balance transfer or personal loan?

emmythegreatest

hi everyone,

i'm looking for some advice please.

I currently have 3 credit cards:

MBNA £5782 interest free until may 18
Virgin £3218 interest free until august 18
M&S £3315 interest free until September 18

i am making the monthly minimum payments on each of them as its all i can afford currently. I do make additional payments on an ad hoc basis and i've been selling a few bits on ebay which is going towards paying off debt.

i would say i'm managing the debt quite well but it seems a bit messy. i was wondering if it would be worth my while getting a personal loan to pay the debt off in full.
I was considering getting new balance transfer cards when the interest free period expires on the cards but i've noticed that the interest free periods are getting shorter so after paying transfer charges i might be better off getting a low interest loan??
my payments are around £150 per month at the minute and i've just done a quick online calculator and i could get a loan over 60 months which would clear the debt but the payments would be £185 per month.
I have a huge monthly childcare bill at the minute but in September 18 i will be entitled to free 30 hours so i will have £490 a month free
which i could over pay and clear the loan quicker. what would you do?

[Deleted User]

I would look for a BT option first. If you're only making minimum payments, you'll struggle to keep up with loan repayments.

Either way, you need to find a way of paying it down more quickly, as it seems that any interest will be a problem for you.

emmythegreatest

it really would but i do think the extra i would pay on a loan would be manageable especially come september......
I'm just getting concerned about the balance transfer periods getting shorter and not having cleared the debt off in time

Nebulous2

If affordability is tight and you are only making minimum payments you may find it difficult to get a loan at headline (low) rates. That also means paying interest now, rather than in the worst case from May, and then only on part of it.

What are the credit limits on the cards? Do any of them currently give you extra offers?

Edi81

You have £12000 of unsecured debt. Any personal loan application will likely be assessed on the basis that you don’t repay the credit cards so will have £24000 of debt.
Lenders don’t like it when unsecured if 50% of salary so unless for are on £50k plus it’s unlikely you will be successful in applying for a loan.