Best option to combine two cards

apollo11_2

Hi guys,

I was wondering if anybody can offer me some advice.

I have two credit cards at the moment - A HSBC card at 23.9% with about £2200 on it, and a Barclaycard Platinum at 21.9% with about £4,700 on it. Total monthly minimum repayments currently at about £260.

The Barclaycard was originally taken out as a 0% balance transfer.

I've been looking at various options to reduce the monthly interst charges and get more payed off these cards. Ideally I'd like to consolidate onto a 0% balance transfer deal but this seems unlikely.

I tried recently for the Halifax 0% offer but was rejected (probably too optimistic!). I'm now paranoid about applying for other cards in case they also reject me and my credit rating goes seriously downhill.

My current credit rating appears 'good' according to experian but when I searched using moneysupermaket the other day all the suggested options (for which they thought I'd be accepted) had higher APR than I'm currently paying (34% ish).

Basically I just wanted to know if you think I'm currently on a good deal and should stick and just accept the payments or if you think there are better options out there?

Any advice would be really appreciated.

Cheers,
Mark

stephane_2

You are not on a good deal at all, paying over 22% in interest is a big pill to swallow especially that most of the £260 payment will be interest and unless you can afford to pay more each month you won't make a lot of progress reducing the debt. If you are not able to get a 0% deal is probably due to your level of debt/income ratio.

stephane_2

What is your annual income? Do you have any other debt?

apollo11_2

Hi Stephane,

My annual income (salary) is a fraction over £30k. I have an overdraft facility of £1.5k which I'm currently using a lot of regularly but apart from that no other debt. Just successfully paid off a professional studies loan for £10k which I had for 7 years. No late payments on that.

Would be great if there were better options for me.

Cheers,
Matt

stephane_2

A potential lender would see that you are dipping ino your overdraft on a regular basis which my play against you. Otherwise your level of debt is relatively low compare to income. Does not mean that if Halifax said no another would do the same. Might be your interest to try with a different lender but if you get another refusal then I would wait a few months before applying again. You should also consider reducing your overdraft as much as you can.