Parents! Who'd have em...

Devo

I was down visiting my mum this week and she confided in me that she has some financial issues, namely credit cards! She was so upset about it all and I can see why with the interest rates. I really need some advice on how best to help her out, possibly using some of my empty credit cards if it will help.

She has about £13,000 spread across 4/5 credit cards. The interest payments on them per month are like £80 each!!!!!! :mad:

She works for the prison service and has a very modest wage which sees her taking home around £1000 net each month. Her minimum payments alone are around £358. I will post some more details relating to interest rates, credit limits etc when I get them off her later. I just wanted to vent really at the moment...

Hannah_10

Vent away, you're in Ok company!

When the venty bit is over though, can you get her to do a SOA please and we'll have a good hard look at it. There's a sticky at the top of this board about SOA's with everything she'd need to know.

podperson

As Hannah says she needs to get her budget written down and maybe you can go through it with her and see if there seems to be any problems, for example if she is living beyond her means which might be why she has got stuck in the credit card cycle. Make sure you get this side of it sorted out before helping her out by taking on any of her debt - if there is an underlying problem she may just end up borrowing again and you will both be stuck with debts you struggle to pay off.

Devo

Just had a rather harrowing phone conversation with mum to get to the bottom of exactly what she owes :mad: The breakdown seems to be:

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Next - £986 @ 26.9% APR
Min payment £89
Credit limit £3600

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MBNA - £4153 @ 23.3%
Min payment £79
Credit limit £4400

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Barclaycard Visa - £3851 @ 24.9% APR
Min payment £86
Credit limit £3950

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Barclaycard mastercard - £2893 @ 23.9% APR
Min payment £59
Credit limit £2900

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Tesco - £2031 @ 20%
Min payment £43
Credit limit £2125

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Total = £13,914

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Now, I haven't even broached the subject of SOA yet so please bare with me here. Just trying to figure it all out first as I calculate her monthly interest costs to be over £300! :eek:

Nottoobadyet

Best of luck helping her get these sorted. Maybe have her start looking for 0% transfers? She could save loads on intrest.

NorthernLas

You might want to ask whether she has an overdraft as she might not see that as debt.

Also is she up to date with council tax, utilities and TV licence?

Any idea how long these debts have been growing and what she has spent the money on?

isy1011

Now she has you to prevent a similar reoccurence she needs to balance transfer onto 0% and then than money can start to reduce balances.