debt of £30000, HELP!!!!

patbates

I am in my fifties with a good secure job but due to circumstances I started to get into credit card debt (3 cards)about 10 years ago. This along with a £5000 overdraft amounts to about £30000.
In recent years I have been able to reduce this but only very very slowly.
I know that the "credit card shuffle" would make a big difference in my ability to reduce this debt but I am concerneed that if I applied for a new low interest rate card and try to get a balance transfer of say £15000 that in the event of being turned down this may adversely effect my credit rating.
I have never defaulted on any payments and as far as I know my credit rating is good.
Has anyone any advice on how to approach this?
Pat B

hairy_cornflake_2

Do you own a property with equity available? - If so you could consider arranging a remortgage to raise the money to clear the debt. If you put the debt on a repayment basis then the debt will be cleared over the remaining term. Not ideal but the monthly cost would be reduced and you know the debt will be paid off

Debt_Free_Chick

Do you own a property with equity available? - If so you could consider arranging a remortgage to raise the money to clear the debt.

I really wouldn't recommend this. You are putting your house on the line for unsecured debt. Leaving it as unsecured, there is actually very little lenders can do to you - certainly, they can't repossess your house. And who knows what the future holds, re ability to repay?

And you will almost certainly be extending the repayment term, so you'll be paying this debt off for so long as you pay your mortgage - shudder

Rafter

If you have mature credit cards accounts I guess you are paying interest of 10% plus on this debt?

I'd seriously think about converting some into an unsecured loan at 5-6% to at least get your interest bill down.

Banks seem to have tightened up their lending so they only lend up to 100% of income.   So if your salary is £30k and your debt is £30k,  you may find it tricky to get another card.

If you are not already a customer I'd give MBNA or Egg a try and see how you get on.  Transfer a balance from your highest rate card and make sure you cut the card in two so you aren't tempted to use it for purchases.

If your initial credit limit is poor wait a few months and then ask for an increase.  With Egg you can even do this online.

Good luck.

R.

deemy2004

If your meeting minimum payments on existing cards, and working then you should not have any problem applying and shift part or all of the debt onto a series of cards.

I'd do a blitz apply for 3 at the same time.

So what if one rejects, its worth the risk for the £2,400 a year in interest that you will save !! This is what I would do.

ffs

How sure are you that you will cancel the credit cards that you pay off, or will you put them aside for emergencies?

If you do the latter you are virtually garanteed to increase your debts from 30k to 40k or more at some time in the future.

nh

Unfortunately for you, there seems to be a lot of conflicting advice on this thread, and I wouldn't be surprised if you were confused!

Maybe you should go to the expert...

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cgi-bin/viewnews.cgi?newsid1094132767,59163,

You could get a loan at 6-7% but then you may be stuck with that loan (as early repayment may be punitive) and not be able to switch it to 0% deals.

As advised above, I would go to Egg, try Mint and maybe Halifax, or your bank if you don't already have a card with them, to see if they will give you a 0% card.

If you have never defaulted on a payment and only have three cards, you will probably get accepted. I often find that when you ring up as opposed to applying on the internet, that can help you be accepted. Tell them you want to transfer a balance. This may help you get accepted because

1. they want to take the business off their competitors (ie. your other cards)
2. they then know you are not simply increasing your debt.

Even if after the six month (or nine-month) 0% intro period is up, you cannot find other 0% cards to switch the debt to, you will probably be no worse off in terms of interest rates than you are now.

You have to keep on top of the 0% interest rates though, write down in your diary when they are going to end, and apply for a new 0% card six weeks before the old one runs out.

Good luck!

getting_there_6

Got to agree with !!!!!!, my wife took out a new credit card to transfer the balance of a high interest card and all it proceeded to do was free up the balance on one card and she used it again and now we are sitting with both cards to their limit, you need to have a lot of will power and be able to survive with not using the cards, she was struggling and was using one to pay the other and so forth....so be careful.