Should I Shuffle?

Gems82

I currently have 3 credit cards – with HSBC, Barclaycard, and M&S. A couple of years ago I had issues with paying my credit card bills and often defaulted. It didn’t get as far as CCJ’s or anything, but due to this my credit rating is not great, and for a long time all I was able to do was make the minimum payments. In the last year or so I became a little better off financially, so looked at my credit card debt and started to pay only the minimums on my cheaper cards and throw everything else that I can at the expensive one. Out of my three cards, the HSBC card is the most expensive one. This card was actually cancelled when I had issues with payment, so I can’t use it, I just have to pay off the debt.

I recently had a letter from Barclaycard informing me that on 1st March 2014 they are going to increase my credit limit. My first thought was “Noooooo!” as I felt they’re just encouraging me to get into more debt. However, I then realised that the increase would be enough to cover the remaining debt on my most expensive card, the HSBC one. If Barclaycard will allow me, I could transfer the HSBC debt to them and save myself some money. Of course, I would want to continue to throw as much money as I can at the more expensive card of the two that are left, so my repayments wouldn’t be much cheaper than what I’m paying at the moment, but it would still mean that I could repay the total debt quicker and save money in the long term.

So I guess my question is, am I right about all this or, in my excitement at the possibility of being debt free a little earlier than expected, have I overlooked something crucial?

Thanks everyone.

Tixy

Sounds good.

Obviously factor in the balance transfer fee and how much less the APR is with barclaycard to make sure it will be cheaper overall, but in principal it sounds like a good idea.

Gems82

Many thanks!