Credit card or loan

cordy43

I have about £13,000 on credit cards and only paying the minumum amount each month as thats all i can afford to do. Would i be better off taking out a loan with my bank and clearing my cards. I just think the loan will be over a much shorter time than the time it will take me to pay of my credit cards..

redpete

Depends on:

• interest rate you are paying on the CCs;
• interest you would be paying on the loan;
• could you get a new CC with a 0% or low% balance transfer offer instead of a loan;
• are your circumstances such that you will find anyone willing to offer you a loan;
• what you do to ensure you don't run up the CC debt again and end up with another £13k on the CCs and paying off the loan.

CLAPTON

if the apr on the loan is less than on the cards then in simple arthmetic terms it makes sense
however, if you get the loan and continue to use the CCs then you will end up with a lot more debt

with 13k of debt you may, depending upon your salary find it very difficult to get a loan of any sort; paying the minimum on CC shows up on your credit records and is usually sense as a sympton of some-one in financial trouble.
you may find it better to try for low life of balance CCs and BT the cards with highest APR