Credit Card rate

smallzoo

I am in a bit of a catch22 situation. Due to a business failure ( long story but suffice to say i went into business with someone who ran off ..) My wife and I borrowed heavily on credit cards over an 18month period. I am self employed now and doing ok but we have around £25k on 4 credit cards.

3 of these are either very low rate or zero interest but one Santander is 22.5%. I approached them and asked if they could do anything for me but they said there was nothing they could do

Am I being naive to think that they should really help me as even though I am paying interest surely its in their interest it is paid off

According to creditexpert ( i'm a member ) my score is fair to good but I'm not sure that means anything

We wish we knew someone who could help us get the best deals , we have three kids and both my wife and I work all the hours we can to get ourselves back on track again

Thanks for any advice offered

Tixy

Unfortunately not much reason for them to reduce the APR, sometimes lenders wil drop a % of 2 but not that often.

And they may reduce the rate for 6 months or freeze interest if you cannot afford to pay even the minimum payments, but that will have a big negative impact on your credit file.

Are the other 3 cards maxed out? Any room to move some of the santander debt to those cards?

Are you focusing any payments you make over the minimum to this card?

Have both of you tried and been declined for new 0% balance transfer deals?

grumbler

smallzoo wrote: »

...
We wish we knew someone who could help us get the best deals ...

You don't need anyone for this. The best deals are well known:

• Life of Balance

• 0% Balance Transfers

• Purchase

The problem is that with £25K debt you are likely to face difficulties with getting more credit.

Any of the above can help you and 0% cards are probably the most tempting, but I think it's wiser to try getting some card with a low life of balance rate.

smallzoo

Thanks for all the advice..but is there a 'real' way of checking whether you will be accepted for a low rate card 'without' leaving a footprint on your credit record especially if refused ?

grumbler

smallzoo wrote: »

Thanks for all the advice..but is there a 'real' way of checking whether you will be accepted for a low rate card 'without' leaving a footprint on your credit record

Try

• Tool: MSE pre-apply eligibility checker

especially if refused ?

It's just a search record that is the same if you are accepted or refused.