How to solve temporary 'cashflow' usind CC?

purplepaws

*using*

Hello,
I hope that there are some Forum Folk that can advise me on this problem.
(It sounds complicated in my head, so I'll try to write down what I need to achieve, see if anyone can advise?)

I have a small monthly fixed income. I find that by week 3 I'm running out of cash and have to borrow to make it to the end of the month.
My main expenses are food & diesel.
(I have already paired down all my outgoings to the bare minimum and shop for grocery bargains etc, etc - basically I now have nowhere to go in terms of making savings anywhere else.)
I have a Capital One credit card, which is pretty much maxed out, which I pay off the minimum amount monthly (yes, I know that is rubbish but I have no free cash to pay off more.)
So I was wondering, could I kill two birds with one stone?
If I pay the amount I would spend on diesel and the minimum amount direct to Capital One, then put my diesel spend on the CC over the course of the month, am I going to be any better off, in terms of my credit rating with Capital One (as I am paying more off each month than before) and using my CC regularly, but actually just using the same amount of money in a different way?
Helpful comments/suggestions gratefully received.
Payday is 1st month, so I have a couple of days before I need to implement my plan!
Thanks in advance.

missile

Your plan would have no affect on credit rating.

If you pay as much as you can to reduce the balance and then use the card for ALL your expenditure you will pay less interest next month. My Capital 1 card pays 1% back on all my purchases.

Your objective should be to get to the point where you can pay the balance back in full each month. If you cannot reduce your expenditure, what about a part time job? You might be able to get a loan at a lower rate of interest to clear the balance on your card.

purplepaws

Thanks for your reply, missile.
I'll probably stuff as much as possible on the CC then, BUT, I do tend to do the majority of my food shop at Lidl and they don't take CC's, so I'll have to put some cash to one side.

missile

:wave:Good luck

camuk81

Purple, it sounds like you are near a tipping point have you tried a statment of affairs and a spending diary. I can see the sense in the plan as I have done it in the past however it requires careful managing the advantage is it will reduce your intrest

But if they did a review and reduced your limit it would cause a huge problem