Please advise me how to get lower interset rates

Poorbuthappy55

Hi

I hope someone can help me.

I have four credit cards as follows:-

CARD Credit Limit Balance Min Repayment Interest rate
Barclaycard £1,800 £1,708 £40.00 12.9%
Barclaycard £6,900 £6,144 £140.00 18.9%
MBNA £3,800 £2,844 £55.00 18.9%
Virgin £12,200 £7,286 £160.00 22%

I am paying minimum except the MBNA when I have a few pounds extra from ebay selling etc I pay off MBNA hoping to get rid of one card.

If it wasn't for the interest I would be able to pay off much more quickly. I can't see myself ever paying these off at this rate.

I have applied for a couple of 0% cards but have been refused. My credit rating is good but not excellent. I always make the minimum repayments.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks

stephane_2

It is going to be almost a mission impossible to get a 0% deal with already 18k worth of debt. Can you not pay more than the minimum monthly payment and put that money towards the cards with higher interest rate?

Poorbuthappy55

Unfortunately at the moment I haven't got any spare money to pay off. I am trying to up my income. Thanks anyway.

nickmack

Poorbuthappy55 wrote: »

I have applied for a couple of 0% cards but have been refused. My credit rating is good but not excellent. I always make the minimum repayments.

When you say 'Good' is this score from Experian or your own interpretation of your rating? You always pay the minimum, but do you have adverse information on other products that may prevent you getting the best deals?

If this is the case, I agree with stephane, keep it simple and tackle the card with the highest APR and throw as much as you can at it.

When this is paid off, do the same with the second highest etc. Just ensure you still make the minimum required payment on the lower APR cards until you're ready to tackle them.

exel1966

Poorbuthappy55 wrote: »

Hi

I hope someone can help me.

I have four credit cards as follows:-

CARD Credit Limit Balance Min Repayment Interest rate
Barclaycard £1,800 £1,708 £40.00 12.9%
Barclaycard £6,900 £6,144 £140.00 18.9%
MBNA £3,800 £2,844 £55.00 18.9%
Virgin £12,200 £7,286 £160.00 22%

I have applied for a couple of 0% cards but have been refused. My credit rating is good but not excellent.

I'd suggest your credit rating is not as good as you think it is considering you've twice been refused.

Your overall debt level is not high by any means, but your ratio of debt to available credit is quite high. How does this also compare to your income level ? With a good rating it's possible to get up to 2 or 3 x income, 4/5 x with an excellent rating.

Generally you should always repay the debt with the highest APR (Virgin)first as this is the one costing you most. I'd also stop applying for anymore cards without having checked your credit files to see if they are correct.

Windscreen_Viper

And.... as the original question was how to get lower interest rates. Have you tried calling the companies and asking? I did just that with Halifax recently as I have been with them a number of years and never missed a payment - I asked and got my interest reduced by 4% on the spot - for the price of a phone call it has to be worth asking surely?

Treadmill

Regardless of how good your rating is you would need a big income to be considered for borrowing much more, if you are at the limits of the cards and paying minimums it will flag up warning bells with lenders, its probably a good time to start cutting costs in other areas of your life and paying down that debt with the savings, you'll get some good advice on the DFW forum

Poorbuthappy55

Thanks everyone for your replies.

To reply to some of your points:-
My Experian credit rating was good.
I phoned Virgin to ask for a rate reduction and they said there was nothing they could do for me!

Thanks for your help.

Jemma-T

Poorbuthappy wrote:

My Experian credit rating was good..

That's not going to help much is it? Good if you're a shareholder in Experian maybe.

You seem to have dire finances and need to sort things before it falls in on you. Fiddling about with another card or looking at adverts for "free" transfers isn't going to help.

You will have to get help from a debt help centre or make a plan yourself and contact the creditors. Try and keep one credit card sweet as you wouldn't want to lose everything. Concentrate on that I'd say.