Advice needed

[Deleted User]

Gethino wrote: »

Phone: £52

Don't know if this is a land-line or mobile, but, whichever, it's still :eek:

If land-line, look for a better deal on a comparison site, and, if mobile, go PAYG/sim only, for a lot less.

Summer Holiday: £100

I'd recommend cancelling this, until you have cleared your OD.

Gethino

Quick update then: As bobcat2 mentioned earlier I did in fact order the wrong credit card for which my plan was for (thanks for noticing)! I have just called Virgin in the hope they could change the order for me but they couldn't do that. I've got to wait for the card to arrive, call them to cancel the account, and then apply for the 28 month purchases card. Bit annoyed but glad I found out sooner rather than later. To be honest I wasn't thinking of using the credit card until pay day in June anyway (28th each month) so I guess it doesn't matter that much as it should be sorted way before then.

bobcat2

Gethino wrote: »

Oh god have I got the wrong one? This is the one I've got.
32 Months Balance Transfer Credit Card
Balance Transfers: 0% for 32 months (0.60% fee)
Money Transfers: 0% for 32 months (4.00% fee)
Purchases: 0% for 3 months

Regarding my plan in my posts above... does this majorly change things? Do I need to phone them and cancel this and get another one or is it still doable with this one? Advice needed anyone!

Don't use this card for purchases the interest free period is only 3 months. But the card you have may be a better option anyway, the "money transfer" for 32 months allows you to pay money straight into your current account, so if you have sufficient credit limit you can just clear the overdraft straight away and all of the money will then be owed to card. You can also use the balance transfer to pay off your existing credit card as well, credit limit allowing. You then have 32 months to pay it off at 0%. You would pay an initial 4% of the amount you transfer so on £3500 the fee would be £140 which works out at apporx 1.5% interest per year over 32 months. They are offering a slightly better card than this which would only cost you £101.50 to transfer this amount and give you a few months longer but the card you have is not at all bad. If they will change to better card without any fuss great but if not I would stick with you what you have its not bad. In my opinion this is a better option than putting spending on a credit card as you will immediately stop paying any overdraft fees and don't need to worry about putting purchases on a card and no risk of overspending.

You then need to just make sure your budget is in order and that you budget to fully repay the card within the 32 months, and you should be able to it cleared much sooner. If you go down this route do not use the card for purchases at all.

bobcat2

Gethino wrote: »

Quick update then: As bobcat2 mentioned earlier I did in fact order the wrong credit card for which my plan was for (thanks for noticing)! I have just called Virgin in the hope they could change the order for me but they couldn't do that. I've got to wait for the card to arrive, call them to cancel the account, and then apply for the 28 month purchases card. Bit annoyed but glad I found out sooner rather than later. To be honest I wasn't thinking of using the credit card until pay day in June anyway (28th each month) so I guess it doesn't matter that much as it should be sorted way before then.

Dont get the purchase card in my opinion, i dont think it will save you money. Use the money transfer option to clear your overdraft and balance transfer to clear your other card. If your paying £40 a amonth overdraft fees this will probably be nothing to be saved by putting purchases on a card to avoid balance transfer fees. I would just clear the overdraft and then put in plan a place to pay off the credit card within 32 months or sooner.

Gethino

bobcat2 wrote: »

Don't use this card for purchases the interest free period is only 3 months. But the card you have may be a better option anyway, the "money transfer" for 32 months allows you to pay money straight into your current account, so if you have sufficient credit limit you can just clear the overdraft straight away and all of the money will then be owed to card. You can also use the balance transfer to pay off your existing credit card as well, credit limit allowing. You then have 32 months to pay it off at 0%. You would pay an initial 4% of the amount you transfer so on £3500 the fee would be £140 which works out at apporx 1.5% interest per year over 32 months. They are offering a slightly better card than this which would only cost you £101.50 to transfer this amount and give you a few months longer but the card you have is not at all bad. If they will change to better card without any fuss great but if not I would stick with you what you have its not bad. In my opinion this is a better option than putting spending on a credit card as you will immediately stop paying any overdraft fees and don't need to worry about putting purchases on a card and no risk of overspending.

