Do I apply for a personal loan??

Butterfly1

Hi
I currently have 4 credit cards with possible outstanding balance of £10,000 in total. Im not sure whether to keep trying to transfer the balances to 0% cards or apply for a personal loan.
I find that im paying about £300 a mth out on these and now I have started paying interest on 2 of my credit cards.
I need to do something and fast, but not sure whats the best option??
I need help............

poorandindenial

The best option is always the one with the lowest interest rates.

Have you been actively trying to pay your cards off or do you juggle them all the time??

Could you put together a statement of affairs (www.makesenseofcards.com has a handy calculator) and then we can help you to clear them as fast as possible.

Oh and check and see what the snowball calculator says and it will show you the amount of interest you will pay for different options.

One word of caution though - don't keep on applying for products if you get turned down. Too many searches in a short period of time and it will affect your creditworthiness in the eyes of credit companies.

If you have cards that you aren't using it could be worth calling them to see if you can get any balance transfer deals - if you have a barclaycard then they used to do a 6.9% life of balance deal (just make sure the card is clear before you do the BT) which is a better rate than a loan.

If you are looking to consolidate rather than reduce interest on a debt that is going down then most of us on here will urge you not to (my first consolidation was at £8k)

Butterfly1

I have been trying to pay these off but have been juggling them when the 0% runs out. The last time I applied for a card was in the last 6mths and I transferred some of my debt to this one. However I have been refused a credit card in the past before I got this one. This also worries me.
I just use the cards to transfer balances too and they all have outstanding monies on them.
I was thinking about getting a loan only for the reason as it would be 1 monthly payment and I would know how much im paying out and where im up to?? I just really don't know whether to do this or not and don't really know anyone who I can get advice from (hence why I have registered my details here). I do earn a good wage but just want to be straight with my money each month.

Nigella_2

Firstly I would look for 0% or low interest balance transfer deals (watch for fees!) and look for a cheaper interest rate personal loan if that fails.

You have to be savvy and cut up your cards if you get a loan, otherwise you could have an instant money temptation again!

poorandindenial

OK, so you aren't running up more debt.

In that case I would go for checking that you can't get an offer on one ot other of your cards, you may need to have a strategy for juggling in the correct order to make the most of it

Personally I would avoid a loan for as long as possible if you have a good credit history.

Check out Martin's guide on credit 'rating' (you can get to it via the credit card and protect your pocket sections) to see the other things that might impact on you.

TBH these are uncertain credit times and decisions that were once a bit predictable aren't so much any more.

Butterfly1

Thank you for your advice. I think I possibly need to sit down and work out exactly what I owe and if the credit card I have just taken out would let me transfer some of my other debts onto it depending on how long the 0% lasts?? I do have a good credit rating as I have checked this out. I think I have just been finding it hard paying 4 different cards off and not knowing where im up to.

poorandindenial

The snowball calculator really is useful for seeing what the interest payments look like for different products.

Sorry not to be able to give any more hard and fast advice, good luck sorting it out.