Do I need it?

creditcardhelp

Hi Guys,

I have a query regarding my current credit card situation and was hoping you can help me.

At the moment I have 5 credit cards and they are as follows:

1) Lloyds TSB - £3,000 limit. £2,600 balance and currently on 0% deal with 12 months remaining
2) Barclaycard Platinum = £2,000 limit. £1,200 balance and currently on 6.9% life of balance until paid
3) Creation card = £2,100 limit. £1,751 balance at 0% with 12 months left
4) Flybe Card = £1,000 limit. £729 balance at 0% with 9 months remaining

So, as you can see I have most of my cards all tied up with deals as I try to tackle my credit card debt.

Now, for my 5th and newest card I have recently secured a Barclaycard Orange card (sorry but I am not allowed to post the url as I am a newbie to the site). They have offered me a £1,000 limit and 0% on Balance Transfers for 12 months but as you can see my cards are already tied up with deals. Ideally I would like to transfer some of the Barclaycard balance but I am unable to do this as this card is issued by Barclaycard.

So, I am wondering should I cancel this card and send it back or does anyone know of anything I could do with it while I have it?

Sorry for the length of the post but I would be very grateful for any advice on what I should do with this.

creditcardhelp

paulwellerfan

simple answer no you dont


send the card back or cut it up.
why would you want to get further and further in debt.

creditcardhelp

paulwellerfan wrote: »

simple answer no you dont


send the card back or cut it up.
why would you want to get further and further in debt.

Hi,

Thank you for your post. You are spot on. I should send it back or cut it up.

An alternative to that I was thinking of doing is maybe transfer the Flybe card balance on to the new Barclaycard Orange card and closing the Flybe account. This way I will have another 3 months on 0% (at the price of a small transfer fee) and a smaller APR at the end of it too. The Flybe card is 24.9% whereas this card is 18.9%.

But, I will be definitely be closing at least 1 card.

Thanks for reading!

creditcardhelp

Curr946

well if you have already secured another card you are best to get some use of the 0% rate, but having problems working out why you applied. All the accounts you have are still on deals?

Venusflytrap

I think the OP needs to be posting their affairs on the DFW board. CC debt of over £6k is not a joke, even though on 0% deals. Key question to the OP is: can you pay back all your debts when the 0% deals are over? If your answer is no, then best pop across to the DFW, quick!

Wobblydeb

Concentrate on clearing this, not delaying the inevitable.

How much can you repay a month?

As a minimum I would be looking to pay £81/month to Flybe so that you clear it by the time the 0% deal ends. You will also have to make the minimum repayments to the other cards.

IF there is anything left over after doing this, then how about setting up a regular saver? Most mature after 12 months, which should give you a lump sum towards repaying the LloydsTSB and/or Creation cards when their 0% deals end.

creditcardhelp

Curr946 wrote: »

well if you have already secured another card you are best to get some use of the 0% rate, but having problems working out why you applied. All the accounts you have are still on deals?

Hi Curr946,

Thanks for posting. Basically what happened was really strange. I applied for the Flybe card and they sent me a letter in the post telling me that my application was declined so I applied for the Barclaycard Orange card instead but, low and behold about 2 weeks later my brand new Flybe card landed in the post! Couldn't believe it so this is how I ended up with the 2. Crazy or what!

Venusflytrap wrote: »

I think the OP needs to be posting their affairs on the DFW board. CC debt of over £6k is not a joke, even though on 0% deals. Key question to the OP is: can you pay back all your debts when the 0% deals are over? If your answer is no, then best pop across to the DFW, quick!

Hi Venusflytrap,

Thank you for posting. I am very embarrassed about my £6k credit card debt but it used to be much worse - over £10k! I am tackling it a bit at a time and slowly getting there. The 0% deals allow me to throw more money at the debt. At the end of the 0% deals I will be in a better position again to throw a lot more at it (I have almost £3,000 in savings at my Credit Union) so I will reassess my situation when that time comes. For now this is the quickest way of dealing with my debt as most companies have declined me for a loan.

Wobblydeb wrote: »

Concentrate on clearing this, not delaying the inevitable.

How much can you repay a month?

As a minimum I would be looking to pay £81/month to Flybe so that you clear it by the time the 0% deal ends. You will also have to make the minimum repayments to the other cards.

IF there is anything left over after doing this, then how about setting up a regular saver? Most mature after 12 months, which should give you a lump sum towards repaying the LloydsTSB and/or Creation cards when their 0% deals end.

Hi Wobblydeb,

Thank you for posting. For now I am paying "at least" the minimum +£10 on all of the cards. I would normally pay around £100 a month off the Lloyds card, £60 - £70 off the Barclaycard. The Creation and Flybe cards are relatively new so for now paying the minimum +£10. I have however today shifted the Flybe balance to the Barclaycard Orange card so I am awaiting my minimum payment on that card.

I am saving in my Credit Union at the moment and have built up almost £3,000 there so when the deals are up I will definitely look at throwing those savings at the debt.

Curr946

Surprised your being turned down for a loan, but able to open more credit cards. To be honest, if your able to swap balance around when the offers end then your savings a on interest. The big problem will come when you cant move cards...

creditcardhelp

Curr946 wrote: »

Surprised your being turned down for a loan, but able to open more credit cards. To be honest, if your able to swap balance around when the offers end then your savings a on interest. The big problem will come when you cant move cards...

Hi Curr946,

I am really surprised myself that I am being turned down for loans. I have never missed a payment in my life, and my credit report is all zero's as far as the eye can see. I have asked for the reasons why I was declined but on each occasion the companies involved refused to reveal why.

When the 0% deals run out I'll ring the companies and ask for existing offers and if needs be I'll then use my savings for the highest APR and take it from there I guess. Thank you again for posting. I appreciate all the advice I can get.