Help with managing my debts!

amylouise39

I feel like I've gone over this time and time again and think I've just over complicated it so want someone with fresh eyes to help!
I've got 3 credit cards which all need paying off. Because my credit history/score isn't brilliant, I could only get higher interest rated cards at the time...
Barclaycard (34.9% APR) - current balance £1065.00 (out of £1100) - minimum payment £35.00
Aqua card (35.95% APR) - current balance £2710.00 (out of £2750) - minimum payment £83.00
Capital One (24.9% APR) - current balance £468 (out of £500) - minimum payment £14.00

So, as you can see I'm nearing my credit limit on all 3 cards.
I'm going to be earning more money from December and wanting to overpay as much as I can but I'm not sure the best way to do it.
In my eyes there's 2 options - overpay the one with the highest APR or overpay the lowest amount to clear that more quickly...what do you guys think?

Any advice would be much appreciated!

fatbelly

Generally I'd say pay the highest apr card first. Here I'd work on clearing your Barclaycard then ask them if they have any 0% offers. Barclaycard seem to do this routinely, Capital One/MBNA less so.

Capital One is the lowest interest rate of the three so there's no point focusing on that.

You should also take a look at your credit files, check the data are accurate and try to improve your records as far as possible

https://www.experian.co.uk/consumer/statutory-report.html
https://www.equifax.co.uk/Products/credit/statutory-report.html
https://www.callcredit.co.uk/consumer-solutions/your-credit-report/statutory-credit-report

then try for 0% cards, spacing out applications, making use of the eligibility checker

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/eligibility/credit-cards/

Your aim is to get all the debt to 0%. It's about maths, not psychology

D_M_E

If it were me I would clear the Cap One then addthe Cap One payment to the Barclaycard payment and get that cleared then on to the remaining one.

datlex

D_M_E wrote: »

If it were me I would clear the Cap One then addthe Cap One payment to the Barclaycard payment and get that cleared then on to the remaining one.

I would second clearing the Capital One card- it is a small balance. Fix your payments rather than paying the minimums. Then apply for a 0% on the Barclaycard. Add the payments previously to the Cap One to the Aqua.

Sharon87

Yeah getting rid of one card will also be a huge psychological boost. Could you clear that one with your first months pay? If so definitely do that. Then up your direct debit with one of the other cards. There's only a 1% apr difference between the 2 bigger ones, so it'll be up to you which one to pay down.

If you're able to have a look at 0% deals for poor scorers on the main section of this website and do an eligibility check. You may be able to transfer some, if not all to a 0% deal.