Reduce Credit Card Debts

Clive_Austin

Hi all,

I currently have two Credit Cards one with Barclaycard at £3800 and one with Halifax at £800. I want to try and reduce the fees and debt but cannot seem to get any balance transfer cards so wanted to know what the best way to dela with these debts would be?

Any thoughts

Clive

PollyPrissypants

Hi Clive, we're in the same boat here too. Long story short, DH took out a high interest rate card as he had no credit history. He spent a bit too much and we swapped it to a 0% balance transfer card last year when he finally admitted the cost of the monthly payments. He then got a bit giddy with the 'freedom' of the lower monthly payments and spent again on the higher interest card...sigh. It's not all his fault though, I accepted the nice life it gave without really ever questioning where the money was coming from and I've also taken maternity leave twice in 3 years now so he's been covering daily expenses with his cards.
So, in my humble opinion the ONLY way to deal with your debts is a budget that leaves you with enough money each month to make significantly more than the minimum payment on each card - and pay it! Any other way leaves room to bury your head in the sand and risk ending up with more debts as you try to cover it with a loan or something similar.
DH and I are starting this month. I've listed all our regular bills and expenses and worked out where we can make cuts. I've swapped the gas, electric and broadband as well as cutting our food budget and giving our oldest son a set amount of 'pocket money' each week instead of just buying him whatever he likes when he likes (added benefit of not spoiling him!). It's not easy but I bet you could find things to cut down on if you sat down and made a budget.
I'm hoping someone with more experience can chime in here now though and offer some good tips! Good luck x

jonesMUFCforever

There is no easy solution - moving to other cards only works if you are committed to paying more and spending less.

Have a look at the debt free board for advice about snowballing your debts.

grumbler

Clive_Austin wrote: »

...I want to try and reduce the fees and debt but cannot seem to get any balance transfer cards...

You can't reduce the debt by transferring the balances. In fact, by doing this you increase the debt because of the BT fees.

The only way to reduce the debt is to pay more towards it. Cutting the interest you pay by transferring balances is one, but not the only way of doing this. A cheaper loan can be another way of reducing the cost of the debt.

If you can't reduce the cost, then the only other way to "deal" with debts is to spend less, earn more and use all the extra money to pay the debt off.

For cutting spending post your SOA on the Debt-Free Wannabe board: DFW Newbies: Where to start, Challenges, SOAs, Nerds & Debt Free Roll of Honour!

andyfromotley

Hi clive,

as stated above its plan b for you now, reduce your outings to the absolute minimum and throw as much as you can at these debts!!