Advise please

pennywise2

Hi all, I have a few questions regarding the best way to go about repaying 4 seperate credit cards but I'm I'm unsure which section off the forum to post in
Thanks Pennywise2

MallyGirl

here is good for specifics about cards.
Alternatively, if you are struggling with repayment and want to look at your overall situation, then Debt Free Wannabe might be better

pennywise2

Until recently I was unaware off the amount off expenditure on my cards due to me not seeing any post in quite a while, I don't think I would say paying back will be a struggle so I'll go ahead and post in this section
4 cards as follows
Barclaycard £10,326@17.5% pa
Santander 123 £4,844@23.95% pa
Halifax £2,952@17.5 % pa
Santander £892@23.95 % pa
Should my first port off call be with my existing card companies to ask if they can do anything with with the interest rates?
Regards Pennywise2

MallyGirl

You can ask but unless you have actually defaulted on any of the payments there is unlikely to be any positive response.
Any sort of arrangement to pay will cause an AP marker to show in your credit history - not what you want if you can avoid it.

To pay them off as quickly as possible you should tighten your belt, cut down on spending and throw everything you can spare at the one with the highest interest rate. Since the value is lower I would do smaller Santander first. Once that has been cleared move on to hitting the next highest interest rate.

It might be worth trying for a 0% BT card with a lender you don't already use.

As your outstanding balance decreases that might make you more appealing to lenders with 0% deals.

pennywise2

Thank you for the response Mallygirl.
I have just received a 0% card today for £2,000 for 36 months
Should I pay off the smaller card if I could afford it before then applying for another 0% card
I also have a car loan showing on my credit report with only another 2 payments left on it, would it be better to pay this outright if I could, can't do both but unsure which path to take next
Regards Pennywise2

MallyGirl

pennywise2 wrote: »

Thank you for the response Mallygirl.
I have just received a 0% card today for £2,000 for 36 months
Should I pay off the smaller card if I could afford it before then applying for another 0% card
I also have a car loan showing on my credit report with only another 2 payments left on it, would it be better to pay this outright if I could, can't do both but unsure which path to take next
Regards Pennywise2

0% on balance transfers? If so then I would pay off smaller Santander one via BT (maybe close it too?) and pay as much as you can off other Santander with the remainder of the BT. It is probably limited to 90% of the £2k to leave room for fees.
I would leave the car loan as is and just pay the last 2 months in the normal fashion as you might get hit with early repayment fees otherwise and you are so close.
Then throw what you can at the remaining Santander card.
Once the car loan has gone use that money to pay off cards too.
You could be out of this before you know it.

pennywise2

Thanks again Mallygirl, yes the card I have just received is a 0% balance transfer offer attached to it.
Would it be worth applying for another 0% balance transfer card or is that pushing my luck a little?
Had also considered a consolidation loan but I'm put off that idea with the clauses imposed and the length off time to pay it off
Regards Pennywise 2

dresdendave

pennywise2 wrote: »

Until recently I was unaware off the amount off expenditure on my cards due to me not seeing any post in quite a while,

If there are issues with you receiving post, you should be able to register the cards on line and monitor balances.

Even without seeing post surely you were aware of the expenditure unless someone else was spending on them.

That aside, get as much as you can onto 0%, cut your costs and throw as much as you can at the card with highest interest, min repayments at the rest.

When you finish your car loan that will free up a big chunk of money each month to start attacking your card balances.

MallyGirl

pennywise2 wrote: »

Thanks again Mallygirl, yes the card I have just received is a 0% balance transfer offer attached to it.
Would it be worth applying for another 0% balance transfer card or is that pushing my luck a little?
Had also considered a consolidation loan but I'm put off that idea with the clauses imposed and the length off time to pay it off
Regards Pennywise 2

It might be worth trying one more application - it will only show as a search, not an accept or decline. Make sure you know about which banks are in which banking groups so you don't apply to a lender in the same group as the one you want to BT from.

fewcloudy

pennywise2 wrote: »

Would it be worth applying for another 0% balance transfer card or is that pushing my luck a little?
Regards Pennywise 2

I don't see why not?
By "pushing my luck", do you mean they might say no, so what?

I guess that might be an issue if you were planning on applying for a mortgage soon, and did not want too many credit applications showing on file so close together.

In my less financially organised youth, I once had 4 different 0% balance transfer cards on the go at the same time, and as one card's offer period expired I would apply for another and move the remaining balance onto that. Continued in this way until it was all gone. Took a while, but it would've taken a lot longer on 17.5-23.95%...

pennywise2

dresdendave wrote: »

If there are issues with you receiving post, you should be able to register the cards on line and monitor balances.

Even without seeing post surely you were aware of the expenditure unless someone else was spending on them.

That aside, get as much as you can onto 0%, cut your costs and throw as much as you can at the card with highest interest, min repayments at the rest.

When you finish your car loan that will free up a big chunk of money each month to start attacking your card balances.

I now have everything on line thanks Mallygirl so able to keep an eye on all expenditure
Regards Pennywise2