Options appear to have dried up!

Brookside88

I've got quite a considerable amount of debt (not unmanageable) and it appears my balance transfer options have dried up which is unfortunate since I have about £8.7k worth of 0% deals ending in Jan & April next year

MBNA 1 £4,219 0% (ending 04.2020) Limit: £7,000
Virgin £4,520 0% (ending 01.2020) Limit: £5,600
MBNA 2 £3,078 0% (ending 07.2021) Limit: £3,300
Tesco £1,397 0% (ending 12.2020) Limit: £2,000
Barclaycard £0 Limit: £8,500
Zopa loan £2,969 3.9%

There is also a barclays partner finance loan for roughly £15k which is a joint account with my partner for double glazing and a porch on our house.

So... the ideal scenario would be that Barclaycard send me a nice letter offering me a 0% BT but I don't think they're going to.

I know that affordability is likely the biggest barrier to me being able to get a new BT and I'm wondering if the available £8.5k on the barclaycard is a red flag for potential lenders in terms of me being potentially able to spend that and end up in a bit of a pickle. Should I close that account do you think? I havent used it for a long time I was just waiting for them to offer me a BT and besides that it makes my credit utilisation look better.

At the moment I'm comfortably putting £500 a month towards the cards

Bit of a ramble sorry - just wondered if anyone had any thoughts?

Thanks in advance

BoGoF

Have you actually apllied for a new BT card. If not try the eligibility calculator. However there is only so far you can kick the can down the road. At some point the debt needs paying down.

Willing2Learn

If it were me, I definitely would not close the Barclaycard account. It might 'spook' your other creditors, as it may look as though you are having problems managing your credit...

Brookside88

I haven't applied no, most come back on the eligibility as not available or around 50%. I'm pre approved for marbles and aqua but they're only 6 months 0% with 5% fee so not sure it's worth it. Mbna 1 are offering me a bt with 3% fee for my available balance of around £2.5k so I can move some of the virgin to that when the 0% ends. I've been ploughing away at it and paid down 4k this year so far. Would be more had my car (the one the loan was for) not broken completely and forced me to buy another on credit card for £3k :mad:. I wonder if I closed the barclaycard I'd be eligible for a new bt one with them

Brookside88

Willing2Learn wrote: »

If it were me, I definitely would not close the Barclaycard account. It might 'spook' your other creditors, as it may look as though you are having problems managing your credit...

Thanks, I'm cautious of closing it as it's making my utilisation appear reasonable

BoGoF

If you are getting 50% chance on the eligibility checker then I don't fancy your chances. However in your shoes I would make one application to the one you are showing best chance of getting.

One thing you don't mention is your income. You have total debt of around of over £30k when counting the joint loan. How does that compare to your income?

Brookside88

BoGoF wrote: »

If you are getting 50% chance on the eligibility checker then I don't fancy your chances. However in your shoes I would make one application to the one you are showing best chance of getting.

One thing you don't mention is your income. You have total debt of around of over £30k when counting the joint loan. How does that compare to your income?

It's about equal to my income which I'm aware is also going to be an issue. I think the joint loan is probably the major fly in the ointment

SuperAllyB

Do you spend anything on the Barclaycard?

There's been quite a few posts on here suggesting that spending may trigger offers.

Try using it for some of your regular spend then clearing monthly if not.

Ben8282

Based on the existing levels of credit card debt plus the loans, I think you will probably struggle to be able to transfer very much at 0% and will have to think about actually getting it paid off.

Brookside88

Ben8282 wrote: »

Based on the existing levels of credit card debt plus the loans, I think you will probably struggle to be able to transfer very much at 0% and will have to think about actually getting it paid off.

Of course that's the aim. Hence the reason I'm throwing more than £500 a month at it. However in the short term it would be great if I could keep as much as possible at 0%

Brookside88

SuperAllyB wrote: »

Do you spend anything on the Barclaycard?

There's been quite a few posts on here suggesting that spending may trigger offers.

Try using it for some of your regular spend then clearing monthly if not.

I'm not currently using it no. I think the last time I used it was for the unexpected car purchase back in april which I then paid off pretty much immediately with my bonus from work. Perhaps it's worth me putting my monthly petrol fill up on it for a couple of months and see if that triggers an offer