Payback Time

Snowedunder

Been on holiday and maxed out 3 cards ( max £1500) per card


I usually pay balance off monthly, but cannot do so in coming months.


Can someone please advise the best way to clear them all:


Should I pay minimum on 2 and pay 'set aside for cards' amount to clear one at a time,
or
pay as much as I can off all three each month


Because of the lowish minimum payments I want to know which would be best to avoid the most interest. I have £350 per month to use, and will not be using them until the balances are nil so that I can pay up monthly as previously.


Interest rate is a similar amount on all 3 cards

Nebulous2

If interest is similar it doesn't make much difference. If you pay minimum on two and concentrate on paying 3rd off it clears a card to use interest free and pay in full earlier though.

You could then put expenditure on card 3 and put money you would have spent on food/ petrol etc towards the next card to clear it sooner.

McKneff

You must have had one he'll of a holiday

eskbanker

Rather than making minimum payments, it's often said on here that paying even a pound over the minimum looks better on credit files, so for the sake of a couple of quid it's probably worth doing that, i.e. minimum plus £1 on two cards and everything else to the third....

YorkshireBoy

There are currently around 8 0% BT cards with no BT fee (and more with sub 1.5% BT fees). Surely that would be a better approach?...unless you don't have a decent credit history or are unemployed?

Dobbibill

Do any of your current cards offer existing customers 0% BT offers?
Barclaycard are known for it.


It may be worth shuffling the balances to minimise interest. Don't forget to do the calculations on the BT fee though.