Card help needed

0rsen

I am retired and have a total income of only about £250 per week. I would not have a problem with managing on this, but I have 2 credit cards with different banks which have a total of £6,500 owing on them. This means that I need to pay around £50 a week in repayments in order to reduce the amounts owed, and I find this hard to sustain. Paying the minimum, about £40 per week, would mean paying for ever. I no longer use the cards, and have an excellent credit rating, but do not own my home. Any advice, particularly with regard to consolidation, appreciated.
Thanks.
0rsen.

Tixy

Hi 0rsen

have you worked out a detailed income & expenditure (or statement of affairs) and then looked through it to see if there are any savings to be made in the expenditure to help you sustain the £50 payments?

Eg have you checked your utilities, phone, internet, insurance etc are all on the cheapest tariffs available with the cheapest supplier. Often if people post up a statement of affairs other people can identify cost reductions/savings of quite a bit per month. This is a good format to use to work out what surplus you have (or shortfall)- http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html

I'd imagine consolidation might not be ideal for you as you are retired, you could be extending the term quite a long way and you may struggle to get competative rates due to being retired.

niccatw

Hi Orsen

I agree with Tixy.
However, if your credit rating is good, you may be able to transfer the balance of at least one of your cards to a 0% card (if they are not already) to help ensure you are chipping away at the total.

Good luck.