Please help, 6 credit cards, almost £7,000 debt!!

Jo4

I received an email about Barclaycards 0% on balance transfers for 14 months subject to a 2.5% handling fee. My friends have 6 credit cards,

Capital One, 5.9% lob, £629.14
Citi Card 5.9% lob, £1,225.50
Barclaycard 5.9% lob, £1,193.43
Barclaycard 5.9% lob, £1,408.85
Barclaycard 5.9% lob, £1500.60
American Express 2.9% lob, £1,029.89

Should they consider applying for Barclaycards 0% card? By the way they can afford to pay £230 a month.

Also, they currently use an MBNA credit card to pay for their grocery/fuel.... purchases which gives them points which can be used for hotel stays in the Holiday Inn which they use as part payment for their holidays. Should they continue to use this card or is there a better one for them? By the way they get 1 point for each £ spent and they need 10,000 points for 1 night stay in a hotel.

Bokkens

Are we talking about your friend or yourself,as you stated you recieved a Barclaycard e-mail.
Anyway if you can only afford £250 per month I would concentrate paying off the debts that you have nearly all of which you have are at 5.9% the lowest amount is the capital one at £629.14 I would pay as much as you can to this card and then close it and then the next 5.9% card with the highest amount and then the next two at 5.9% and lastly the American Express card.If you don't incur any other debt it will still take you two and a quarter years to pay it off so get stuck in for six months then consider card tarting to 0% once you can see that you getting your debt under control.
Good luck.

callmybill

I suggest that your friends forget about points/freebies and start to pay off the debt.
All the APR's quoted indicate that the cards are the best on the market, stick with them, these deals won't be repeated.
:beer:

Jo4

Bokkens wrote: »

Are we talking about your friend or yourself,as you stated you recieved a Barclaycard e-mail.
Anyway if you can only afford £250 per month I would concentrate paying off the debts that you have nearly all of which you have are at 5.9% the lowest amount is the capital one at £629.14 I would pay as much as you can to this card and then close it and then the next 5.9% card with the highest amount and then the next two at 5.9% and lastly the American Express card.If you don't incur any other debt it will still take you two and a quarter years to pay it off so get stuck in for six months then consider card tarting to 0% once you can see that you getting your debt under control.
Good luck.

We are talking about my friends, see my signature, as I am trying to help them get out of their current situation. Although I received the email if people on here thought it was a good idea I would say to them about it.

They can afford £230 a month. I have advised them to pay Capital One first and so on until American Express is the only one left.

THANKS for your help!

Jo4

callmybill wrote: »

I suggest that your friends forget about points/freebies and start to pay off the debt.
All the APR's quoted indicate that the cards are the best on the market, stick with them, these deals won't be repeated.
:beer:

The points/freebies are for every day things as previously described, groceries, fuel etc.

Jo4

Has anyone else got a view on this matter?

thumshie

So to earn a free night they need to spend £10,000. With a 1% CB card you would have got £100. How much is the average night stay at holiday inn?

Me personally, I'd go for a cash back card. i can use the 'awards' on anything i like without being restricted to one thing/hotel chain. ALSO in your friends position the cashback could be used to repay their debts!!

sicker

According to your post your friend already has a Barclaycard, doubt very much if friend will be considered for another!

Jo4

sicker wrote: »

According to your post your friend already has a Barclaycard, doubt very much if friend will be considered for another!

Barclaycard keeps sending them loan and credit card applications.

Jo4

thumshie wrote: »

So to earn a free night they need to spend £10,000. With a 1% CB card you would have got £100. How much is the average night stay at holiday inn?

Me personally, I'd go for a cash back card. i can use the 'awards' on anything i like without being restricted to one thing/hotel chain. ALSO in your friends position the cashback could be used to repay their debts!!

It varies from £49 +. I thought about them having a cashback card but I never thought about how they could put the cashback into debt repayments , that's a great idea!! :j

I knew if I asked for more help some bright spark would come along and help. THANKS! :T :A

Jo4

Any ideas which cashback card would be best for them?