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No idea what to do?

blackangeluk
Posts: 837 Forumite

Firstly, I had transferred a balance from my Halifax card to pay off my Natwest which had £1147 owing on it. Rang Halifax today and they cannot transfer the balance as it is a Natwest Mastercard and not a Visa?
So I still have £1147 on Natwest at some stupid interest rate of about 17.9%.
Secondly, my 0% rate is up on Halifax as of this month - I thought it was Sept - I have spoken to them today and they have agreed to put me on a lifetime balance of 9.9% which is the best they can offer me. Ideally I would like to transfer this balance but I applied for a 0% Capital One card and was knocked back a week or so ago, so I was hoping to leave it until about Sept and apply for a 0% egg card and transfer the balance there.
How do I pay this £1147 off the Natwest if I cannot balance transfer it? I have thought about transferring £1147 to the Barclaycard then to the Natwest card, if they let me do it - if not I'm stuck with that amount on the card

I have a card with the A&L which has a monthly APR of 1.4% and about £1100 on it, I had wanted to pay this off first due to the interest rate but now I'm not sure where to start and with what card?
I have also just been into the Natwest and shut down all the current accounts we used to have with them, paid any interest due and shut the children's savings accounts down as well. There was £100 in savings between them and I have withdrawn that.
I have about £460 extra this month which I am not going to touch unless there is a dire emergencies and then this can go towards my debt - would it be awful of me to use the £100 of the children's savings to put towards the debt money so that I will have £560 to pay off a card? I feel guilty but then wonder if I can afford savings with so much debt - the kids are only 2 and 6 and won't know but I will and feel bad about it

