advice please??

rosadee

Hi

I am new to this forum and thought i would ask for some advice. I have 5 credit cards that I am paying off and not using, in fact they are just being paid off. I can give a synopsis of what i owe and the interest on each card.

Card 1- 19.9%- £860
Card 2-26.9%-£1600
Card 3- 18.9%- 1700
Card 4- 20.9%- 2750
card 5- 26.8%- 120

I pay off a total of about £300 per month and after doing the snowball calculator i could have it paid off in 30 months but the interest works out at £1900. I could get a loan for £7000 over 30 months with the interest at only £800. As I lost my job in Novemebr and had to go on an arrangement with the cards for only 1 month, my credit rating probably isn't too good, but i am up to date with all my payments before and after the arrangement ended in January and pay over the minimum each month. I know this may seem like a stupid question, but what would your advice be to me. should i try for an unsecured loan but be stuck with paying the same amount each month, also inflexible should anything go wrong with jobs etc, or should I stick with the current method of paying off cards, with the flexibility that offers should anything go wrong.
I know i should just look at the savings on interest but i think there are many other factors to take into consideratin.

Many thanks for looking at this.:)

tbourner

Whether to consolidate or not IMO is a question of how money comes in to the house and how likely you are to have a changing income.
I've stuck with my cards, although I have a set wage and so does the wife, because it's gonna take about 4 years to pay them off and I'm likely to get bonusses before then and the wife gets guaranteed pay rises, so I should be able to pay off more keeping the cards.

If you keep the cards, pay off the most you can on the highest interest rate, and pay minimum payments on all the others.

rosadee

Thanks, this is what i am trying to do. It is just that at least the cards offer a bit of flexibility should I be made redundant again, even if the interest is twice what the loan interest would be. the difference is that the loan is inflexible.

tbourner

Exactly. I personally would stick with the cards, but then I'm an idiot with money .

Are you working now then? Partner? Savings? You can put all your info into a SOA for this lot on here if you like, it's a bit of hassle getting all the info but it does help decide on the best course of action.

RAS

What are the limits on each of these cards?

rosadee

I am working part-time at the minute and am single. the limits on the cards are as follows:
Card1-1000(Balance 860)
Card2- 2250 (Balance 1600)
Card 3 -2800 (Balance 1700)
Card 4- 3600(Balance 2750)
card 5 -350(Balance 120)

i also have another 1400 credit allowed on a card with 18.9% but a 3.9% balance transfer fee.

tbourner

I believe you can only balance transfer up to 90% of a cards limit (including any fee)?

Is this correct:

---

Owing

---

Limit

---

90%

---

Space
Card 3---18.90%--£1,700.00--£2,800.00--£2,520.00--£820.00
Card 1---19.90%--£860.00----£1,000.00--£900.00----£40.00
Card 4---20.90%--£2,750.00--£3,600.00--£3,240.00--£490.00
Card 5---26.80%--£120.00----£350.00----£315.00----£195.00
Card 2---26.90%--£1,600.00--£2,250.00--£2,025.00--£425.00


So you could put £800 from Card 5 onto Card 1, and £400 onto Card 3. That would help?

rosadee wrote: »

i also have another 1400 credit allowed on a card with 18.9% but a 3.9% balance transfer fee.

In that case, stick £1200 from the 26.9% card on there, put the other £400 onto the 18.9% card, and move the £120 from the 26.8% card onto the 18.9% card as well.

rosadee

Hmm I suppose I could move some around only the BT is usually 3% or more and the APRs are similar so I wouldn't be saving enough money. or that's how I read it?not sure.

tbourner

3% is less than the difference in interest charged on the cards? Winner!

RAS

Hi

IMPORTANT - you have given differnt info on the balances on card 3 and 4 in post 1 and 6. Can you hit the edit button and correct one of these.

What you do is to put you major spends (that would come from your bank account/on your debit card) on the cheapest card. Then you immediately pay off the same amount from your bank/debit card to the most expensive card.

That way you shift the dbet to cheaper lenders but do not increase your debt.

rosadee

thanks, changed it there.