Should I use a credit card to pay off overdrafts?

ILoveAFreebie

Hi,
Me and my OH are sinking in credit card debt and after a very stressful and upsetting week we're finally decided to contact CCCS and make changes. My OH is on quite a low basic salary with commission. We stupidly got used to having the commission over the last couple of years and we didn't stop our bad spending habits so the credit card debt didn't change but we could pay all the bills. However, over the last 6 months he hasn't had any commission so to start with we used up our savings to pay the bills, then we used overdrafts, then we started to use credit cards (taking out cash), and now we're in a bad situation.
As of today our credit rating is still good as we have paid everyone and never missed payments etc, but obviously this is all about to change and we're very nervous about how the bank/creditors will react.
We have 2 overdrafts with Barclays equalling £3000 and we have huge credit card debt (I'm too embarrassed to say), one of which is a Barclaycard which is at the limit.
I can't help but wonder if we should use another credit cards to pay off the overdrafts before we start down this journey so that we don't have the additional stress from barclays regarding paying back the overdraft, plus the monthly interest charges on the overdraft.
I can see that this might seem stupid as the debt is the same whether it's an overdraft or credit card but I'm just thinking about having the least stress as we take the next steps.
Has anyone else done this or is it a stupid idea?

Standingtall

Hi Iloveafreebie. I can see where you are coming from but would strongly suggest you do not go down this route. The credit card companies would no doubt take umbrage at such large spends prior to your entering the DMP and may be awkward about accepting your payment offers.

Boris_Allen

Don't be too embarassed about the size of the existing Bsarclay's CC debt, everyone is here to help.

Incidentally, why did you have money going into savings when you had CC debts which you were paying interest on at the same time?

If you can find a cc with apr less than your overdrafts (i.e a 12 month 0% deal) then definitely use it to pay off the overdrafts. On a similar note, see if you can balance transfer your existing cc on a 0% transfer deal to a lesser apr card.

Finally, it sounds like you'd benefit from stable income so you know where you stand. I'd recommend your oh finds another job with stable regular wages. Also, are you both working and if so how many hours do you have to spare? Getting a part time job on top of your normal hours may be a good idea until you are clear.

camuk81

Freebie, You need to stay within the limit to ensure you don't get any more charges however I would be tempted to say have you done a statement of affairs to work out where you are?

Put in what you are currently getting as it sounds like you have used what you might get as a basis however things are not that peachy at the moment.

ILoveAFreebie

Thank you for your replies.
@Standingtall - I can see your point here, I don't want to borrow £3K one month to offer £1 the next! Don't think that'll go down well.
@BorisAllen - I understand where you're coming from but we felt we needed to put some of the extra commission into savings for the months that we were short to pay bills, which worked for a while. My OH is going to ask for a rise in his basic pay which will result in a lower threshold on his commission and if that fails he is going to look elsewhere. I've still got a young son at home and one at school but I am considering becoming a child minder to earn money but that's in the early stages.
@camuk81 - I was up at 5am this morning doing a statement of affairs and things certainly aren't peachy.

DVardysShadow

If you are in the early stages of going for a DMP, I suggest that you quietly open a new current account witha bank to whom you owe noting. And you solemnly promise yourselves never to let this account go overdrawn. A basic account is good enough. Once it is set up, transfer your DDs and all salary to the new account. Make sure that the salary goes to the new account before you let Barclay's know about a DMP, otherwise they may seize the money and freeze the account.

This will leave you owing Barclays and paying interest but hopefully not paying charges. The Barclays overdraft can go into the DMP.