You then need to just make sure your budget is in order and that you budget to fully repay the card within the 32 months, and you should be able to it cleared much sooner. If you go down this route do not use the card for purchases at all.

I see what you're saying. I've got to make a decision now on which route I want to go. The credit limit £3700 on the card. My overdraft is £3500 and I've £450 on my credit card which totals £3950. Do you think they'd allow me to extend the credit limit to £4000 if I phoned them?

bobcat2

Gethino wrote: »

I see what you're saying. I've got to make a decision now on which route I want to go. The credit limit £3700 on the card. My overdraft is £3500 and I've £450 on my credit card which totals £3950. Do you think they'd allow me to extend the credit limit to £4000 if I phoned them?

I think its unlikely they would extend the credit limit, but they might. It may also mean they need to run another credit search but I'm not sure about this. Remember you will only be able to transfer 95% of your credit limit so £3515, add to this the 4% fee of £140. The balance on the card would then be £3655 but no further interest to pay for 32 months. After making the minimum payment to the virgin card you could focus the repayment of the HSBC card which would be paid pretty quickly.

I've been in a similar situation and what I chose to do is make the minimum payment to the 0% card and then put my extra budgeted repayment amount into an instant savings account (you can get 1% interest fairly easily) Then at the end of the interest free period used the money in the savings to pay off the remaining balance on the card and you get a bit back from the interest. I'm not recommending you do this though as you need to be ultra-disciplined as there's always the temptation to spend the money and you miss out on actually seeing the balance reducing by as much.
You do need to absolutely make sure you don't just go and run up the overdraft again though as you'll be in double the debt, so need to make sure you have addressed the reasons the overdraft was there in the first place. I'd be inclined to cancel that if it were me as its far too an expensive way of borrowing. I keep mine for absolute emergencies but have never used it.

Teacher2

This is going to sound a bit harsh but you need to do a proper SOA. Also, if you are really serious about gettng that three and a half grand overdraft down what about forgetting the holiday until the debt is paid off? £100 a month is £1200 a year, no inconsiderable sum. When on holiday one spends more than usual too. It's nearly impossible not to away from home so vacation expenses might well undo your discipline and push your debt up.

I remember once when younger my DH and I took a £600 holiday and put it on the credit card and came back to the debt afterwards. We were really angry at ourselves but made a really grim effort to pay it off a £100 a month. That was a lot in the 1980's but we were so pleased we had done it at the end that we never strayed into holiday debt temptation again.

Gethino

Gethino wrote: »

Quick update then: As bobcat2 mentioned earlier I did in fact order the wrong credit card for which my plan was for (thanks for noticing)! I have just called Virgin in the hope they could change the order for me but they couldn't do that. I've got to wait for the card to arrive, call them to cancel the account, and then apply for the 28 month purchases card. Bit annoyed but glad I found out sooner rather than later. To be honest I wasn't thinking of using the credit card until pay day in June anyway (28th each month) so I guess it doesn't matter that much as it should be sorted way before then.

Teacher2 wrote: »

This is going to sound a bit harsh but you need to do a proper SOA. Also, if you are really serious about gettng that three and a half grand overdraft down what about forgetting the holiday until the debt is paid off? £100 a month is £1200 a year, no inconsiderable sum. When on holiday one spends more than usual too. It's nearly impossible not to away from home so vacation expenses might well undo your discipline and push your debt up.

I remember once when younger my DH and I took a £600 holiday and put it on the credit card and came back to the debt afterwards. We were really angry at ourselves but made a really grim effort to pay it off a £100 a month. That was a lot in the 1980's but we were so pleased we had done it at the end that we never strayed into holiday debt temptation again.

The holiday's not £1200 it's £600 ish so I'll just pay £100 a month until xmas which is not too bad and within my budget. About this SOA, is there a template on here then cause I've never done one before.

Nub

Bedsit_Bob wrote: »

Your deductions seem quite high.

Do you have deductions beyond NI and Income Tax, such as CCJ deductions, child maintenance, benefit over-payments?

^This.


Even with plan 1 student loan I make you £150/month better off - is your tax code right?

Ilona

Gethino wrote: »

is there a template on here then cause I've never done one before.

This is what you want, a comprehensive list of incomings and outgoings so you can see the whole picture.

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

ilona