on my credit files?

Moggles_2

Whatever you decide, I would keep Egg Money, if I were you. It's a very useful card to have, particularly if you're considering a move and possibly home improvements.

If a builder/fitter won't accept credit card payments, for instance, or specialist suppliers charge a premium for credit card use, you could route the money from a 0% balance transfer card via Egg Money to your current account and settle the bill(s) with a cheque

YorkshireBoy

Asda have now withdrawn the 2% cashback on fuel benefit for new customers. How long before they do the same for existing cardholders? Consider closing it.

Definitely keep Egg Money once settled. It may come in very handy in the future (cheap loans/stoozing via the 'card trick'). Consider using for monthly spend (settled in full) for 1% cashback on everything if you close the Asda card. Consider lowering the limit (to two months normal spending plus a small safety margin).

Close Barclaycard once settled.

Keep the Virgin card once settled. MBNA card repeats are a very useful option to hold.

Well done on getting that debt down.


EDIT: If you think you might need a cheap source of funds for your property move, then consider SBT'ing the rest of your available credit (once the debts are transferred to it). It'll cost you 2.98% now, but I believe you won't get a second chance due to the 60-day clause. Stick it in a decent savings account until you need it. Very doubtful you'll lose money...but not guaranteed of course!

daniel_9

Thanks Moggles and YorkshireBoy for the quick response.

Good point about the ASDA card, they mailed me to say they removed it for new customers, hadn't thought about them removing it for me in the future.

Sounds like keeping the Egg Money card, closing the ASDA card and working on the Virgin BT is the way to go.

Hopefully wont be long now till its all shifted and I can start looking at savings for once!

daniel_9

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

EDIT: If you think you might need a cheap source of funds for your property move, then consider SBT'ing the rest of your available credit (once the debts are transferred to it). It'll cost you 2.98% now, but I believe you won't get a second chance due to the 60-day clause. Stick it in a decent savings account until you need it. Very doubtful you'll lose money...but not guaranteed of course!

Good idea! Thanks.