Reducing CC interest charges.

grannieannie_2

Wasn't sure if this one would work, but it seems to have done. OH and I have 3 credit cards between us, and over the past 4 years, we ended up with a balance of just over £4,000. As I'm only working part time at the moment, I'm trying to reduce our outgoings.

Anyway, we keep getting these cheques from the CC companies, plus 0% BT's, We have Capital One, Halifax and Barclaycard. So I had a work out, and as the BC cheques had run out of time, I transferred his Halifax balance to his B/Card at a rate of 6.9%, then 2 weeks later, paid off his B/Card and my Capital One card with the Halifax cheques at a rate of 5.9% for the lifetime of the balance.

We've just had the Halifax statement in, and the interest is approx £21, whereas before, on the 3 cards the interest was approximately £72 a month, thus saving us £50 a month in interest charges! OK, to get the cheaper rate, we had to pay fees on the cheques, but that is outweighed by the savings!

What frightened me was, using Martin's calculations, I worked out that if we kept the 3 cards and didn't use them anymore and only paid the minimum payments of £80, it would take us 19 years to pay it off, but if we stick to the £140 we were paying anyway, it'll only take 3 years and will save us £850 in interest charges

I've told OH not to use his credit card for petrol and stuff anymore, when we go to get the shopping, I'll get £20 cash back, or he pays with his debit card. And when he needs to do something big on the car like tax or servicing etc, he can use a cheque at 5.9% rather than the CC at 23.9%

Now to think of my next moneysaving idea!!!