Credit Card Payment Advice

Narola1976

Just thought I would get some advice on how to proceed. I fully confess I have been an idiot but if someone feels the need to hammer that point I won't be offended

OK, so I have a number of balance transfer promotions across 3 CC's. This is a lot so bear with me. I know that I am going to have to accept I will be paying interest at some point as I am persona non grata to new BT offers! And yes I have been an idiot, thick as two planks and an idiot (oh I already said that). Jokes aside, I recognise that I have truly messed up and can't see the woods for the trees.

Now I have my final loan payment for a consolidation loan taken out 8 years ago coming up end of August (yes, got the memo it doesn't work 6 years too late) Anyhow, I will have an additional £400 to pay towards the CC's from end of September but I don't know where that should go. Should I just pay the highest interest bearing card which has no BT (HSBC) or should I clear (some) of the balances whose 0% promotions are ending when they actually end.

MBNA's system of paying the earliest debt first really isn't very helpful but hey my fault for not paying closer attention - the devil is in the detail as they say! At least BC does assign payment to the balance ending first though it still leaves me in a pickle at some point. Its all my fault - I just thought I could keep spending and just keep transferring balances onto the same cards whenever they offered me a promotion never really thinking it through - heck never thinking period!

I am managing all minimum payments at the moment. I tried to work out a snowball but it just did not work out because of the info below. Advice is really appreciated. So here are my CC's debts (cringe):

HSBC @ 28.9% - £7116 - Min payment is 2.5%

---

MBNA 1.1 – 0% until 21.09.2018 = £8619.80 (this amount is being paid off now as it was the first BT made onto this card)

MBNA 1.2 – 0% until 20.02.2018 = £217.40 (this will kick in after the one below!)

MBNA 1.3 – 0% until 20.12.2017 = £1435.47 (come December this one is going to hit me hard)

---

MBNA 2.1 – 0% until 11.02.2020 = £6834.82 (this amount is being paid off now as it was the first BT made onto this card)

MBNA 2.2 – 0% until 10.02.2018 = £299.46 (this will kick in come February)

---

Barclay Card 1.1 – 0% until 01.10.2017 - £688.32
Barclay Card 1.2 - 0 % until 22.09.2018 - £4079.76
Barclay Card 1.3 – 0% until 01.01.2018 - £304.69
Barclay Card 1.4 – 0% until 01.12.2017 – £31.57
Barclay Card 1.5 – 0% until 01.11.2018 - £2297.08
Barclay Card 1.6 – 0% until 01.11.2017 - £144.26
Barclay Card 1.7 – 0% until 01.01.2018 - £349.06

Thanks for reading - I don't mind a bashing, but if you could also include some thoughts on how to proceed too that would be appreciated!

Kidder81

I guess it all depends on what the interest rates will be on your cards when each promotion ends.

If it were me, I'd probably pay as much of the HSBC card as I could as that's generating interest now. I think 28.9% is pretty standard (!!) for a credit card so unless the others are a great deal more, I'd pay that off. 28.9% on that balance is a hell of a lot of money.

Can you make savings elsewhere to pay more off your credit cards? You'll end up paying a hideous amount of interest by the time you're paid up.

Geoff1963

OK, so I have a number of balance transfer promotions across 3 CC's.

Actually 13. :eek:

Narola1976

Kidder81 wrote: »

I guess it all depends on what the interest rates will be on your cards when each promotion ends.

If it were me, I'd probably pay as much of the HSBC card as I could as that's generating interest now. I think 28.9% is pretty standard (!!) for a credit card so unless the others are a great deal more, I'd pay that off. 28.9% on that balance is a hell of a lot of money.

Can you make savings elsewhere to pay more off your credit cards? You'll end up paying a hideous amount of interest by the time you're paid up.

Thanks Kidder81 for taking the time to respond. The interest rates for the BT cards is definitely lower than the HSBC one so I suppose it makes sense to throw the money at this card. I have reduced spends where I can, am doing surveys and selling stuff to increase income. It's going to be tough going for a long while but I will get there.

Narola1976

Geoff1963 wrote: »

Actually 13. :eek:

Yes I know. Like I said....I'm an idiot.

Geoff1963

have been

The key is in the grammar tense.

At the end of a film in which a rather unsavoury hit man regains his memory and discovers who he once was, his new-found friend says, "What matters, is what you do now".

EssexHebridean

OK - first step, full SOA (Statement of Affairs) - this then gives you a proper budget to work to and lets you ascertain exactly how much money you can free up to deal with your situation. Obviously the £400 freed up by the loan payments ending will help massively. The SOA will also help show you what money you *should* have left each month and from there you can track whether you actually do have that amount left over. If not then time for a spending diary to track down where it's going.

You need to know what rates some of the cards will revert to once the 0% periods end - but in the first instance I agree with targeting the HSBC as that's currently interest bearing.

A tip for you - set the DD's on all the cards to pay whatever your minimum payment is right now - rounded up top the nearest £1 - so if you have a minimum payment of £119.34 set the DD at £120 and leave it there - normally a DD just set to clear the "min payment" will fall over time meaning that you end up with "stray" money being left in your account that you won't be acounting for. By setting it at a standard amount it will have more impact on the outstanding balance as time runs on and as you're already paying that amount it makes no odds to your budget. (This ONLY works if you're not still spending on the cards - but I imagine you're not as these are BT cards?)

I have no idea whether it's possible but it may be that you can pay the mimimum payment to MBNA and then pay an extra lump separately and tell them where you want that applied? Could certainly be worth asking.

lopsyfa

Well done in taking steps to address your debt issue. You will definitely get excellent help from the great people on this forum.

I just noticed in your signature that you have a car finance payment with a balance of around 15k. Is it possible to sell this car either privately or to a dealer and repay the finance deal? You can then buy a run around of around 1k and reduce your debt significantly and throw the monthly car payments at the HSBC CC. This will reduce your debt free day significantly and also reduce the amount of interests you pay on these debts (including the car finance) by a lot.

You will also avoid losing money monthly on car depreciation by following the above advice.

Whatever you do, I wish you all the best.

sourcrates

Hi,

Not easy to advise as we dont know your budget, i`m guessing with a 47k debt, you must have a decent income.

Can i suggest you post up a "statement of affairs" it will make it easier for people to advise on how to tackle this the best way.

SOA calculator available here :

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

Please remember to press : "format for MSE" when done.