My Interest Overload

ruma_2

Anyone know what best card deals are out there right now for balance transfer?

Tixy

Look on moneyfacts or on moneysupermarket. The latter has a tool to see if you are likely to get credit before you apply. Tesco is one of the better deals at the moment.

RAS

Hi

Even if you can shift some of the debt to lower rate cards, you still need to tackle the underlying problems, which means cutting your debts back.

Go to https://www.whatsthecost.com and plug in detals of your debt and see how long it is going to take to clear it and a what cost. Then find out how to pay it off most effectively.

And come back here as there are loads of way of doing things smarter that allow you to put extra money to debt clearance. They will save you a fortune.

SerenaGoode

hi Ruma,

I'll start by saying I have far higher debts than you - so hoping you never get as far down that road as I did before turning things round.

Are these all your debts or do you have any loans. O% deals are OK but it is a short term solution and the danger is you keep using the cards you've cleared.

Might be worth consolidating some or all of this into a loan, so long as you can get a tolerable interest rate and you can keep up the payments? The main consideration should be How can you reduce your debts each month - the problem with interest rates at these levels is that a large chunk of what you pay out is going in interest, so you debt is maybe increasing rather than decreasing.

Might also be worth asking some of them for an improved interest rate - if you tell them you are thinking of transferring the debt away from them you might be surprised by what they can offer.

The crucial thing is that now, while you still have some degree of control, you get on top of this and prevent it from going on deteriorating until it is a bigger problem. So if you find a short term solution, don't relax. Work out exactly where all your money is going each month and start to find a plan that means the debt starts going down rather than up. There are no magic bullets but you can help yourself by getting a grip and no letting things slide.

Good luck.

SerenaGoode

ruma wrote: »

Hi all,
Thanks for start of helping. Very grateful.
Ref Virgin its same company as mbna card and i tried them and they didnt want to transfer becaase of the maxed out amount on mbna card. Any other card to try?

Also, if you manage to clear the MBNA card I'd strongly advise cutting it up and never using it again. They are absolutely vile in their treatment if you ever get into difficulties.

36% is a loan shark rate, pure and simple.

ruma_2

so MBNA can be nasty?

SerenaGoode

Absolutely, one of the worst.

Look at some of the threads on consumeractiongroup.com/forum/mbna for examples.