Never ending Credit Card Debt

trixie1966

Hi, Can anyone give me help into how to get on top of paying off a credit card that just seems to be more and more costly. My partner is paying off a credit card debt of £5000. He went to Citizens Advice and through them got his interest down to 1% for 10 months. He pays £100 a month from his wage to this card through Direct Debit. Out of the 1,000 he has paid til now he has still only paid off £500. He has to go back to the CAB to renegotiate the same deal again. I was thinking that he could do what i do and keep transferring his balance to a 0% credit card but he isn't likely to get accepted as there is only one card and that is for only 6 months. He couldn't pay the amount he owes in 6 months and after that time there may not be another card available to him at 0% and then he would be in the same position paying high interest rates. Can't see any way of helping him get rid of this bad debt. Anyone have any thoughts on how to get on top of this. The way he's going it will be 4-5 years before the card he's paying on now will be done with. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you. Trisha

TadleyBaggie

Suggest you go over to the The Debt-Free Wannabe Board, and post up an SOA.

MEM62

£5,000 balance at 1%. He has paid a total of £1,000 and the debt has only reduced by £500? These figures do not add up.

molerat

MEM62 wrote: »

£5,000 balance at 1%. He has paid a total of £1,000 and the debt has only reduced by £500? These figures do not add up.

1% per month maybe - around a "normal" credit card rate - £5K at 1% pm would be £50 per month interest ?

Consumerist

I agree with MEM62 above. A balance of £5,000 @ 1% pa would mean an annual interest charge of about £50.

Are you sure this isn't 1% per month (approx. 12.7% pa)? That would be about £50 per month interest out of his £100 payments. i.e. about £500 paid off after 10 payments.

trixie1966

Thank you for replying. What is an SOA?

trixie1966

OOOPS SORRY, I meant 1% per month. Which means half of what he pays, he's paying interest and the debt is taking ages to move.

trixie1966

Yes your completely right. Sorry for giving the wrong info.

trixie1966

Sorry yes, you are completely right. I know there's no quick fix but it's just getting him down.

glentoran99

There is no "quick fix" you need to pay more to get rid of it, so as advised post on the debt free wannabe forum with your SOA (statement of affairs) income and outgoing and people there will advise where savings can be made

Consumerist

trixie1966 wrote: »

. . . I know there's no quick fix but it's just getting him down.

To be realistic, at £100 per month it will take him 50 months to settle even at 0% interest.

One risky option open to you, if you have a decent credit record, is if you can get a 0% balance transfer card and then transfer his debt to your card. [Edit: Note that legally the debt will then become your debt and not his.]

You need to consider very carefully before embarking on such a process.

If the debt is causing hardship then you may be able to get some of the debt written off but go back to Citizens Advice to explore any such options.