Best way to cancel a credit card and another question.

sarah0404

Just got a bill in this morning for my Capital One card. We were supposed to be cancelling but my partner has been spending on it again!!! :mad:

I am going to pay what we owe then cancel it. Can I write to say I want to cancel and send a cheque for the full amount? The address for payments is different to the address for correspondence.

Also on a different card we had a 0% balance transfer rate. We did a balance transfer and then my partner bought some things with the card. When I got the bill I realised that you get charged interest on the things you buy. Just recently he had to pay a large amount of money, and was going to use a cheque, which was free. He couldn't find the cheque book and used cash instead. According to the statement you get charged interest on cash too. Last night I tried applying for a new 0% card to transfer to, to stop us having to pay interest. But I was turned down. I'm not too sure what to do now.

I've got an Egg card on 0% that I pay £200 a month to. If I contine it will be paid off by November. The plan was to pay whatever money we had left towards the other card, then once the Egg was paid off to start paying the £200 towards it. Would it make more sense to ignore Egg and pay only the minimum just now and concentrate more on the card I now have to pay interest on? Or should I try again for another 0% card? Or balance transfer more on to the Egg card? Hope I'm making sense. I just don't know what to do for the best now. I'm trying really hard to get out of debt. (my partner doesn't really seem to be helping much)

Bokken_2

Lots of points to work on probably the most important is getting your partner on your side how about getting him onto the site and get him interested that way.

1/ capital One,you can cancel cards over the phone .Make the final payment over the phone and cancel the card after you have made the pay ment.Then check again in 4-5days time the amount is paid and the card cancelled.
If you want to be clever ask for a 0% offer otherwise you will cancel the card.If they offer you a 0% BT great as you can move some of you higher interest debt to it.It is worth asking and would save you applying for a new card.
2/You will have to make it clear to your partner how to spend on the cards as the allocation of interest is different for cash/cheques/BT's etc.
It is a bit long winded to explain so read Martins articles on credit cards and how the interest is allocated to hopefully avoid this trap in the future.
3/Ref the Egg idea this is known as snowballing so you have the right idea but you will need to make your payments to the card with the highest interest first or transfer the high interest balances to a low interest card.
4/ it may be worth a look at your credit score at Experian or a similar company to find out why you have been turned down there are lots of reasons again read up on Martins article as he explains it better than I.
Post back so others can help as you go along.

taylornj

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sarah0404 wrote:

Just got a bill in this morning for my Capital One card. We were supposed to be cancelling but my partner has been spending on it again!!! :mad:

As you have agreed to cancel the card, take the card and cut it in to little pieces, then contact the card company to cancel. Makes spending on the card a little more difficult.

Also on a different card we had a 0% balance transfer rate. We did a balance transfer and then my partner bought some things with the card. When I got the bill I realised that you get charged interest on the things you buy.

For balance transfer cards, use the same cut the card into pieces, all you need is to be able to do is transfer the balance from other cards, you don't really need the physical card.

You can always ask for a replacement card, should the terms change. You should select one card to be used for purchases and each only carry that card.

Just recently he had to pay a large amount of money, and was going to use a cheque, which was free. He couldn't find the cheque book and used cash instead. According to the statement you get charged interest on cash too. .... (my partner doesn't really seem to be helping much)

If your partner can't deal with credit cards, think about getting him to switch over to a debit card. You just may have no alternative if you are going get rid of your debt.

sarah0404

Thanks so much for the helpful advice. What a great idea about asking Capital One if they will do a 0% balance transfer. I will certainly try that! Believe it or not the Capital One card was actually cut into pieces months ago. It's still linked to Ebay or Paypal. I'll go in and remove the details from there so it can't be used again.

We did get a credit report not so long ago. All that was on it was one late payment for a mobile phone bill. I think there is a lot against us. Our age, low income, the amount of money we aready owe etc. We had real trouble getting a loan before.

Now that he's managed to max out the Alliance and Leicester card I may as well cut that up as well.

Will let you know how I get on with Capital One.

Thanks again for the help.

sarah0404

Called Capital One to cancel. For some reason they refused to take a payment over the phone I had to make the payment from my own bank. I asked if they could do a 0% balance transfer rate for a few months, but they said NO! So I cancelled the card. I was able to up the credit limit on my Egg card, so I've balance transfered some of the money from the A&L card. But I'm not too sure if that will stop me getting charged so much interest on the cash and purchases that my partner put on the card. I need to figure out how they work that sort of thing out.