£10k at 29.9%

debtthrowaway

Hello All.

My partner and I are in debt to the tune of £10k, on a credit card with an APR of 29.9% which were are just about able to meet the monthly payments.

Aside from simply paying it off, is there anything else we should try? I read somewhere that it's worth calling the company and asking for the APR to be reduced. Is it unlikely we'd be able to transfer this to another card with a lower APR?

Thanks for any help!

sourcrates

Hi,

If you ring or write to your cc company and tell them your struggling to make the repayments, they should allow you to either, make reduced payments, or perhaps lower the interest rate, however, these temporary arrangements only usually last 3-6 months.

If you need a longer term solution, then you should contact stepchange about entering a debt management plan, in this situation the creditor may, when asked, freeze interest indefinaty until the balance is repaid

Depends which option will suit your circumstances really..

Balance transfers only prolong the problem really, and you may not be accepted anyway.

debtthrowaway

Given that with a balance transfer to a card with a lower APR we would be paying more than the minimum payment, could you explain how it prolongs the problem?

sourcrates

debtthrowaway wrote: »

Given that with a balance transfer to a card with a lower APR we would be paying more than the minimum payment, could you explain how it prolongs the problem?

Well 0% deals don't last forever, so you will constantly be searching for them, if your credit is good, and that allows you to take this option, then fine, but if you are declined..........

January2015

Also, if you transfer to a 0% card it is essential that you immediately close the existing card. Take is from a pr@t who has been there, done it and got several hundred T-shirts....if you don't close the existing card, you will end up spending on it and running up the debt on that card again. I've don't this many times. Always told myself and my husband that won't happen - but we will keep the card 'just in case'.

Did you buy large planned purchases to end up with £10k on the existing card, or did it just build up gradually? You need to be confident you will not get into this situation again if you just transfer to a 0% card as you still have access to credit on both the old and new credit cards.