Newby needs credit card advice - Help me experts!

dm777

Dear All

Some of these questions may seem obvious to all you experts out there, but I'm a newby with big debt worries at the moment, so I would really appreciate your input -

1. I know that every case is different, but in general, is it still possible to do large credit card balance transfers in this credit crunch era? I have a card with a balance in excess of £5000 and am paying really high interest. Is there any possibility that I will get a balance transfer deal for this amount (my income is only average), or am I in Never, Never land?

2. Which 0% (or low interest) deal is best for big balance transfers (that I aim to pay off at a rate of around £500 per month?).

3. Daft question, but when is the best time to apply for a balance transfer? Should it be right before or right after I make my monthly payment? Basically I want to avoid having to make two big payments in one month, as I'm worried about being "double charged" by both companies for one balance - does that make sense? Or is double charging impossible to avoid? Help!

Cheers all

Deb

CLAPTON

1. why does it matter... if you only get half it's a lot better paying 0% on 2,500 rather than nothing at all.... and you can always try for a second card later.

2. MBNA usually offer quite high credit limits.

3. Its unlikely that you will have to fund a double charge but you do need to be very careful that you don't miss a payment by accident.
In any event, as you can afford to pay 500 a month then you that's plenty to pay at least the minimum to both cards if the worst comes to the worst.

dm777

Thanks for the input,

Deb