CC debt advice

engineer21

Hi all, my fianc!e has some CC debts over 3 cards, she makes min payments on all but as we all know will never pay it off this way, shes finally sat down with me and wants to sort it out.

i suggested a 0% balance transfer card, she agrees but the MES tool says shes 0% on all cards......

now i realised that shes on electrol roll at my house (lived together for 2 yrs) but all her credit cards are still addressed at her parents house....she was scared to change address as she things it will hurt me. could this be the reason for not getting a card? we have changed all the addresses now.

would missed mobile phone payments also completely stop any change of 0% card?

iam trying to give her the tough love in a nice way....shes never been taught about money etc and hates talking about it! but slowly is improving

if she cant get a 0% balance transfer....any other suggestions? bank loan with lower APR?

thanks any advice appricated

grumbler

engineer21 wrote: »

...could this be the reason for not getting a card?

Yes, it could.

we have changed all the addresses now.

It will take time.

would missed mobile phone payments also completely stop any change of 0% card?

Nobody can tell you for sure, but yes, this is a serious negative information in the history.

if she cant get a 0% balance transfer....any other suggestions? bank loan with lower APR?

Possibly, but nothing stops her from starting paying more than the minimum payments right away.

It's her attitude that need changing in the first place. The second step is to try reducing the interest she pays.

Candyapple

Yes missed payments will likely stop any chance of getting a 0% card.

If the eligibility calculator is coming up at 0% then don't even bother applying.

She should obtain copies of all 3 of her credit reports (Experian, Equifax and Call Credit (Noddle) to check all the information is correct.

What is her salary?

Can you list her debts as in: Card 1 owe: £xx Credit Limit: £xx

Does she have anything else she pays back such as car finance / other loans?

engineer21

salary is 30k before tax,
pays car finance, everything is set with DD apart from the phone, which is crazy silly but is sorted now.
all the cards are almost maxed out....total debt is £6300, tesco, Barclay card and natwest, some have been used for cash as well so instrest rates range from 17 - 27%

shes started paying more than min but it will take a long time to make any odds hence why iam looking to reduce the interest....

she knows shes been stupid...although most of it is not understanding - lack of parental advice....dad told her to get her first car on finance at 17! and thats continued with her 2nd car and its 6mnths from being paid off and she says never again! some members of her family use credit cards like free money, shes not like that but didnt understand the min payment carry on. there have been many tears shed over all this!!

iam the total opposite, debt free, own house, no finance etc. but whilst i could take on the debt i would like to teach her about it if that makes sense....

will check her credit scores tonight and see - if i could bring all the debt togther surely it would be better?

Thanks all!

Candyapple

Don't bother with credit scores, they are pointless. It is her credit history that is important. Don't pay the £14.99, all you need is £2 per report. Clearscore (Equifax) and Noddle (Call Credit) are free so you only need to pay £2 for Experian. I say you, but it is your girlfriend that should be doing this.

If she has total debt of £6.3k and all her cards are near maxed out that's not good as she will have a high credit to debt ratio, probably in the 90% bracket. That along with car finance, I'm guessing she would also fail for new credit based on affordability.

Whatever you do, don't take the debt on yourself.

Yes it would be nice if all the debt was in one place on a long 0% card, however the chances of that happening are probably 0.

Your girlfriend needs to enter her debts here: http://www.whatsthecost.com/snowball.aspx

And then work on paying the highest APR balance first and minimum payments to the others until that balance is cleared and repeat. Yes she'll be paying interest, however this is a lesson she will learn from eventually if she is smart and hopefully won't fall into the debt trap later down the line.

In 6 months time, she could try applying for a 0% card and see what happens, but my guess is that the late payments being so new are going to affect any new application for credit for a good while yet.

CLAPTON

engineer21 wrote: »

salary is 30k before tax,
pays car finance, everything is set with DD apart from the phone, which is crazy silly but is sorted now.
all the cards are almost maxed out....total debt is £6300, tesco, Barclay card and natwest, some have been used for cash as well so instrest rates range from 17 - 27%

shes started paying more than min but it will take a long time to make any odds hence why iam looking to reduce the interest....

she knows shes been stupid...although most of it is not understanding - lack of parental advice....dad told her to get her first car on finance at 17! and thats continued with her 2nd car and its 6mnths from being paid off and she says never again! some members of her family use credit cards like free money, shes not like that but didnt understand the min payment carry on. there have been many tears shed over all this!!

iam the total opposite, debt free, own house, no finance etc. but whilst i could take on the debt i would like to teach her about it if that makes sense....

will check her credit scores tonight and see - if i could bring all the debt togther surely it would be better?

Thanks all!

where exactly does all her income go to?
she needs to make a proper budget
and keep a spending diary for a few months to track every single spend

30k is a reasonable income assuming she is living with you and there seems no reason why she could find at least 3-400 per month to overpay the debts

Anthorn

Not usually possible to escape previous addresses particularly if they have been used for credit accounts. They will be shown on the credit report as Linked Addresses even if the linked addresses are variations of the same address.

Usually the type of account is not considered in regard to defaults, missed payments, etc. They are simply totalled together by software. You might be lucky and get a real person to look at an application particularly if you ask a lender to look at it again due to a rejection.

Nothing is certain: To be sure if what's on your credit reports you need the credit reports.

I'd say not a cat-in-hell's chance of getting a 0% BT card to be quite blunt and honest.