Which Credit Card

12_month_challenge

Hi all and apologies for a confusing post

I currently have £1600 that I am able to make an overpayment to one of my credit cards.

Barclaycard 1 - £9109.09/14000 @6.9% approx £49 a month interest. (I have lost track whether all of it is 6.9%) This card is currently offering 6.9% LOB BT deal with 2.9% fee

Barclaycard 2 - £7945.77/10500 @6.9% approx £49 a month interest. No deals offered

MBNA 1 - £7263.19/£8300 @0% for another 18 months

MBNA 2 - £8139.99/9000 @0% for another 10 months. This is the card my snowball advises I pay down first.

Im very sorry if this is confusing. I have confused myself enough over it. I have thought about transferring some but dont know what to do for the best.

We are not eligible for any 0% transfer cards at present

How would you play this?

Any advice will be greatly appreciated

Thank you

eskbanker

Paying it off the Barclaycard 2 balance would have the most significant impact on reducing your interest payments in the short term, but what's the basis on which your 'snowball' recommends paying down MBNA 2, does this become a worse rate than 6.9% in 10 months time? How much more do you project you're going to be able to pay off your debts during that time?

12_month_challenge

Thankyou eskbanker

My MBNA card will go up to 19% after the 10 months.. I think thats why the snowball puts that one first.

I have been using the snowball method for a few months and its working fine. I make overpayments of approx £250 each month. This goes towards MBNA 2. hopefully getting it down in the quickest time.

However I was unsure where to pay this extra money as I didnt want it to seem like I have made a rubbish decision. Even though wherever I pay it will reduce my overall debt total.

I hope this makes sense
Thank you again

Dobbibill

I don't know whether I've missed something but is there any reason you are not OPing on the BC1 now so that when your 0% deal runs out on MBNA you have more available credit to BT from MBNA to BC1 @6.9% rather than the 19% you are expecting to pay.

Also your BC statement should breakdown your APR if there is more than one amount on there.

grumbler

I have lost track whether all of it is 6.9%

Any clues in your statement?

12_month_challenge

Thank you dobbibill

I have been toying with that idea myself. The BC 1 usually offers BT deals all of the time. Its our longest CC we have had and never missed payments etc. Its currently offering 6.9 % LOB allowing me to transfer £3498

Im so sorry for the confusion

Thank you again

12_month_challenge

I have looked through the last 12 months of my on line statements and they are saying that I had used 0% deals ran out in January. and 6.9% deals. I have transferred backwards and forward between my cards and took my eye off the ball. Hence the reason I have so much outstanding and have lost track (lesson learned) I am so much more on the ball now and need to get it right.

Maybe if I transfer MBNA 2 to BC to the sum of £3400 and then pay the £1600 to MBNA 2 bring the balance down to £3139.99 Then carry on snowballing from there on.

Im boring myself with this now lol

System

Surely the idea is to pay as much as possible to either of 6.9% cards?

In addition to paying off the principal sum, you accrue less interest and increase your available balance by the time your 0% card off expires. This can be used to transfer balances across (should you wish to)

12_month_challenge

Thank you all for you advice

I have worked out that if I transfer to my BC @6.9% I can then pay a lump sum on the card I transferred from and then get rid of this one. Continuing to snowball 3 as opposed to 4 cards.

Thank you again for making me see things clearly

Dobbibill

12_month_challenge wrote: »

Maybe if I transfer MBNA 2 to BC to the sum of £3400 and then pay the £1600 to MBNA 2 bring the balance down to £3139.99 Then carry on snowballing from there on.

Im boring myself with this now lol

You don't really need to move anything from MBNA2 yet as you still have 10 months at 0%.

Making a bigger available amount on BC would be better IMHO so that by the time the 10 months elapse you would be able to move more over to 6.9% at that point but I don't think there's any need to waste almost a year at 0% to rush in full steam ahead.

You have £3k odd available now, this should be significantly bigger in 10 months time.

grumbler

Heng_Leng wrote: »

Surely the idea is to pay as much as possible to either of 6.9% cards?

In addition to paying off the principal sum, you accrue less interest and increase your available balance by the time your 0% card off expires. This can be used to transfer balances across (should you wish to)

This is only if 6.9% LOB deal is still available in 10 months when 0% expires.