Minimum Payment Misery.

big_vern_4

Hi All,

A couple of years ago when I was between jobs I got a credit card to help make ends meet. I'd never had a credit card (till my mid 30's) so after I was turned down a few times I was confused. I thought I had good credit as I always paid bills on time, finished loans off etc. and had a large equity in my house with low mortgauge. Anyway I got a free credit check from Experian but it might as mell have been writen in a foregin language. Eventually after a couple of turn downs for cards a credit card arrived from at my door from Virgin MBNA, which was odd as I didn't apply for one from them, but it had a small amount of credit so I started to use it. Over time my whenever I hit my limit they upped it until present day when I owe £5000 on it.

I made such a mistake getting and using it through a hard time, but I felt I needed it to make ends meet.

I'm now in regular employment with a decent wage but the interest on the card is crippling me. I can afford to pay about £150 p/m okay but the interest alone is about £135 p/m before I even think about anything else. I must say I haven't really used it for about six months to a year and I didn't realise when I was paying the minimum + a little bit each month (£150) that I wasn't actually really paying anything off at all until I noticed my available limit stayed at around £0.000 for about 4 months. I realise now I was sort sighted, I've paid over £1000 in interest and about £100 off in debt!

I can afford to pay £150 p/m but I'm never ever going to pay it off and I dread to think how much it will cost? I've applied for a couple of cards to do a credit transfer but none were accepted and I just don't know what to do for the best? Would it be worth getting a loan to pay it off or could I ring up Virgin for help?

I'm so fed up, any advise or experience would be greatly accepted.

cifpower

One option is to ring the CC company and ask to lower the APR

TheEffect

Ring them and ask them to lower the APR as you have no intentions of using the card in the future and want to pay it off.

Failing that and failing getting a 0% credit card to transfer, get a 5k loan to pay off the card. It will be much cheaper in the long run.

gizmo111

Have you checked your credit report recently to see what is on there?