Capital One credit card debt - please help!

lacoste1985_2

Hi

I have Mastercard credit card with Capital One with a balance of about £3700 on it....however at present, with the rate I keep spending money on it I'm finding it hard to pay it all back. I'm paying about £50 a month interest alone (not sure what this equates to as an APR %) but all I know is that its not coming down very fast. I keep paying off chunks every time I get paid, e.g. £500 a month or more if I can but then I end up using the card for (unnecessary) shopping purchases in town which just makes the balance creep slowly back up again and I'm back to square one.

When I say unnecessary purchases Im talking about £100 a month on things like clothes, shoes, bags etc, it may not seem like a lot but when you think of what else I use the card for it all adds up. I tend to use it when buying things over the internet for security reasons, when I get my hair done, birthday and xmas presents, concert tickets etc.

I've had the card since Nov 07 and its been pretty good, the reason I use it for everything is coz Capital One pay 1% cashback on all purchases made over the past year and reward their customers with this annually every January.

I would like to be debt free by the next MARCH 2011 however this seems a lifetime away when you consider we have xmas in the middle. How am I meant to pay off the balance with money I get in my wages and use my wages for presents??!! I was thinking of taking out a fixed rate loan over say 2 years to clear it but then decided I didnt wanna be stuck with an outgoing like that for the next 2 years! Have also looked at transferring the balance to a 0% credit card however I'm not too clued up on all this. Am aware most cards these days charge a switching fee of about 3%...with a balance like mine this is gonna cost me about £150....is it worth doing this to avoid paying £50 interest a month.

FYI I earn about 1300 a month, still live at home with parents, pay the following outgoings p/month:

Rent - £130
Train Fare - £10
Contact lens DD - £13
Petrol - £50
Socialising - £150 (cinema 241's, cheap 241 meals, bowling, drinks etc)
Phone Insurance - £6.99
Phone Bill - £50
Canteen food at work - £30
Cineworld unlimited pass - £13.50
Car insurance - £40

If anyone has any suggestions on what I should do/any hints and tips on how to save money generally in life please let me know.

Many thanks

A desperate money saver in debt (that hardly makes sense does it?!)

xx

stephane_2

The answer is simple...stop spending stupid money on clothes, shoes, bags, restaurant, bowling for the next 10 months, control your spending, grow up then you might be able to be debt free by March next year....

stephane_2

And I forgot monthly hairdresser, concert tickets, birthday present present, Christmas present....come on. Christmas can still be Christmas without having to spend a huge amount of money

lacoste1985_2

stephane wrote: »

And I forgot monthly hairdresser, concert tickets, birthday present present, Christmas present....come on. Christmas can still be Christmas without having to spend a huge amount of money

I was looking for something a little more constuctive with regards to where I can transfer the debt to in the meantime to avoid me incurring an interest charge of £50 per month. Thanks for the advice anyway though.

stephane_2

What do you expect....you say that you earn £1300 per month and have out goings of about £490.00 and that is including £150 in socializing!!!!! What are you doing with the remaining £800 spare cash that you have...you are a joke

YorkshireBoy

OK, basic maths lesson...

lacoste1985 wrote: »

I'm paying about £50 a month interest alone (not sure what this equates to as an APR %)

50/3,700 = 0.0135, or 1.35% per month.

As an APR that's around 17.9%.

Have also looked at transferring the balance to a 0% credit card however I'm not too clued up on all this. Am aware most cards these days charge a switching fee of about 3%...with a balance like mine this is gonna cost me about £150....is it worth doing this to avoid paying £50 interest a month.

Think about it. Each month you're being charged 1.35% of your balance in interest. So after two and a bit months you'll have paid the equivalent of a 3% BT fee. And for what? Absolutely nothing!! Pay the fee and you're in pocket from month 3/4 onwards, so up to 12 months of £50 per month saving. That's £600 off the balance over a year isn't it? In theory anyway, because I don't think you've had your lightbulb moment yet and so you'll simply waste it as you are doing now.

If anyone has any suggestions on what I should do/any hints and tips on how to save money generally in life please let me know.

Are you serious?

The content of your OP would suggest not! Because it's quite obvious where you're wasting money. Aside from the unaccounted £800 per month, you're paying nearly £700 a year in mobile phone costs alone!!!!!! You need to earn around £1,000 gross to draw that £700 to spend on your phone!!

paulmcerlean

stephane wrote: »

What do you expect....you say that you earn £1300 per month and have out goings of about £490.00 and that is including £150 in socializing!!!!! What are you doing with the remaining £800 spare cash that you have...you are a joke

Really a quite unacceptable way to respond to someone.

CLAPTON

do a proper budget.. you spend 50 on petrol but nothing on car tax, MOT, servicing or repairs?
you spend nothing on holidays, birthday presents or xmas presents
try this budget calculator
http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html
you need to include all the yearly or one-off costs so you can SAVE for them each month and NOT use the CC when the bills become due

from today start to keep a spending diary... i.e. write down absolutely everything you spend, whether in cash, debit card or credit card

then you will know where you money really goes

come back in a month and share the results

stephane_2

paulmcerlean wrote: »

Really a quite unacceptable way to respond to someone.

Get a life....did you actually read the post...what did you bring to the forum? At least am giving my opinion that she/he needs to get back to reality

Curt.

paulmcerlean wrote: »

Really a quite unacceptable way to respond to someone.

Sometimes you just have to be blunt, and what stephane said to her was needed. This person needs a kick up her rump!

Solution: STOP FUKING SPENDING!

drbesty

You should easily be able to batter down the debt on that card with the amount you earn compared to your outgoings, from what I can see you have about £200 a week spare cash. A balance transfer is only a very short term solution, you need to change your attitude to spending money