What to do? Balance transfer and close accounts?

rocky_robbo

Hi, I'm wondering if anyone can help with the following.. I've two Barclaycard's (one an old Egg account). Both these are accounts currently are down as closed due to them increasing the APR a few years back but I'm still paying interest at 16% APR.

I'm wondering if it's best to transfer the balances of combined roughly £6000 to MBNA of which I've got an 0% offer available for 12 months then close the accounts down due to the fact they show on my credit file as still having limits of £7000 and £7400 respectively (£14400 combined). After the 12 months is up then re-apply for a new 0% card and hope I get a limit big enough to transfer to.

I'm conscious of a) closing down accounts and b) it will affect my credit utilisation percentage.

My total credit limit is around £30,0000 and I'm currently using around £13,000 of it.

bigadaj

It's a no brainier to transfer to 0%, you must be currently paying around £80 a month interest, which could be paying down the overall debt.

Closing both accounts would probably make your ratio of debt to available credit too high, so I'd be tempted to close one and keep the other.