Credit Cards - Pay them off or shuffle? Advice needed!

mariposa

I have just had to sell my house as I had a big mortgage and so much credit card debt I was heading for very big trouble.The credit card companies obviously knew I was struggling as all three kept jacking up my interest rate. I now have the means to pay all the cards off outright, but I'm very tempted instead to aim for a 0% deal and earn interest on the equity from my house. I intend to pay it all off within the lifetime of the deal and then never, ever, having a credit card again. Has anyone had any success with trying to get a 0% deal as an existing customer with a credit card company? I was thinking of calling them and saying I would have to pay the card off and close my account if they couldn't offer this. Or should I just pay them off anyway and vow never to have another one! One thing's for sure, I will never, ever spend on a credit card ever again. I've been treated shabbily I feel, in the classic way that Marting describes in his article about rate jacking - they could see I was in trouble and made things a million times worse, even though I never missed a single (minimum, because its all I could afford) payment.

bingy_burge

With regard to rate jacking you could have stopped the interest rate hike by agreeing to not spend on those cards again. Then they are open accounts till you have paid the balance off and then they close. They can't make you pay off existing borrowing at a higher rate.

You can try and get a 0% but if its so clear your in trouble with your current cards they may so no, as they won't take into account you have just sold your house.

It would help to have some more info:

-What are your living arrangements now?
-How much do you on on your cards and who are they with?