Help

laura_1990

I have a credit card with £1900 balance and also catalogue at £3900 trying to clear them and it doesn't seem to be making a dent in it because of interest. Can you help please

sourcrates

Hi, and welcome to the forum.

First off, we need more details about your situation.

If you fill in a statement of affairs (SOA) people will be able to offer suggestions to help you.

http://www.stoozing.com/calculator/soa.php

National_Debtline

Hi Laura

There might be a few different ways to deal with your debts depending on your circumstances. I agree that a good place to start is to find out how much you can realistically afford to pay towards your debts each month, after realistic living costs.

If you complete the SOA template sourcrates linked to you can get an overview of your monthly budget. Post your figures here for advice on any areas you might be able to tighten your belt and pay more towards your debts.

If it looks like you can’t realistically afford the minimum payments on your debt you might then need to consider reduced payment plans and ideally getting the interest frozen. You can negotiate this yourself or try a free debt management plan which would bring it all under one monthly payment.

James
@natdebtline

engineer_amy

As others have said, get an SOA done asap to identify how much money you have spare each month that you can use to reduce your balances, and should also indicate the interest rates that the credit card and catalogue are charging.


Another thing to consider is - what shape your credit file is in? Do you have any missed payment markers or any negatives on file? If it is in good shape, you might be able to get a 0% balance transfer credit card. Even if the credit limit offered is lower than the balance of the outstanding debt, if you can transfer any of it onto interest free, then any repayments you make will come straight off the balance of the debt, not get eaten up by interest.