Confussed about balance tranfer

kizzie_nikita

I'm writing on behalf of my dad who's sadly got himself into debt and can't find a way out.

His current card is Natwest gold account, his overdraft is £5,000.

He gets charged £72 interest each month.

I'm trying to gain some knowledge of balance transfers and what they can and can't do.

I can find a 0% interest balance transfer card, but can he use that 100% of the time to pay the bills etc.

I was thinking that he needs to put his £5,000 overdtaft on to a 0% card that way each year he would be saving £864 of which he could use to clear some of the debt.

The problem is, currently which i know he (and my mum) need to sort is that they are using more (not by much) money than they are earning.

So i'm wondering if there's a way that's cost effective and will still save him money for him to transfer his overdraft and use the said card if needed (will be) to buy food/pay bills the usually things each month or can a balance transfer not do this?

I've only just started looking in to it, and i have no idea where to start.

If anyone could help, point me on the right track i'd be so greatfull.

redpete

look through the Cards and Loans section of this site for information about 0% balance transfer and purchase cards.

You'll need a "super balance transfer" card to be able to transfer money into the bank account as a credit against the overdraft.

You need a card with 0% on purchases to use for everyday spending.

Note that he will have to make minimum payments each month against these cards.

A more serious problem is that given his current situation he might well find it very difficult to get a new card that offers a credit limit large enough to be of any use.

More effective might be to go to the Debt Free Wannabe board to get advice on how to cur down on spending. Borrowing more is rarely a nything but a short-term fix - especially if as you say they are spending mor than they have coming in; this needs the more urgent action.

kizzie_nikita

The main thing he needs to do at the moment is to get rid of the £72 a month interest hes being charged, as he can use that as a minimum payment against the cards.

As a year this would be over £800 alone, without cutting down on spending, although, i will talk to him about that aswell.

He didn't get into this trouble from overspending, he was in an accident and had to have a year off work with little pay and then he got made redundant 3 times, in the jobs he had next.

Thanks for clarifying that he needs a card with 0% on purchases, i will try and look for one of them to get him started.