Big Credit Card Bills - Any Way to Reduce Payments?

Saving_Wonga

A little about my situation:

I'm 21 currently still living at home with parents.

When 18 set up a company selling high spec computers however the company went under when the recession began. As well as the recession I got hit with over 5 grands worth of fraud (people bought PCs on dodgy cards which then got chargeback). Because of the fraud I had little cashflow and had to borrow a further couple of thousand on credit cards as a last attempt at saving the business. Due to my age and limited credit history banks didn't want to know so credit cards were just about my only option. Unfortunately despite my best efforts I ran out of cashflow once again and was forced to shut the company.

Since then I have had my hours cut at my job (which is on a self employed basis) from 5 days a week to 3 which has left me in the red each month. The debt on credit cards is now up to 10 grand.

My goal has always been to be self employed and was reluctant to go and work for someone else full time however I am now going to do that because of my lack of income and cashflow to fund new ideas. I really have no choice.

I have one fairly expensive hobby which is weightlifting however other than this my expenses have been cut to a bare minimum. I don't live an extravagant lifestyle so want to keep this hobby to keep me sane!

Anyway, enough about my situation, what I was really after was some advice on how to cut down my current credit card payments of £200/month. They are currently on interest free credit cards, as I regularly change them to avoid paying any interest however I wondered if there could be a better option as there are still fees of roughly 3% each time I have to move the balance, and on this size debt, that's not cheap.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks for reading. :beer:

KingElvis

Sounds to me like you need a little stability, I would take a regular job for a few years, deal with that debt heap and then have another go at forming a business.

This time if you deal in high spec kit of an electronic nature you must do fraud checking on the transactions...you can readily buy these services and businesses use them all the time.......

Instead of moving the debt around until it does you in, you're better off getting to grips and paying it off.

Good Luck.

Saving_Wonga

KingElvis wrote: »

Sounds to me like you need a little stability, I would take a regular job for a few years, deal with that debt heap and then have another go at forming a business.

This time if you deal in high spec kit of an electronic nature you must do fraud checking on the transactions...you can readily buy these services and businesses use them all the time.......

Instead of moving the debt around until it does you in, you're better off getting to grips and paying it off.

Good Luck.

Thanks. I was using what I thought was a suitable service for fraud checking but they let me down big time.

What is a better option than 0% credit cards in my situation. You think there's any way to reduce monthly payments?

RAS

List your debts and their APRs for cards, the current debt and limits and loans how many payments left.

Saving_Wonga

RAS wrote: »

List your debts and their APRs for cards, the current debt and limits and loans how many payments left.

As stated £10,000 all on 0% credit cards (split between 2). After a way of reducing payments that are currently £200/month (minimum). Not fussed about paying it off slower, it's more important to me to get my monthly overheads down a bit.

Thanks

podperson

To be honest I don't think you will get much cheaper then that on regular monthly payments. The other option I could see would be going on something like a dmp which might not be the best plan for you as it seems like you have fairly good credit at the moment since you are getting 0% card offers and that would mess it up. Try posting up an soa with your incomings and outgoings and people may be able to suggest other places you could cut down so the £200 seems more manageable.

anh1904

If you are living at home, and have 0% cards, I strongly advise you to be throwing an awful lot more than £200 per month at them.

If and when the 0% deals come to an end, what then? The minimum payments tend to be 2.5%, often more (unless good old MBNA of course).

Of course, you may not have £200 per month, or may not think you do, a full and honest SOA is the only way forward, good luck.

Saving_Wonga

podperson wrote: »

To be honest I don't think you will get much cheaper then that on regular monthly payments. The other option I could see would be going on something like a dmp which might not be the best plan for you as it seems like you have fairly good credit at the moment since you are getting 0% card offers and that would mess it up. Try posting up an soa with your incomings and outgoings and people may be able to suggest other places you could cut down so the £200 seems more manageable.

I suspected that I wouldn't get it much lower but thought I'd ask in case people had ideas thanks. I used to have the balance on an MBNA card so from paying off a pathetic £50/month to £200 on my Barclaycard Platinum is a big jump.

Looks like I will just have to keep paying it at that rate and there isn't much I can do about it. Will be getting a new job so this will help.

Unfortunately my costings are at a bare minimum. I have to run a car for work and this is a cheap one, other than that I have rent payments, food, general health such as dentist, mobile phone (which I'm locked into a contract), some money set aside for gifts (birthdays etc) and a small contingency. My only luxury in life is weightlifting so I do spend out on gym fees and additional food, but I'm not willing to live life like a hermit!

Thanks for the advice, appreciated.