Paying myself a salary / splitting out bank accounts

Olive_8

Hello, seeking advice on the below situation, I am very new to all this!

I was hoping to move £8,500 debt (5,500 on the CC & 3,000 overdraft, TSB) onto a 0% BT card, and was on Monday, accepted for a virgin money (32 months @ 0.59% fee) card, however only for a balance of £2,200 (still something!). I am wondering if I should try to open another 0% balance transfer card to cover the remaining credit card balance & my overdraft. I was thinking of going for one with a longer 0% time & a higher initial fee so that I can get a bigger credit limit - does this make sense? And can I apply for more than one credit card in the same week!?!?

I then plan to use my TSB a/c as my business account and set up a basic or current a/c with virgin money as my personal account (I have recently registered as self employed). I am determined to get my debt problem sorted !! But I feel a bit lost as how to proceed given I didn't get the full amount! Any help & advice would be so appreciated )

Olive

john1002

You need to check the terms and conditions of the TSB a/c as if it is not a business account then you should not be using it for that purpose as it is called a personal current account for this reason, there have been a few recent posts that have shown banks are increasing catching people out and closing accounts as people have been using them as business accounts going against the terms.

You can certainly apply for more than one credit card in a week, some people apply for 6 or more. Use the eligibility checker to ensure you apply for the higher % ones, 2 or 3 more applications should be ok provider dependant.

Good luck in your new venture

john

ceredigion

You'll need a money transfer card for the overdraft.
Is the TSB account a personnel account of a business account ? If the former you are asking for trouble in the future

Dobbibill

Some is better than none on 0% so move what you can but another application wouldn't hurt.
If the plan is to pay off the OD then as said it needs to be a MT rather than BT card.

Business through personal account is risky. Proceed with caution, plenty of threads on the forum of banks closing personal accounts when they are used for business.

Olive_8

Thank you all.

Okay so I hear you all, the accountant I was thinking about taking on advised me to use the TSB as a business account ! I am obviously now re-thinking. But when I say business, I am really a 'one-man-show' and we are talking about small-time invoices for teaching coming in. So perhaps I can use the TSB in the meantime until I generate more income and then I could open an official business account in the future.... I just want to be able to separate my business costs (buying equipment / client meetings out / travel costs etc.) for self-assessment tax purposes, and also so that I am not living in my O/D and can see a budget (by paying myself a wage), does this make sense? I am so new to this i apologise for any silly questions!

And i've just found out (to my surprise & horror!) that my overdraft interest is higher than my credit card !

My CC is 19.69% (1.51 pm) APR

My O/D is 19.94% (1.53 pm) AER

HOWEVER, my monthly interest charge for the O/D is around £40 and for the CC it's £80 as the balance is higher. So now I don't know which to pay off first?? I have just received the £2020 from VM (which was a MT & BT card) and was thinking to put £2000 into my credit card to get the debt balances more even, then perhaps concentrate on clearing my O/D first (to my utter surprise!) as is the higher one and also comes with a £6 monthly fee. Does this make sense?? ;o/

So I guess my plan is to carry on and apply for another 0% balance transfer this afternoon or tomorrow & hope that's then enough to cover my TSB balances...

Thanks so much again!

eskbanker

Olive_8 wrote: »

my monthly interest charge for the O/D is around £40 and for the CC it's £80 as the balance is higher. So now I don't know which to pay off first?? I have just received the £2020 from VM (which was a MT & BT card) and was thinking to put £2000 into my credit card to get the debt balances more even, then perhaps concentrate on clearing my O/D first (to my utter surprise!) as is the higher one and also comes with a £6 monthly fee. Does this make sense?? ;o/

Personally I'd concentrate on getting the overdraft paid off - all overdrafts are repayable on demand and so are less reliable/secure than credit cards, and if you're contemplating using your personal account for business purposes, this increases the risk that TSB may pull the plug....