Any advice anyone out there, I'm sure this will all come out jumbled up but I am now seriously confused about what to do next
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RE: Borrowing the children's money - this was a dicussion topic in money saving polls a while back. Perhaps a read through that will help you decide that.The "Bloodlust" Clique - Morally equal to all. Member 1/Official 'Bring back Mark and Lard NOW! or else (please)' Member 18"We all pay for life with death, so everything in between should be free." Bill HicksTRUE BLOOD FANGIRLS #4Wouldn't You Like To Be A Plushroom Too?0
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Will the Halifax card allow you to transfer an overdraft? I'm wondering if you could get a very temporary one with your bank to pay off the Nat West card, then transfer the OD to the new one...
The A&L card is 16.8% apr at 1.4 per month, so I would throw any extra at Nat West first - could you BT any to the A&L one - I know it's not much cheaper apr but every penny helps!
As for using the children's savings - I would say yes, use it now to pay off the credit cards, and replace it once you're debt free and more financially secure.Total Debt 13th Sept 2006 (exc student loan): £6240.06 :eek:
O/D 1 [strike]£1250 [/strike]O/D 2 [strike]£100[/strike] Next a/c [strike]£313.55[/strike]@ 26.49% Mum [strike]£130[/strike] HSBC [strike]£4446.51[/strike]@15.75%[STRIKE]M&S £580.15@ 4.9%[/STRIKE]
Total Debt 30th April 2008: £0 100% paid off!
PROUD TO [STRIKE]BE DEALING [/STRIKE] HAVE DEALT WITH MY DEBT0 -
When looking at BT's I found that there is often a 1-3% charge made of the balance transferred, so your Barclays-back-to-Halifax wouldn't work.
Sorry not to be any help, but hang around here and wiser more experienced peeps will be along with suggestions0 -
Will the Halifax card allow you to transfer an overdraft? I'm wondering if you could get a very temporary one with your bank to pay off the Nat West card, then transfer the OD to the new one...
The A&L card is 16.8% apr at 1.4 per month, so I would throw any extra at Nat West first - could you BT any to the A&L one - I know it's not much cheaper apr but every penny helps!
As for using the children's savings - I would say yes, use it now to pay off the credit cards, and replace it once you're debt free and more financially secure.
Hi Storm, No Halifax won't let me transfer an overdraft so I'm stuck on that one :mad: If I use the childrens savingsthen I could pay about £560 off Natwest today which would reduce it substantially - :mad: but means I can't reduce A&L. Suppose this is all part of getting out of debt though.
Thanks for the replies though everyone0 -
My other thought is......to ask Barclays to increase their limit to the amount for the A&L card and then transfer this balance and hammer the Natwest Card - do you think this is worth a try? Barclays is 0% BT until December.0
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blackangeluk wrote: »My other thought is......to ask Barclays to increase their limit to the amount for the A&L card and then transfer this balance and hammer the Natwest Card - do you think this is worth a try? Barclays is 0% BT until December.
BUS student loan (2.48%): [STRIKE]$19,152.65[/STRIKE] $2700.19
Egg Money (£500 limit, 12.9%): paid off in full each month
Post Office Platinum (£3200 limit, 0% to Aug '10): £1544.70
Barclaycard Platinum (£2500 limit, 0% to Jan '11): £2106.25
Debt free by Oct 2012
DFW NERD #511 - PROUD TO BE DEALING WITH MY DEBT0 -
you have 500 quid there that you can use towards debt. that will halve your natwest card today.
I would be inclined to pay this off now and reduce the credit limit accordingly.
In a few weeks or so youll have a spate of "settleds" showing up on your account of the accounts you closed today in the natwest, and if you can reduce any credt limits elsewhere do that too.
I cant remember where the extra 400odd quid came from but if you have that sort of money monthly , id suggest its barely worth moving money around, as you will pay balance transfer fees which is of course dead money.:beer: Well aint funny how its the little things in life that mean the most? Not where you live, the car you drive or the price tag on your clothes.
Theres no dollar sign on piece of mind
This Ive come to know...
So if you agree have a drink with me, raise your glasses for a toast :beer:0 -
Thanks Lynz, I was just disappointed as I had managed to get down to 4 credit cards and hopefully get the 4th paid off soon! I will have to go to Natwest (again!) to pay the credit card off as for some reason it will not let me do it online but I suppose I will then only owe Natwest £647.
I have in fact asked to extend my 0% overdraft with A&L to cover this to see if I could pay this back, so we shall see....
Re settleds, does it look better on your credit history if you have settled and closed accounts? I have closed 3 Natwest Accounts today with nothing owing on them, Next and Littlewoods accounts are paid - should I settle these as well? I am hoping to get 0% in Sept for BT so I want to improve my credit rating as much as possible.
Unfortunately we do not regularly have the extra £400, it was surprise expenses paid by DH firm that we had forgotten about.
The annoying thing is I have a claim with the bank for £1400 for bank charges, which includes Court fee and interest. Part of me is tempted to ring Cobbetts up and ask for the original £923 plus the Court fee and settle for that, as that would settle the credit card and I would only have £600 owing on the other. Not sure if I can handle the stress of waiting for the Court process when I could do with reducing the debt now.0 -
Well, after getting majorly stressed at work over it all I have come home and been constructive:-
I rang Barclaycard up - I was actually paying 14.9% on approx £2k of purchased and 0% on anything transferred in December last year. They agreed to drop the purchase interest rate to 11.9%. They also agreed to increase my credit limit by an extra £1,550.00. Any balance transfers I now make are for a lifetime interest rate of 6.9% and no transfer fee :j
I then rang up Nasty Natwest - said that they had promised an offer letter was on its way out weeks and weeks ago, I spoke to a man in a Executive Office :eek: and he rang me back and said another offer letter was being posted to me today offering full settlement. He suggested I ring Cobbetts, their Solicitors and explain this to them.
Sooooo I rang Cobbetts, explained all of the above to them and they said as soon as I get the offer letter, ring them and ask to go through to the litigation department. They advised the offer letter will not include court fee and interest and that I should wait for the litigation dept to confirm that they will refund this before signing my offer letter. The lady said if I had been offered the full amount by the amount, it was highly likely that they would agree my Court fee and interest :rotfl:
So the upshot is - if Natwest letter comes through as promised and I get the Court fees and interest I will receive £1325.01.
I wanted to transfer balance the extra from my Barclaycard to Natwest but as they are part of the main group I can't do that, so I transferred my A&L balance from Barclaycard and that now stands at 0:j
I paid £490 off Natwest on my way home, so that will now stand at £691.29. If my money comes through from Natwest I will have £633.72 to pay off my highest interest paying card :j
So what was being a very bad and depressing day has turned out quite well - I could possibly have only 3 credit cards by the end of the month, albeit rather large sums, but all managed and cheap as possible.
Thanks for all the advice today0 -
Wow blackangel, what a rollercoaster of a day. It sounds as if all has ended positively - well done for staying on top of things and here's hoping that NatWest letter drops through your letterbox very soon.Total debt: 1 January 2007 £[strike]49,387.79[/strike] 1 January 2012 £[STRIKE]19,312.85[/STRIKE] 1 August 2012 £11,517.620
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