A Credit Card query from someone new to taking debt seriously

DebtFreeStriver

Having for several years been irresponsible with money when I was offered more credit than I knew what to do with, I am now attempting to put things right, with the assistance of my wife (or should i say her credit score!).

In my wifes name we have been given a loan and an interest free credit card, although this doesn't cover everything it should certainly help reduce the number of outgoings and the smount of interest I'm paying.

I think I know the answer, but my question is this. I have the option to put £3,000 onto an interest free credit card, am I better off to use this amount to completely clear and close a Mint credit card (19%APR), or to take £3,000 off of a HSBC credit (23% APR) leaving £4,000 on there?

Instinctively I think that taking away some of the HSBC credit card is the right option, because its the higher rate, but I was just wondering if i may have missed something that might make the second option more viable. For example, is it better just to be paying off one CC rather than two, and would this also help to start rebuilding my credit rating?

Any thoughts or input on this would be very much appreciated. As I said earlier I've been irrespnsible for a few years, but am now trying to ensure I make the right decisions and strive to be debt free!

thanks for reading

Tim

[Deleted User]

You pay if off the HSBC - ie the higher rate. The only occasional exception to this is if one of them is a promotional rate.

Tixy

Usually you are right its best to go for paying some off the higher APR card.

The only thing that might make the alternative a better option would be if when you pay off the Mint card whether they might off you a promo deal one the card has been empty a couple of months. If they might offer you a 0% deal on that you might be able to end up with nearly £6k on a promo deal.

But I've never used Mint and don't know if they tend to give out such promo deals, and even if they do there is no guarantee you personally would get such an offer so it would always be a gamble. If you've previously closed down your mint card to reject a rate rise then you'll know its certainly not an option in your case.

You could have a look in this thread to see if there are any recent mentions of mint - Unoffical Existing Customer Balance Transfers

DebtFreeStriver

Thanks for this, all very useful.

I especially like the idea of getting a new offer of a balance transfer, I was thinking of closing the other credit cards I would be paying off with a loan, but perhaps I would be better off leaving them for a short while to see what I could be offered?

My only concern with that would be whether or not this could affect my credit rating for having so many accounts?

Thanks again for the initial responses!

Tixy

Long term it would usually be best to close any unused accounts, but worth holding them open for a couple of months to see if you can get any deals. Usually thats the timeframe people are offered deals, after 1 or 2 months of nil statements. If you are thinking of closing anyway you can always phone up and say you are thinking of cancelling and see if the retentions folk give you a deal at that point.