Paying Of Credit Cards, Help Please

Malibu_Girl

Hi there, hoping for some advice please

My husband and I have three credit cards between us:-

Joint - MBNA Mastercard - £6,000
Husbands - Visa Gold Card - £2,000
Mine - Barclaycard Platinum - £1,800

We currently pay around £320 per month in total for these cards, but in the New Year, we would like to either consolidate them all onto one card or get a loan to pay all three off in one go (after which time two will be cut up and one kept just for emergencies).

Could I get some advice on what would be the best option, consolidate or loan? The best rate for 0% interest on cards always seems to be cards affiliated with the ones we already have so we would not get them on the best rate which is why we are considering the loan option.

We have a joint mortgage, both have secure full time jobs (around £55k a year joint) and only one other small loan that is finishing next year. We have good credit rating with no defaults or black marks on our rating. We cannot afford at the moment to pay much more than we are paying for all three cards, however, in just less than two years time a large chunk of our outgoings will cease and we will be around £400 a month better off.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thank you

grumbler

Malibu_Girl wrote: »

Hi there, hoping for some advice please

My husband and I have three credit cards between us:-

Joint - MBNA Mastercard - £6,000
Husbands - Visa Gold Card - £2,000
Mine - Barclaycard Platinum - £1,800

A CC can't be joint. It's either yours or your husband's - with a second cardholder.
Also, "Visa Gold Card" is meaningless as you failed to name the provider.

We currently pay around £320 per month in total for these cards, but in the New Year, we would like to either consolidate them all onto one card or get a loan to pay all three off in one go (after which time two will be cut up and one kept just for emergencies).

'Consolidation' by itself generally doesn't solve any problems and doesn't help unless the new APR is lower than old APRs. However, it can cost you (BT fees) if it's a new card.

Could I get some advice on what would be the best option, consolidate or loan?

A 0% credit card or a 'life of balance' low rate credit card:

• Balance Transfer Credit Cards

Failing that, a loan if it's cheap enough to beat the existing APRs.

• Cheap Loans

The best rate for 0% interest on cards always seems to be cards affiliated with the ones we already have so we would not get them on the best rate which is why we are considering the loan option.

Barclaycard often have BT offers for existing customers that you can take advantage of if you stop thinking about 'consolidation'.
Similarly, you can transfer from Barclaycard to new MBNA card and from an old MBNA to a new Barclaycard.

If it's a new card that offers money transfers, then it can be used to transfer the balances from any old cards, even the same provider's.

Malibu_Girl

Hi

Thank you so much for your information reply and apologies for the delay in responding, I have been without phone or internet since before Christmas due to a BT fault

Sorry, my clarification was rubbish, the MBNA mastercard we both have one of, the Visa card (which is HSBC) only my husband has and the Barclaycard Platinum only I have.

Thanks so much for the links for BTs and loans, now I have internet access again I will sit down and go through these and see which appears to be the best option for us.

Many thanks again