Loan to clear credit cards approved!

Legacy_user

Hey everyone!
Just thought I would share my story. I have had a bit of credit card debt for a while now, total of about 8k spread over two cards.

Barclaycard Simplicity (7.9% APR) - £2,500 Balance - £7,00 Limit
Amazon MBNA (Currently on 0% for part balance until Jan, 17.9% for some of the others) - £5,383 balance, £5,600 limit.

As its so high, i couldnt really do a 0% that would make it worth it when taking into account the fees, so decided a personal loan would help. I applied via first direct, been a customer for years, and got instantly accepted. 9k.

Total monthly was £263 over 3 years.

Paid off the cards, and closed them. Feel better now! Did some sums, and providing i could get approved with enough to do a balance transfer to clear the debt, or several cards, I would realistically only pay back the minimum and getting fed up with having all this debt so thought.... time to clear once and for all!

It is my fault for managing it badly in the first place, and the loan APR is 5.1%, which is better than the low rate card and from my calculations, realistically it is the best fee for the 3 years to clear out the debt.

From now on, sticking with one card, one debit card and thats it. Managing the monthlies so I pay off full amount every month. Think I have grown up quite a bit financially in the last year or so, and have to start looking at these things. Most of the debt was student based (Even though I graduated over 5 years ago!) but I kept thinking, oh well minimum payments for a bit, sort it out later.

People are probably going to say I could of saved doing this, or this is a better idea but I feel that this is the best option for me to clear all this out and start a-fresh!

Tixy

Did you need the additional £1.1k on to of your existing borrowing?
If not maybe you could repay that immediately to the loan, which will reduce the interest you pay overall.

Good idea to keep a card open and repay in full each month.

System

Yeah unfortunately I did as the overdraft. Would of been short

Eyes_wide_open

I got a consolidation loan to pay my debts off too. I know not everyone agrees with doing it that way. I have paid my credit cards off and cancelled all bar one and got rid of the overdraft facility.

I am also paying off the loan quicker and I am totally committed being debt free.

So although some may see it as an easy way out and therefore not learn from it. I see it as the best way for me. I will be debt free.

Good luck ... Just make sure those cc don't tempt you again xx

A