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meerkatpie

Hi Everyone!

I hope that you're all okay?

Had a bit of bad news today. I have been checking my credit file every month as usual through Credit Club and I noticed something strange... 

My addresses had updated through a company called Lendable. The address was correct, but it showed an effective date from 19/03/2021 which I thought was strange. 

Anyway, I contacted lendable and they have stated that someone did go onto their platform on that date and attempt an application in my name, but that some details were incorrect and it was currently with their underwriting. 

Thank goodness I check my credit file otherwise I would never have known! Luckily they had only done a soft search while the details were being checked and no accounts have appeared on my credit file, so hopefully I will be okay. But it has been such a pain! I have had to register with CIFAS and there were two other quotation searches done by a credit union and Zopa on that day so I have emailed them and I am awaiting a response. 

I did just have a question though... this has made me absolutely terrified and I literally want to close every account that is redundant down and try and minimise my footprint... should I do this?

One reason that I ask is that Barclaycard have conveniently offered me a balance transfer, I don't know whether to put my MBNA balance on there and keep all that with one provider to close my MBNA? I also have a Tesco credit card I don't use which I am thinking of closing, but this will reduce my overall credit limit (there is no balance on there), so I don't know if it will do more harm than good to my credit file?

Anyways, any advice anyone has about these situations, please let me know! 

Sarahwithlove

Tesco is quite good at doing offers as well so might be worth keeping it open for now. 

meerkatpie

Sarahwithlove said:

Tesco is quite good at doing offers as well so might be worth keeping it open for now. 

That is a good point actually... I think I just went a little into overdrive, I got very worried and it really made me realise how fragile everything is! 

I haven't made any amendments yet, I think I've done what I can to protect myself 

Hopefully it will all blow over! 🤣

Sarahwithlove

As long as you can trust yourself to not use it for anything then keeping it open until you have cleared some others can be a good thing if you are going to need future offers. I kept all mine open until I got to clearing my last card. I have two but only out of laziness that I haven't closed them. Both are empty. 

meerkatpie

 Sarahwithlove said:

As long as you can trust yourself to not use it for anything then keeping it open until you have cleared some others can be a good thing if you are going to need future offers. I kept all mine open until I got to clearing my last card. I have two but only out of laziness that I haven't closed them. Both are empty. 

I've been good so far, I do use my Tesco credit card, but I use it for shopping/fuel and then I pay it straight away when I am home... I'm not sure if it's wise but I get extra clubcard points and the balance is always kept at £0 on my credit file this way. 

I think you're right, for the time being whilst I am paying everything off, it's best to keep them to keep my credit utilisation down. 

I think the plan when I have cleared down the cards is to close both the Barclaycard and my MBNA card. I have my Tesco one for what I use above and a Santander one which hasn't has anything on it for a long time, but it's an older account so it's not doing much harm

meerkatpie

Well, good evening all!

I can't believe quite how much I look forward to these updates now. It's just a reminder that slowly but surely, we are all trying our best and getting somewhere which is really nice to see. 

Things have felt a little tough of late, it happens every now and then. I suppose we all have those moments where we think 'I can't do this'. But even the smallest step is one in the right direction, which is just that motivation to keep going.

So here is the breakdown for this month:

Barclaycard - £1,200.00
MBNA Credit Card - £4,883.26
Car Finance - £13,085.55

So my total debt for this month now stands at £19,174.81. Which is a reduction of £1,209.59 compared to last month! 

Out of everything, the end is in sight for paying off my Barclaycard. I am hoping that a big payment in May and the remainder in June should be paid and should bring this down to a nil balance, which will be fantastic! 

Following my issue with my credit report I am pleased to say that this has been fixed and everything is back on track with no immediate impact. Fingers crossed that this will be okay!

The goal now is to get rid of this Barclaycard balance, although I do have one thought if someone has any thought...

My MBNA credit card 0% offer expires June 2022. This means I'll have to se up a direct debit in June for about £400 a month to make sure it is paid off in time, with the remainder going towards my savings to bring up the balance of my LISA. The only other option is that Barclaycard have offered me 0% until April 2023 and have increased my credit limit so will allow me to transfer my MBNA balance over to them and it will mean I can set up a direct debit for £250 a month instead to give me a little more spare cash to put towards my savings or debts. 

What does everyone think? Shall I move all the balance to one card and get my MBNA closed and forgotten about? Or shall I stay put and see how things go? 

Any advice would be very much appreciated! 

I hope everyone else is keeping okay and that you've been enjoying the sunshine, I think the ease of lockdown has made no difference to me but it's certainly nice to go back into some shops again. 

Stay safe, all. 

vampirotoothus

Hi there, good work here In order for anyone to advise on the transfers you ask about above can you advise what rates apply on the cards at the moment?

meerkatpie

vampirotoothus said:

Hi there, good work here In order for anyone to advise on the transfers you ask about above can you advise what rates apply on the cards at the moment?

Thank you! 

They are both at 0% at the moment, it would be a 3.2% fee to move the balance to Barclays, so around £160. Even though it is a cost, it means I could close my MBNA account and have one less credit card to worry about and it also means I get that little bit longer and a bit more breathing space for the 0%. I'm hoping it would be paid off before the MBNA one runs out, but you just never know what's around the corner. 

I'm just not sure if it will be a good move to make.

meerkatpie

So, I've been having a few more thoughts about this balance transfer that I mentioned in my last update.

It's something that I am not going to do, now that I have thought about it, I don't want to pay an extra £160 just to keep all my credit in one place, it makes no sense! Plus, it will just prolong the time until my credit cards are paid.

So, the plan is to pay off my Barclaycard to start with. This ETA is now about June time. I have £1200 outstanding and I am going to pay it off in two chunks over the next two months as long as I can keep up my overtime.

My MBNA balance transfer ends in June 2022, so in June I am going to keep my direct debit at the minimum and work  to pay off extra so it works out at about £400 a month. This should then be clear for then and I'll have been able to save a little too.

I've had a couple of hundred pounds expense the other day as my laptop broke and I needed to have it fixed but I've put this on my MBNA at 0% too, so the balance is back up to £5102, but it is only a little blip and I'll be back on track soon!

If there is anything left over in June 2022, I can always consider a balance transfer then (I'm hoping there won't be, but itit'always an option), but for now leaving it as it is should keep me on track! 

The months just seem to be going way too fast at the moment 😭

IndiJonesi

@meerkatpie I've just read through your whole diary and you are doing really well.  I've subscribed too because I can hardly wait until you are debt free and then get to the stage where you start looking for your first home.  It's a challenge indeed paying off debt but you are committed and making a good job it it.  Well done, Indi