Debt so bloody confused :(

p85ki

Hi,

I am struggling with debt, I have £1300 on a credit card which interest begins at the end of this month and £3500 on another credit card which runs out in May or June (just checking with the card company) before interest goes onto that one as well. To make matter complicated, I got a littlewoods account that has £600 on it which ends in March.

I took out the 2 credit cards originally to clear my HSBC debt which I did but then stupidly spent money on which I deeply regret.

I want to clear all of my debt within 7 months but not sure what the best way around this is.

I have another Credit Card with 9 months interest free, I have not used it yet but was skeptical about using it, but I think the best way I can suggest was pay the £1300 onto my new Credit Card then close that old card down.

My Littlewoods, im debating about using the new card or clearing it on my next pay.

I really want to focus on that £3500 so I don't end up with a 23% interest rate on whatever is in there at the time.

All of this is making my head spin and for the past 2 weeks, I have been seeing flying numbers and noticedI am starting to forget things and becoming alot more stressed out and really can no longer see what i'm doing.

Any advice that can help me.

Thanks

camuk81

Ok pasqui,

Let's start with the basics first so;

Littlewoods £600 owed on 0% till march 2012
£1,300 owed on a card. Can you give an apr to clarify
£3,500 owed on a card. Is this currently on 0% apr to start from what I see May or June. Apr to be 23%?

New credit card unknown limit 0% til August September time, unknown limit.

Right have we covered it all?

Ok start with this, fill in the above info and then before we go any further how much have you got to pay minimum and what can you afford to pay back each month.

This way we can help you work out which is the best way to clear this debt

p85ki

Hi,

Yes Littlewoods 18th March 2012
£1,300 is an Amazon MasterCard which is 18% interest
£3,500 is M&S card at 23% interest
New Tesco card with a £2000 limit.

I can realistically afford £600 - £700 a month (leaving me with about £500-£550 a month). I might be able to put more in. Just want to get rid of it asap but trying to do this wisely.

Thank you

Hiddenidenity

PasquiC wrote: »

Hi,

Yes Littlewoods 18th March 2012
£1,300 is an Amazon MasterCard which is 18% interest
£3,500 is M&S card at 23% interest
New Tesco card with a £2000 limit.

I can realistically afford £600 - £700 a month (leaving me with about £500-£550 a month). I might be able to put more in. Just want to get rid of it asap but trying to do this wisely.

Thank you

Ok personally Id put Littlewoods and Amazon card onto your new Tesco card. So these are then 0% Then from now until it was clear 5 Monthsish at £700 a month Id clear the M & S Then clear the one thats 0% at £700 a month at 3 monthsish x

p85ki

Hiddenidenity wrote: »

Ok personally Id put Littlewoods and Amazon card onto your new Tesco card. So these are then 0% Then from now until it was clear 5 Monthsish at £700 a month Id clear the M & S Then clear the one thats 0% at £700 a month at 3 monthsish x

I was thinking that as well but what kept going spinning in my head was I haven't cleared any money from them 2 and all I have done was transffered it which is what makes me feel gutted.

I was thinking about doing 1300 on to the new card. Pay the Littlewoods bill off this month, close the account and then start doing the M&S card until its cleared, then pay 2 months on my new card to clear the £1300.

Im just trying to be tactical now as the more I see this, the more my life is actually on stop and it is affecting me.

I forgot to mention, the tesco balance transfer is 9 months interest free and 15 months interest free on purchases.

Is there anyway I can pay myself without doing a balance transfer?

Hiddenidenity

But surely you wont have the other card finished for when the interest starts if you use this months wage to pay littlewoods?

anh1904

It would help you budget far more effectively if you could post up a full SOA.
In doing so, you may get some good advice about other areas you could make savings and get yourself into a better position much more quickly.

p85ki

Im not sure what SOA means but I assume it means to do with my "blueprint" of paying this off?

Ok, so per month including my overdraft, I have £1500-£1700 (variable due to bonuses etc). £300 is my overdraft which I usually go into, but only by about £100-£150 per month).

My idea was:

£700 x 1month in January = Littlewoods cleared, close account.

£1300 balance transfer from Amazon to Tesco CC
Close the Amazon CC down.

Pay £100 a month on my Tesco card.
On the 8th month pay £600 - close my Tesco CC down

£700 x 5months starting from February = £3500 = M&S card cleared.
Close my M&S card down

Outside of this, I have bills in total of £125. It is managable, but just means I won't be able to go out as much, a bit of sacrifice.

Just thinking is this the best way to do it or is there a better way that can work?

Tixy

Hi

A SoA - is a statement of affairrs (basically a full monthly income & expenditure account showinghow much you have for debt repayments).

What you might find useful is the snowball calculator - http://www.whatsthecost.com/snowball.aspx

I wouldn't move littlewoods to tesco as someone suggested above as you can clear it before it starts charging interest so it will cost you more to transfer it when you take into account the balance transfer (also I'm not ever sure you could do a BT to littlewoods).

Your plan in the post above seems to assume you have over £700 to pay towards your debts in January - do you?

My advice would be to do the transfer from amazon to tesco.

I would fill in a snowball calculator assuming you do a transfer to tesco (don't forget to add the transfer fee onto the balance). It will show you the best order to pay off your debts and pay the least interest - I think you should have them clear by approx October if you pay £650 a month.

p85ki

My aim is to clear all of this by June/July - I am going on holiday with my fiancee and wanted to say that this holiday was to celebrate me no longer in debt so I will do pretty much anything and everything to clear myself now. It also means I can go and get a better job, at the moment, this debt is the reason that is putting my life on a stand still which is the most frustrating part.

I have £700 per month to pay off starting from January and won't have any issues doing this. I think the best option would be to clear the littlewoods as I agree with you Tixy, whilst there is no interest, I can clear it with no issues. Transfer Amazon to Tesco and then clear the M&S.

I will do the snowball to see if they follow this pattern as well. Looking forward to that "Feel Free feeling" because I can certainly feel the pressure. I am soo forgetful these days and always in a panic, like a moph going for the light!

MusicalLawyer

Could you not split Littlewoods in to 2 payments over 2 months. So £350 in Jan and £350 in Feb.
That means you can then pay off £350 per month on other debts to start getting them down, seeing as they're still on 0% too?