Best way to consolidate with rubbish credit rating?

norserose

I'm doing a bit of research on behalf of my sister who has managed to get herself in a bit of financial bother. (Obviously runs in the family!)

Basically she owes about £3.4k on credit cards; the interest free period has expired and they're hitting her with massive interest payments now. She's tried to move them to other interest free cards but no one will give her another one and she's having trouble getting a loan as well.

She wants to consolidate so she's only making the one payment instead of 3 or 4 but she doesn't know how to do it. Who offers the most reputable consolidation plan without charging silly interest?

Any advice gratefully received - it's really doing her head in.

Thanks.

SunderlandBlackCat

You won't find many (if any) fans of consolidation on here.

Is she dealing with the cause of running up £3.4k without the ability to pay it back before the interest free period ends? If not, consolidation will most likely only lead to more debt as most of us have found out.

One option that might work is a low life of balance card such as &More which charges 4.9% for the life of any balance transferred within the first 6 months & doesn't charge a balance transfer fee so can often be cheaper than a 0% which charges a transfer fee of 2-3%.

If she can't get a decent life of balance deal though I'd suggest she starts snowballing http://www.whatsthecost.co.uk/snowball.aspx this will show her how much to pay each month to each card to minimise the amount of interest she'll end up paying.

If you can, persuade her to sign up for the site & post an SOA & we'll see what we can do to help her maximise the amount of disposable income to clear the debts down.

norserose

Cheers for that. She swears she's never going to spend money recklessly again so I think it's sorted from that perspective; it's really getting her down and I doubt she'll get herself in this situation again. I think she's struggling to find anyone else who'll give her a credit card full stop, let alone one who will offer her the £4k she needs.

I've not heard of snowballing but I looked at the link and it looks good. I've told her what you've told me and I'll see if I can get her to come on here herself.

Thanks again for the info! x

Broken_hearted

Once she gets the hang of it the debts will clear faster than she thinks. It might feel a lot to start with good luck.

bandraoi

Has she tried ringing them and saying she's thinking about moving cards/asking for a reduction in the interest rate?

Has she been fairly good about making minimum payments on all the cards for some time?
It may be worth ringing the lowest rated card and asking if they can increase her limit and see if they will offer her a balance transfer deal.

llydaw

best of luck with your sisters debt.
I've got a similar problem with my brother. Owes £20k mainly cards but a couple of loans also. Cards are around 16.9% but no one will give him a 0% balance transfer and he can't seem to get a loan for such a large amount.
Any suggestions for the best way forward anyone?