Head in the sand for years... Updated 08-Mar-06

Cantdance_2

Thanks Peppa!

Yes, the old fashioned way will definitely be best and cheapest in the long run, it just depends if we can stay afloat until the car gets sold - that's the only obstacle I can see. We've already identified plenty of things we can sell to clear the Next so it's just a case of trying to hold on tight while we flog the car!

Anyone want to buy a nearly new Peugeot 206?!

:rotfl:

James

Cantdance_2

Well, here's a thing.

I get home yesterday and totally out of the blue there's a letter from HSBC offering me a credit card with a £7,000 limit, completely pre-approved, no credit check, all I need to do is send the forms back.

0% on balance transfers for 6 months! :j

Now, my initial instinct was to run for the hills but thinking sensibly I'm sure it would really help us out to at least transfer the Next debt onto this card. A quick calculation shows that the 3% monthly payment on this HSBC Mastercard would be around £60, as opposed to the £230 I'm paying on the Next account. Plus all the time we're getting together our money to pay it off it won't be racking up interest there.

Another thought crosses my mind - we could also transfer our Egg borrowing of £5,000 onto this mastercard. Although the APR will be higher (after the 6 month 0%), it will then mean that we don't owe any money to Egg and our only obstacle to getting a PayPlan (Egg making a fuss and issuing a CCJ) will then be gone.

The only thing that worries me is that taking out a credit card, immediately maxing it out and then asking HSBC to accept a DMP a few weeks later won't go down too well. It'll also mean that HSBC will have the lion's share of our debt (one £23,000 loan and a £7,000 credit card) and could hold too many cards when to comes to getting our DMP accepted.

The other plan - we stick to our 'help ourselves' plan. Once the car's sold, with the Next debt down to £60 a month and not accruing interest, plus our other monthly savings I reckon we can just about do it. It might also make sense to transfer our Mint Credit Card balance (£3,850 at APR of about 12.9%) onto this card to save ourselves some interest and potentially make another monthly saving on minimum payments. Should also be able to include my wife's £750 Egg Credit Card as well... that's 3 monthly payments into one, and no interest for 6 months...

And this time I will cut up the cards, as god is my witness!

James