£5500 in debt - best option?

Kiitos

Quite a few months ago, I found out that my mum had found herself in £5500 worth of debt with Lloyds TSB.. I am pretty angry with them as it seems that they have been charging her £60/£80 of interest each month, so if she only pays the minimum repayment (which is once in a while) of just over £100, then every now and then, it seems she is wasting more on interest than paying off the actual debt.

I am trying my best to help her, so is anyone able to just confirm that I am doing the right thing?

Today, I had her send off for a Sky Card which has "0% interest on balance transfers" until next June - is this allright? I chose it over Capital One because their deal only lasts until May 2008.. So if she is accepted, I plan to
transfer the debt and prevent her from using it..

But then, should I also get her to get another credit card for when she needs some extra money for christmas/birthdays?

I have looked around the rest of the website, and it seems that she gets the right amount of benefits, is on the cheapest electricity/gas supplier and I am also going to send off to her banks to find out if they owe her anything from unlawful charges - Is there anything else I could do?

Thanks.

inmypocketnottheirs

Kiitos wrote: »

But then, should I also get her to get another credit card for when she needs some extra money for christmas/birthdays?

What is the point?

You are definatley doing the right thing to get her on to an interest free card. Then to batter the payments to get the balance paid off ASAP.

But providing another form of credit to someone who has limited income (and will always have an excuse to use the 'emergency' card) will only result in another debt being accrued.

Sorry if I am being harsh, but obviously you are trying to help your mum here and I do not think another card will help. If she can't afford whatever she needs now (birthday/christmas) and has to oout it on a credit card, when will she have the money to pay it off?

CLAPTON

I'm afraid inmypocketsetc is exactly right.
Your mother needs to learn to actually save money before spending it and cant afford credit... thats how she got in this mess in the first place.
If she can get a 0% card then great but simply treat it as a debt and she mustn't use CCs for spending at all.
Think how much better off she would be now if she hadn't used that CC in the first place.

inmypocketnottheirs

CLAPTON wrote: »

Think how much better off she would be now if she hadn't used that CC in the first place.

About five grand I would guess!!

exporttrainer

If you do transfer to a 0% card do NOT use Barclaycard. Not only do they not pay off the old one when instructed, they cannot tell you on the phone if or when they will do it, and then they do not even answer letters! Thanks to them my wife now has an adverse report with credit reference agencies. We are about to report them to the Ombudsman.

Mike - exporttrainer

G'Meister

I've just been trying to call Sky Card - I've just been accepted but haven't received my card yet. Anyway I just get "number not recognized", any ideas? :S

inmypocketnottheirs

Gnomemeister wrote: »

I've just been trying to call Sky Card - I've just been accepted but haven't received my card yet. Anyway I just get "number not recognized", any ideas? :S

What number are you calling?