Beating the debt

NottsStag

Hi Guys,

First post so be gentle, avid reader of the boards though!!

Anyway today I have been accepted for a Barclaycard Platinum with 0% Balance Transfers. They have set a 9800 limit on this card which I intend to decrease as it frankly scares me!!

I have always had airmiles duo with Lloyds and currently have 3500 on a 4k limit. This is what I will be transferring to the barclaycard, I do not intend to spend on this card just set up monthly payment of £150 per month, there fore after 22 months all going to plan will be alot less!!

Just a couple of queries if you may be able to help, would you shut down the airmiles duo or decrease limit to say £500 and use purely for my petrol expenses which I get monthly 45p per mile :j

Sorry to go on but I also have a £3000 overdraft, when applying for the new card I only intended to balance tranfer my card, thus needing a limit of circa 4k, obviously with them ghranting the £9800 limit, a) would you be able to put overdraft on to Credit Card, b) would you recommend this or is it a no goer and daft idea??

I will admit that in the past I have been poor with money, I have unfortunatley gotten myself in to debt through poor choices, living a life I couldnt afford and sadly some gambling. This is now all in the open with the support of my better half and am now just looking forward to thhe future!!

I had intended to consolidate all my debts in to a loan but unsure if this is a good idea, I looked at Zopa and would be paying £250 per month for £11,600 over 5 years. This would pay off my bank loan of £4k (car purchase). With the extra card limit I doubt this would be granted now.

Abit about me, I am 24, homeowner, and earn £35k per year as a basic. Looking forward to beating this debt and have set a realistic target of 3 years to be debt free (currently circa £12k in debt).

One big worry I always have is my credit score - with barclaycard approving my application and setting a 9k credit limit would you say my score is above average?? I would look but dont want multiple checks.

Apologies for the long, random post and thanks for peoples in put both previously and am sure in time to come :T

bargainbetty

Perhaps you could keep the card open with the reduced balance as you suggest, but with a slight change in plan.

As you receive your expenses (I'm guessing it doesn't cost you 45p per mile) use the money to pay off the petrol card and then pay any excess straight off your new 0% card too - you won't miss what you didn't have.

Alternatively, use it to reduce your overdraft - call your bank and do it by a hundred per month.... you are allowed to ask for that.

Good luck

alex102

I got one of these cards (BC Platinum) today too- only had a 6300 limit on mine, so you've (arguably) better credit than me!

jamesd

Does the card offer 0% for purchases for a long time as well? If yes, pay off the overdraft by doing all normal spending on the card. Otherwise you can balance transfer more the Lloyds card and use that for all normal spending instead.

It seems that you have fairly good credit so you might try applying for a 0% for purchases card and using that for normal spending. You might be able to do things like paying your council tax in advance on the card then having the lack of the regular payments to the council gradually reduce the overdraft. The Barclaycard probably won't show its credit limit on your credit report yet.

As you spend on the cards put the same amount of money into a paper savings account and check that your overdraft reduces by that amount so you don't end up spending more than you have.