Existing credit cards

OlliverCN

Hi I hope someone can give me some good advice, it would be much appreciated.
I have about 4-5 credit cards most of which have 0% but vary on when they expire. I am feeling rather overwhelmed by them and worrying about how I'm going to manage them when each of them run out as I won't have paid them off within the time so will have to pay the interest or try to transfer to another 0% which would be fine if it was just 1'! I am now thinking shall I get a low cost loan to consolidate them all so I know where I am with it all? There are some good rates around 3.2% which isn't too bad and by the time I transferred the balances may be paying as much in admin fees as I will on interest for the loan. I am worrying about this daily so would appreciate any advice. Thank you 😄

OlliverCN

.…also not sure how this has effected my credit score! I am paying existing credit cards on time.

[Deleted User]

What's the total debt?
What's the total limits?
What's your income?
What are the go to rates on the existing cards?
When do the 0% offers expire?
What is your credit history like?

rogertb

I'm really worried about this as well ... I will follow this thread with interest.

[Deleted User]

rogertb wrote: »

I'm really worried about this as well ... I will follow this thread with interest.

Unless you have exactly the same cards, debts, limits, income and credit history as the OP, you would be better off starting your own thread, in order to get more relevant advice

rogertb

Thanks zx81 - I'll do that.

MallyGirl

OlliverCN wrote: »

I have about 4-5 credit cards most of which have 0% but vary on when they expire. I am feeling rather overwhelmed by them and worrying about how I'm going to manage them when each of them run out as I won't have paid them off within the time so will have to pay the interest or try to transfer to another 0% which would be fine if it was just 1'! I am now thinking shall I get a low cost loan to consolidate them all so I know where I am with it all? There are some good rates around 3.2% which isn't too bad and by the time I transferred the balances may be paying as much in admin fees as I will on interest for the loan. I am worrying about this daily so would appreciate any advice. Thank you 😄

Do you have a spreadsheet such as Excel?
First step would be to get accurate info. Is it 4 or 5 cards? What are the balances, minimum payments, standard APR after the deal expires?
Then write down somewhere when the 0% deals expire. I use a spreadsheet to track everything but it could be done more simply.
With existing debt you may fail to get a loan or may not get anything like as low as 3.2%. I, personally, would never move 0% debt to a loan incurring interest. Once you have the accurate info to hand it should not be that hard to manage.
There is a snowball calculator at:
http://www.whatsthecost.com/snowball.aspx
where you put in the info and it tells you the best way to approach the debts.
You need to be making higher payments to the ones that expire soonest - unless a slightly longer deal has a killer standard APR. You can't make any sensible sort of plan without the facts.

Sam29

One thing to be aware of with a consolidation loan is that it doesn't deal with the main issue. This is you have credit cards because you use them so there is nothing stopping you from ending up with a big loan and credit cards in the future which will make things worse. At the moment you have zero percent credit which is good. Can you look to shift some of the balances onto other cards so you are down to 2 or 3 cards.? It's frustrating but you will be chipping away slowly but it won't feel like it as spread across 5 cards.

OlliverCN

Hi all thanks for your advice. We actually have 6! 1 has a 0% until 2018 so not so worried about that one but the others will go to standard APR 16th October this year and has about £750 on it. The other 0% rates will end on various months next year and total £6500. Our income is £35000 and our outgoing a are £19,200 but o have some catalogue debts I need to clear first and should have by the end of the year.

Our main issue was our extension and we ran out of funds so I wouldn't have another loan and carry on using my credit cards. I would love to try and transfer on to just 2 or 3 but there are not any offers on any of my existing credit cards and not sure if we could get another credit card with a large limit.
Thank you so much for all your help and advice 😄👍

OlliverCN

We also have 2 children to feed clothe etc ��

OlliverCN

We are also currently living out of our £1000 overdraft which we are doing overtime to clear but things keep coming up like special birthdays and things i.e last month we had to fork out for school uniforms ��