Think I have a plan, need it to be sense checked

Turnedthecorner

Thank you all for the great advice.
I'll applied to join the electoral register this morning. I'll be paying £2k to NatWest, then £200 pm to NatWest and £100 pm to HSBC, finally I'll look into a BT card, hopefully get one for around 2 years.

sharpe106

If you do an SOA I am sure others can give you even more advice. 

enthusiasticsaver

On a joint income of £55k how much can you afford to repay each month?  I think you should focus on clearing the cards using the bonus and your income rather than trying to improve your credit worthiness.  Reducing the debt will do that anyway.  Consolidating debt is a mistake in my opinion.  If you get to November and realise you are not going to be able to clear the remaining debt by the time the 0% deal finishes then apply for a 0% balance transfer card then but plan 1 should be to pay the debt off not move it to another card or loan. 

zippygeorgeandben

I love it when people take advice on board.  Yup, don't consolidate and hit that debt hard. Chop chop chop!

pecuniam_hominem

sourcrates said:

Hi,

Your credit score means diddley sqat in the real world, most bankrupts have a 999 score on experian, that number is

This is utter nonsense.

Paperback_Writer

pecuniam_hominem said:

sourcrates said:

Hi,

Your credit score means diddley sqat in the real world, most bankrupts have a 999 score on experian, that number is

This is utter nonsense.

I would beg to differ. Credit score is just a meaningless number. Companies have their own ratings systems and a high "score" doesn't necessarily mean anyone is guaranteed credit. Last time I checked, my so-called score was 957 but the reality was my level of debt was too high (lower now) and it bore no relation to success or otherwise when I was attempting to get a 0% debt shift.

sharpe106

The credit score you see is just a figure made up to basically see you things. Otherwise all the credit score companies would all give you the same score if it was actually a real score.

Fireflyaway

I'd recommend not getting a loan or moving the debt about. I've done it and it tends to make you feel you have done something when in reality you have just moved the debt rather than decreased it. You need to get annoyed by the debt and work to get rid of it as soon as you can. As for credit scores, it's not a sign of wealth, income or sucess. It mainly shows you have debt and pay it back on time.  A family friend of ours went into a phone store and was declined a phone contract because of a low credit score. He is a 40 something pilot on a good income. Married with kids and a paid for home.  Because he pays cash for everything and doesn't have debt, he didn't have a good credit score. Seriously don't pay too much attention to your score.