Debts and savings, what to do?

Sentinal73

Hi

Great site, lots of good ideas, heres my first post of many i bet

I have debts of around £5500 on credit cards and loans. I currently transferring them all onto 0% credit cards so that i can save money and have more control over them.

Also in the process of opening a A/L current account just for bills. So i know exactly what i have left to spend each month.

I also have £1050 saved in a Nationwide Bonus Saver account. I have had the account for 10+ years. My question is should i use this to pay off part of the debts? I know this account qualifies if Nationwide decides to turn into a bank in the future, so was keeping money in it for that purpose.



I'm also going to set myself a food/shopping budget next, but one step at a time

many thanks

Lee

jobbingmusician

If you can transfer all your debts on to 0% there is no point in paying them off before you have to be a stoozer! But do keep tabs on yourself to make sure the amount doesn't creep up.......

In your position I would transfer to 0% and set myself a target date to repay the bill. Being me I wouldn't assume I could get more than one balance transfer at 0%, but I appreciate that everyone's risk levels are different.....

The Old Style Board will be great for helping woth your food/shopping budget, when you work it out!

Welcome to the board!!!!

nabowla

I suspect that a lot of people here will suggest that you use your savings to pay off some of your debts. However, I disagree. Dipping into your savings is the easy way out. You need to tackle the problems that got you into debt in the first place and learn to budget properly. Working hard to pay off every last penny from your normal income is a great way of doing this. You'll also feel less tempted to get into debt in the future if you've had to feel the pain of working to pay back the debts rather than using savings.

mountainofdebt

if they are on 0% cards then it would cost you, in the form of lost interest, to use your savings to pay off your debts.

Also if you have this money stashed away somewhere if you need money urgently you have it to hand.

So keep your savings and pay off your debts using savings that you make using this web site.

forsya

Hello and welcome to MSE!

Mmm, I have to agree actually, in this case it may be worth while hanging on to the savings, if you transfer all to 0% credit cards.

If you take the right steps like setting a budget and sticking to it, then ou can pay of your debt and then start adding to your savings!

Let us know when your ready for the next step and we can look at your SOA and perhaps help on ways to reduce your outgoings and get those debts paid off!!