Consolidating debts

nives316

I want to put my credit card debt and a few other bits together and pay them off .... I was wondering what the best way to do this was.

Do the company's that offer this service just rip you off or does anyone know of a good one...

Any advise would be great...

PabloNeruda

Have you got a 0% credit card?
That would be your first step I would think.
What other bits and pieces?

nives316

Yeah... I’ve got four cards but only one has a balance ... I normally wait till the 6 months is over and then ring and one of the others usually offer 0% ... but its a hassle and by the time ive paid the transfer fees its on knock off about £300 in six months ...

Just thought it may have been a good idea to just transfer it somewhere with a low interest rate and pay it off for good... Did apply to one of the Barclay cards with 4.9% for life but they turned me down....

Maybe I should just keep transferring the balance!

lynzpower

If they turned you down there could be 2 reasons for this
1) you have a poor credit rating - check with experian
2) you have too much debt available to you. I suggest you close the empty cards and wait and see how that effects your rating

Have you done an SOA before??

leni

I second that - I found I was getting low credit limited when I was requesting new cards - I have 4 cards with £0 balances, so I cancelled all these and then applied for a chairty card (NSPCC one with HBOS) and got 0% for 9 months with the biggest credit limit I've been given to date! I transferred the balances but never activated the card and cut it in half straight away (this way I can't use it)

Simon83

How do you check what cards you have open in your name and how much does this cost?

lazy&indebt

Log onto https://www.experian.co.uk and sign up for their free trial, fill in your details and they will send you a PIN to access the info online. Make sure though that you remember to cancel your subscription before the end of the trial or they will charge you...

Verbatim

Hi,

Before closing any cards check if they will offer you a good deal. It's easier than getting a new card, especially if you've been refused once (as it's not a good idea to have too many credit searches on your file in a short time). Ask to speak to the closure team as they have authority to offer more than the customer services team who answer the phones. If you can't "credit card shuffle" like this, then close any useless cards down and wait 6 months- ish from being refused to apply for another.

nives316

Ok ... thanks for your help... I have spoken the Abby and they will let me transfer again for 0% and then ill cancel the others and wait 6 months to apply again ...

Cheers for all the advice...