Credit Card Help Needed Please

crediteasy

After i finished uni i took out a tesco credit card, the main point for me being that it was interest free on all purchases for a year. I used the card for purchases and used it for gambling as well. I didn't realise gambling on a cc counts as a cash advance, and i also didn't realise that they clear off the least expensive debt first. So basically my purchases for about 1.6k and another 800 of gambling websites have added up to a total of 2300 on the card and i'm paying approximately 35-40 quid of interest a month.

I could clear this entire card in the next 3-4 months, my question is it worth my while to do this? Would it make more sense to do a bt to a 0% card?

Any other tips or advice would be much appreciated as i'm totalky lost with all this.

ironlady2022

if you can clear the card in the next 3/4 months then the interest based on what you say would be 4 months x £40 = £160

If you do a balance transfer then you are looking at a one off balance transfer fee between 2.5% and 3.5% so the sum would be 3.5% of £2300 = £80.50 and you would have a longer time to clear it depending on how many months interest free it is.

So yes you would save based on your scenario but it all depends on your credit report.

Tixy

You need to know what apr you are paying on each bit of the balance. Then you can work out how much interest you will pay if you can pay it off in 4months. It depends if you are planning to pay £500odd per month or just pay the minimum for the next 3months and then pay off remaining £2kodd in month 4.

Then compare the alternative - how likely are you to get a new card from another provider, how likely is it that you will get a 0% card. (This will depend on many factors including your credit history, amount of existing debt and credit and your current earnings). If you could get a card you would have to pay a balance transfer fee, you need to compare that cost to the cost of sticking with your existing card, these are typically about 3% so around £70 for your balance.

crediteasy

The rate on the cash is 1.893%? I was intending to pay off roughly 600 quid a month?

pqrdef

crediteasy wrote: »

I didn't realise gambling on a cc counts as a cash advance, and i also didn't realise that they clear off the least expensive debt first.

If you're going to play games, you have to make sure you know the rules and stick to them.

crediteasy wrote: »

I could clear this entire card in the next 3-4 months.

So you haven't put the money aside to pay off the card then, you've just used it to overspend.

crediteasy wrote: »

Any other tips or advice would be much appreciated as i'm totalky lost with all this.

Stoozing isn't for everybody. Maybe it's not for you. It works best for anal-retentive types who keep budgets and memorise all their payment dates. For overspenders, it's just a trap.