What way do i go??

markrussell78

Hi my first time here so a total noob.

Need some advice here, have some very horrible CC debt which i long to get rid of. Most of it has arrived via starting again after divorce and eventually getting new house etc.

At the mo i have £780 on hsbc @ 15.9%
£2434 on mbna dont know the apr but its 1.87%? (not sure how to convert to apr)
and finally 5692 with barclaycard at a fixed 6.9% life of balance. I have cut this card up because if i spend on it the purchase rate is high and gets paid off last.

Now for the nasty bit, i have my tax bill through and i have made a huge error on calculating it meaning i'm £4000 short of what i need. (wish i was better at mathes)
Now i simply dont have that cash free so have to borrow to pay the nasty old tax man. Do i try get a loan or put this on my mbna card?? card limit is 9k.

Hope you can help
cheers mark.

chevalier

Hi there
I am assuming that you are self employed if you are paying the tax yourself? If you are short does this mean you have had a good year? If not then perhaps the best thing to do is to see if the tax man will take installments. I have heard they do sometimes.

If you put up a statement of affairs (see southerscousers sticky at the top of the forum for info) then maybe we can suggest savings so you can throw more at your debts.

Is your credit rating still good? Could you get a low life of balance card to pay this with?

If you haven't had a good year self employed, then is now the time to think about a PAYE job?
regards
chev

markrussell78

Hi Chev

Cheers for reply, that tax bill was for my ltd company which i stopped and became PAYE as from last october. Tried the tax office to see if they would take instalments from my tax code but will only do this for amounts under £2000. Last year was a pretty good year but pretty much all of the cash i made was used for the deposit on my house. I'm really not sure what condition my credit rating is in? I've never missed a payment on anything in my life so i hope its reasonable. Will try find another life of balance card though. Will spend tonight making up as good a SOA as i can manage.

Cheers mark..

misspoppy

Hi

Try the tax office again and ask to set up installments not through your tax code, they should do this interest free or at a very low rate.

Good luck

In_Search_Of_Me

It wuld probably be a good idea to check your credit rating before applying for more credit...if you go to martins main article he tells you how to do it free!

markrussell78

Thanks miss poppy,

Will call them tomorrow, see what they can do. I'm so annoyed at myself really. I tried to do my own tax return and made such a hash of it. Got what i thought i owed miles off actual amount. Thought doing it myself would save me the money involved using an accountant. Had to use one in the end like the previous tax year anyway. What an idiot.
SOA to follow anyway.
See if you guys can think of a better way to get rid of other CC debt quicker.
Cheers Mark.

RAS

What are your maximum limits on the HSBC and MBNA cards.?

Can you swap any of the MBNA debt across to the HSBC card as you are paying 23% on the latter. And as an when you have any spare brass, pay off MBNA as fast as you can.

See the snowball on www.whatsthecost.com to see how paying off the most expensive debt first helps out.

Can you car boot or e-bay anything, or rent out a spare room (this is tax free)

markrussell78

Ok so the mbna is the priority card to pay. I have a £1000 limit on the hsbc card, and was paying this off first. Will change tack and pay other one instead. Income is not a problem if i'm totally honest. Its more a problem of prioritising what i focus over payments to. If i pay £200 a month off the mbna would that be a better option? Or is it still better to try move it to a cheaper provider? 23% thats a shocker, no wonder they dont print the apr on the monthly bills! Thanks people i really appreciate the help!

RAS

Check under the cards and loans section on the main page for the article on credit ratings and it tells you how to get the your credit checks for free.

And get rid of the MBNA debt asap. Pay that off first. If you are going to apply for another cheaper card, then cut back the credit limit on the MBNA card to just above your current debt level, as you have less available credit then.

markrussell78

Ok so have applied for credit rating and get 30 days free, just need to remember to cancel direct debit in a month. Have spoke to mbna about reducing my apr as they tell me its 24.9!!!! aarrrggghhh. They have given me a number to call to see if they will reduce it. told them i will transfer it if not. Give them a bit of pressure i thought?? I called hsbc about a month ago as my hsbc card was at 20.9 and they dropped it to 15.9 so its worth a go i suppose. And again thanyou all so very much!

markrussell78

Ok spoke to MBNA and found out i was paying 24.9% what a shocker, quick phone call to them and managed to get it down to 17.9%.
7% less is better than nothing, well worth the call. Now need to finish off SOA, call taxman see if they take installments for my self assesments whopsee. Then pay like mad to clear the mbna debt first.
Thanks for all the help guys!