Juggling so many cards - which one first?

Forward_thinking

I have too many cards, too much debt and am ready to attack it.

I have £12k on an MBNA card, £6k on a Barclay card, £6k on a Halifax card and £10k on a Nationwide card. I pay off ridiculous interest each month and am getting nowhere - around 21% interest on all four cards.

I have just managed to get a 0% card for 36 months and they have just paid £6 into my bank which I am really relieved about. But I can't decide which card to pay back - Barclays or Halifax.

My plan is to hope that either Halifax or Barclays then offer me a 0% deal so I can juggle another card onto them...etc etc.

I don't see any other way of getting out of the awful interest predicament we are in. We have quite a few thousand available in further credit on the cards but I don't see how this can be used to help us juggle. I certainly won't be spending it on further debt!!!!

Does anyone have any thoughts on whether Halifax or Barclays are more likely to start trying to get us back with 0% offers?

Awful times : ((

enthusiasticsaver

Juggling is not the way to get out of debt.

Stop using the cards full stop. Make a plan to pay the debt off and the offers will come as the debt goes down.

How much have you been offered on the new 0% card?

Are all the cards at 21% or is one more expensive than the others?

You need to live within your income and plan to reduce the debt by cutting back. Post an soa on the DFW forum.

Louoffofsparkle

Pick the one with the highest interest and throw your extra money at that while paying minimum on the others.
I used a snowball calculator to work out what to pay to mine whilst keeping enough money to start an emergency fund.

I cut my spending by cancelling any monthly payments I didn’t need and reducing others.

Verityspinelli

Louoffofsparkle wrote: »

Pick the one with the highest interest and throw your extra money at that while paying minimum on the others.
I used a snowball calculator to work out what to pay to mine whilst keeping enough money to start an emergency fund.

I cut my spending by cancelling any monthly payments I didn’t need and reducing others.

Good advice but try to pay a little bit more then the minimum payment even if it’s £1 more, Barclaycard are notorious at lowering your credit limit after a while when you pay only the minimum they’re sneaky like that. I don’t know about the other lenders though.
Good luck. OP you can do it if you focus your attention on it..

enthusiasticsaver

Do you mean they paid £6k into your bank and you can't decide whether to pay off Barclays or Halifax? Pick the one with the highest rate. If they are both the same it doesn't matter. No way to say if either of them would offer you a 0% deal once the card is empty. How much are you paying each month in repayments?

maxximus75

Pay the card with the highest interest rate.



If they are botht the same, I would pay 50% to each.


If your next step is to get another 0% card a bit later on, it may look better on your credit report to have two cards 50% or below rather than one empty and one maxed.


As mentioned, dont use your cards and cut them up. Pay more than the minimum



See where you can save and throw that extra month at each card. Once you see the balance reducing it can be addictive to continue to lower the balance(s) each month.


Rememeber, that you will probobly have a fee for the money transfer into your current account so you will need to take that into consideration.



Also, that you will also need to pay down the 0% card along with your interest bearing ones but hopefully... youll be able to get another 0% at a later date which will allow you to plough everything into paying off the debts witout any interest.


Good luck!

phillw

Forward_thinking wrote: »

I don't see any other way of getting out of the awful interest predicament we are in.

What are you doing to tackle why you got into debt in the first place?

Can you get a second job, sell stuff you don't need, cut spending etc?

tlc678910

Hi,
Barclaycard send me regular existing customer balance transfer offers so I would pay off the barclaycard with the 0% cash in the hope that you are offered a good 0% offer by them and can shift another card onto the Barclaycard at 0%. Ideally carrying on with the merry go round until all cards are at 0%.
Tlc

planteria

enthusiasticsaver wrote: »

Juggling is not the way to get out of debt.

i don't agree with that. tackling the debt, head on, is the key. but wise juggling of the various debts, trying to move all/most onto 0% deals, can be a very important part of getting out of the problem.

enthusiasticsaver

planteria wrote: »

i don't agree with that. tackling the debt, head on, is the key. but wise juggling of the various debts, trying to move all/most onto 0% deals, can be a very important part of getting out of the problem.

Juggling cards on to 0% deals minimises interest but on its own will not get people out of debt if all they continue to do is pay minimums and balance transfer when the 0% deal expires. The amount in balance transfer fees itself will add up over time.

As you say tackling the debt by making a plan to repay, either with most expensive first or if you are able to get them moved to 0% the one that expires first is the most important bit. Moving it from one card to another without reducing balances over a reasonable period in time may be better dealt with by some sort of DMP.