I've been a fool

Steviec321

Hi,

For the last 3 years my partner and i have had a catalogue (Index Extra)
I think the APR is 29.9% not sure though.
They have been steadily increasing the limit and now it is 3,300. We have only spent 2,400 of this.
I have been foolishly paying the mimimum payment of approx £95 for the last year.
It dawned on me today that i am being totally ripped of with the interest payments.
I believe the mimimum payment is 5%.

So what i would like to know or if someone could show me where to find it is, how much will i actually pay to close this account this way and how long it would take.

Also i think i will set up a Direct Debit for £100 as this will help. Can anyone work out how much it will cost me this way and how long it would take.

Thanks for your help in advance.

climbgirl

You can work out how long it's going to take you to pay off (and how much interest it will cost you!) by using the snowball calculator

http://www.whatsthecost.com/snowball.aspx

as you'll see, paying the minimum will take you a long time to pay the debt back and cost you a lot of interest (especially at that APR!).

what's your credit rating like? Can you apply for other cards and balance transfer to a lower APR? 0% would be best, but even a high APR like 15% would make a difference to one like that!

Post your budget too - we can probably help you save money each month to throw at the debt.

AMILLIONDOLLARS

You need to try this website www.whatsthecost.com, type in the details and it should give you some idea on how long its gonna take you to pay off this debt. I think £100 per month is not going to do much in paying it off quickly considering £95 is your min. Is there any chance that you can increase this to £150, just a thought. Furthermore, are you paying payment protection you may want to look at ways of either cancelling this and take out a cheaper form of protection should you lose your job. Good luck, I am sure the others will be along in a minute!!

Kimberley

Ask the catalogue company to decrease your limit by the £1000 that you have not spent ASAP or you WILL continue to spend on it. Everytime you pay £100 off, then ask them again to decrease your limit by that amount and you may find it helps you to stop spending what you havn't got to spend, like i have learnt :rolleyes: