Advice on controlling CC debt

charo1978

First time poster so please be gentle. Just looking for some advice.

Due to various minor catastrophes in the last couple of months we are going to end up having to put some spends on our credit card to get us through the next couple of months.

We have a Virgin Credit Card and we will probably end up with 4K on it. The interest rate is 19.2%. Obviously we would like to transfer the balance to a 0% card but husband has only just started a new job and thinks we'll be refused on application.

Our credit rating is fine, but we are 'highly geared' - 2 mortgages, (one is a buy to let). We have another credit card with Natwest but we pay the balance off every month.

What are the chances of us being accepted for a new card and which one should we try for? Is it worth phoning MBNA and asking for a more favourable rate? If so what is the right way to approach them?

Thanks in advance.

forgotmyname

Phone and ask the worst case they say no. Apply for one interest free card. Dont apply for more if you fail.

Do you REALLY NEED to put £4000 on it?

The issue with credit cards and something i did not think about until mention by Martin Lewis on TV. Pay the minimum and your likely to be paying for 50+ years.
Pay the minimum and then add the interest on and you will have paid very little off the balance.

Keep the spending to a minimum on the card.

ermine

charo1978 wrote: »

First time poster so please be gentle. Just looking for some advice.

Due to various minor catastrophes in the last couple of months we are going to end up having to put some spends on our credit card to get us through the next couple of months.
.

Before you invest on a big scale (which is what a buy to let is) you must be debt-free and have an emergency fund. Otherwise this will keep on happening to you... You say yourself these are minor emergencies!

It's one of those tragedies that you only become capable of handling the volatility of investing when you have enough money - but the lure of the return draws people to it who don't have the financial resilience to take the volatility.

If you have to, pay your 19%, then when you have discharged it, build up an emergency fund so this doesn't happen again. If you can't or won't do that, then you aren't yet rich enough to invest on the scale of your ambition

I second forgot. Doesn't hurt to try one better card though - what's the worst that could happen? They turn you down and you pay 19.2% on your existing card. At least you've got some chance of a reduction.

longtermplanner

Were the 'minor catastrophes' really unexpected? For example you may not have planned to get new tyres in December, but you should have known the car would need them as some point, so you should have been saving up for when they were needed.

As ermine says, you shouldn't be BTL landlords if you don't have enough savings to repair the BTL's boiler / washing machine / guttering etc.

We can't guess whether you will get a 0% card - it's worth one application, but if it doesn't work, don't carry on making more. If you can't get a 0% then you need to try to overpay the credit cards by as much as possible, or the debt will still be with you in 20 or 30 years time. And improve your budgetting