24 Years Old and Need Advice

9buzz9

Hi All,

Looking for a little bit of help if possible! I have been a TAD silly with my spending in the past few years and now have a credit card with £2200 on. The 0% ends this month and I keep getting rejected by lenders for a balance transfer.

Looking into my credit score, its seems STUPIDLY low considering I have little debt and have never missed a payment in my life?!

I need some advice as to what to do, how do I get rid of the £2200 quickly as I will be paying interest on it from this month

Thanks!

RandomGuy87

Ignore your credit score, this is just a fictitious number.

Have you been applying for multiple cards though? If you have and you're getting rejected, stop and do not apply for anymore. You don't want to add loads of hard searches to your credit history.

Do you have a high credit limit on this card? If so, can you do a money transfer?

If not, I would suggest that you might have to bite the bullet and try to pay the credit card down whilst paying the interest until you're in a better position.

sazaccount

AS RandomGuy87 says your credit "score" is basically a made up number each lender has their own criteria to create their own score from your credit history. Making a lot of credit applications in a short time is not going to look good to prospective lenders.

Have you asked who you use for your main banking about CC offers? do you work? what is your income vs debt (and CC limit) like? how much is your rent? are you on the electoral role?

Maybe post up an SOA so people on here can help with how to pay down your CC so you become debit free without taking on more debt.

fatbelly

To research whether you might get a 0% card (and whicjh one is ost likely) always use a pre-eligibility checker, e.g.

https://creditcards.moneysavingexpert.com/?balance-transfer&_ga=2.48106791.1806744655.1566144537-370800224.1507305729

The eligibility calculator uses a 'soft search' to find your acceptance chances.

trailingspouse

In the grand scheme of things, £2200 isn't a huge debt. And the good thing is that you've had your lightbulb moment now, before things get worse.


One of the questions you need to ask yourself (and be honest with the answer) is how you got into debt in the first place. What have you got to show for the debt you're now in? And what are you going to do to stop it happening again? And again?



I agree with others - post your SOA, and the lovely people on here will be able to help you work out the best way to pay it off. The quickest way to pay it off would be to throw as much money at it as you possibly can as soon as you can - but that might not be the smartest thing to do. Give us as much information as you can, and you'll get the best advice.

9buzz9

Hi All,

Thanks for your advice so far!

The main costs on it was a holiday to Vegas (only cost of flights and hotel, no gambling money put on the credit card) and my car insurance (being 24 it was touching £1000....).

I earn £1770 after tax each month and outgoings are touching £1100. This is mainly rent, bills, council tax and food shopping etc!

I like to save around £350 a month but it my savings have been eaten into recently for a holiday and unexpected bills which is annoying!

In response to eligibility checkers, I do use them, and MBNA offered me 26 months 0% balance transfer at an approval rate of 95% but when I applied, they couldn't offer me it and that really wound me up. I got approved by Barclaycard for 0% at 24 months balance transfer, got my card but only had a limit of £200. They said my credit limit would be £4500 but needed to send salary statements. I sent them and they denied me which I spent 20 minutes kicking off about before cancelling!

I think I just have to suck up the interest until I can get a 0% but I don't want to keep applying as its bad for credit history and I keep getting rejected!

EssexHebridean

I'd suggest that your first priority is to learn about budgeting. Paying car insurance upfront annually is great, but you do also need to have a plan in place to ensure you pay it back - and ideally start to save towards the next year at the same time too. That way over time you'll find yourself in a position where you have the funds in place and ready for the following year's bill.

Again, by the same token credit should NEVER be used to pay for a holiday you don't already have the money saved to pay for - that is essentially using someone else's money to take yourself on a holiday you can't afford. Not a good plan!

Thankfully you've answered your own question on how to tackle paying it off - for the time being, anything that is not already spoken for in your savings needs to be turned towards paying off the card balance - at the same time start to put a proper budget in place. You might find that the SOA calculator we recommend will help you with this.

As others have said you can also use the eligibility checker to see if cards come up that you may qualify for, but if you DO balance transfer any of this debt I'd strongly suggest you pay it off by using a set payment each month which will clear the outstanding balance one month ahead of the 0% period ending.

RandomGuy87

I don't completely agree with the above comment about credit being used for holidays.. You've just got to be smart about it.

I pay for my holidays on one credit card and balance transfer it to a 0% card. We tend to book holidays closer to the time so paying for them in full isn't our best option. Have never paid interest in the holidays apart from the transfer fee which is key to managing money well IMO.

EssexHebridean

RandomGuy87 wrote: »

I don't completely agree with the above comment about credit being used for holidays.. You've just got to be smart about it.

I pay for my holidays on one credit card and balance transfer it to a 0% card. We tend to book holidays closer to the time so paying for them in full isn't our best option. Have never paid interest in the holidays apart from the transfer fee which is key to managing money well IMO.

All well and good, but what happens when something entirely unexpected happens to your income, and suddenly you're struggling to cover the cost of the holiday you have already had? This is why we say budget in advance - having the money there also means that you tend to set a realistic budget for spending money once you're there - a lot of folk forget that the accommodation and travel if only part of the real cost!

We also pay for holiday stuff using a (cashback!) CC - however only when the money is also saved to pay for it! If you're using a CC - regardless of 0% or not - to pay for non essential items that you cannot afford - then you are exposing yourself to a financial risk.

MEM62

9buzz9 wrote: »

I like to save around £350 a month but it my savings have been eaten into recently for a holiday and unexpected bills which is annoying!

Bills are rarely unexpected. Most are predictable. Those few that are genuinely unexpected should be funded by your emergency find, which should be put aside as a priority to your holidays.

How much have you actually got saved? Six months of savings would clear your debt.

Personally, I think that holidays are a luxury and should not be funded by credit.

You are in a good position in that your debt is relatively small, easily manageable and you have sufficient income left over after essential bills. What you need to be concerned about is your attitude to money. Some changes here will benefit your future.

Remember, every £ that you spend now that you do not have has to be paid back, with interest, by your future self. He will not thank you when he cannot do things because you have spent his money on holidays that you cannot afford.

Willing2Learn

I definitely agree with EH and others, in that luxuries should only be paid for from funds that has been saved via your regular monthly budget. Spending for stuff outside the monthly budget has the potential to lead to debt, money problems and things quite simply going pear-shaped!