A bit of a pickle...

Caught_in_the_act

Hi All,

Just after a little advice. I am recently married and my better half has suddenly had to give up work and we're an income down.
To be open we have both been fairly carefree with our spending especially in the run up to the wedding. Although in saying that I have always detested having any credit card debt and previously used to pay balances off within a couple of months at the most.

We are living well within our means but my better half has approx 6k of card debt that she is now tredding water with each month paying off the interest. The offset of being a salary down is I am now contributing more from my salary and I haven't been able to clear my cards from the wedding and I have approx 4k worth of credit card debt, which is infuriating me. A good few years back I lived the life of a monk for 6 months to clear all of my debt and vowed never to get into that situation again.

Anyway, I want to get it cleared ASAP. The positive thing is looking at our income and expenditure each month with a little belt tightening we could afford some decent repayments.

My first instinct is to consolidate all of the debt onto an interest free credit card (12 months) with a low balance transfer fee. Looking about Barclaycard appears to be the best bet for us with it's low charge to transfer.

My first question, is a credit card balance transfer the best option for us?

If so can I transfer my wife's card balance onto my card?

My credit report is quite good with two late payments (1 month) in the past 5 years (coincidently both were a mistake and are being disputed). However, all of the cards I have had to date have been with a limit of 3k. 10k seems like a big jump to me and the last thing I want to do is apply and get refused for credit.

Many thanks in advance for the kind advice!:T

bottleofred

Hi and welcome to the forum,

It is very unlikely your credit limit will be 10K on a first card with them and you may only be able to transfer over a small amount (maybe 3-4k?) although it depends on what limit the card company give you. If you were able to get whatever limit they give you (assuming your application is successful) within the interest free period, then you could save some money on interest. However, you would have to balance this out with paying the other cards off and only you can decide if it is your best bet.

Good luck