Credit Card Advice/Help Please

Jupiter100

Hi
I am new to this site, so sorry if I'm in the wrong area.


I currently have three credit cards as follows,


Virgin £8,100 debt
Tesco £3,900 debt
Barclay card - 8,050 debt


None of which are interest free. I have been paying the minimum for a long time but getting nowhere. I also have two bank loans which are slowly going down, thank goodness.
I have very little disposable income which is really getting me down, as all my wages are swallowed up on my debts.


I tried to consolidate the credit cards a few months ago by contacting Halifax who had an interest free card, but they declined me. Probably because of my existing debt. I have an excellent credit score (Experian), but I'm struggling.


Any advice would be so valuable and appreciated as the worry is starting to affect my health.


Thanks
Jo

jimmy*c

First piece of advice would be to post up a Statement of Affairs. You'll be surprised at what the members on here can pick out and save money on. Second heads up is that there's no such thing as a "credit score". It's sold to you by the company you're subscribing to, but means absolutely nothing to lenders. They have their own criteria when it comes to applicants.

Get the SOA up first so we can get a picture of what your outgoings are like. After that we can help. You'll need to let us know the APRs of each card as it will save money (in the long run) to pay off the highest interest card.

20aday

Assuming you are paying £14.99 a month to Experian for their credit services I'd go ahead and cancel that. £14 a month towards the card with the highest APR won't make noticeable reductions immediately but will help to bring the balance down.

You can obtain your Stat. Credit Reports from Experian, Equifax and CallCredit for £2 at any time.

andyfromotley

Hi Jupiter,

Like Jimmy said, fill this in

http://www.stoozing.com/calculator/soa.php

and post it here on the DFW thread. There you will find tons of helpful advice on how to reduce your outgoings and your debt.

Jupiter100

Hi
Thanks very much for the informative replies.


I did get an Experian credit rating for just the one off payment, but thanks for the advice. I got it to see if there was anything showing, that may have affected my credit score and prevented me from getting the interest free card, but it said rating excellent.


I have completed an incoming/outgoing check list in the past, but it is really only the three credit cards that are crippling me financially. Can you advise how I can get the debt onto an interest free set up, or do you need the full financial history first? What is the DFW thread??


Thanks
Jo

Cornucopia

DFW = Debt-free Wannabe

If you post there, people will come up with suggestions about helping with your problem.

There's no secret to Interest-free. You just need to find a 0% that will accept you. There's a list of Cards which are more likely to accept people with poorer credit...

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/credit-cards/bad-credit-credit-cards

Jupiter100

Hi
Thanks again for advice.
I am in process off filling the 'statement of affairs' form in, and will post when complete.


Kind regards
Jo