How to Escape a High Interest Credit Card

ilikedrawing

Hi all, after a bit of advice.
I have a Marbles high interest credit card with about £3000 on it and my limit is £4000. I had a bad credit rating but now its very good. I always pay off the minimum, sometimes a bit more and every so often I pay off some bigger chunks. I've let it run on when I should have dealt with it now i'm in a better position. 

Other facts:
I have another high interest credit card with a £200 limit which I always pay off in full and don't really use. (Should I get rid of this? Will that hurt my score?)
I have just taken out a phone contract. (This may have caused my score to dip)
I plan on paying off £1000 of the Marbles debt when I get paid. (Is it ok to pay off this big chunk?)

Is it possible to move to a lower interest card or loan or something? Is this classed as a 'balance transfer'? 

Seriously, finance isn't my thing so please speak in layman's terms, Thanks so much! 

Sandtree

Scores are a marketing ploy from credit reference agencies, all that matters is your history... lenders will make their decisions based on that not the random number generator the CRAs sell access to.

If you get another credit card to transfer it to then that would be a balance transfer. If you get a loan then thats just paying it off. Remember that you will have trailing interest the month after you clear the balance and that will need to paid in full as well to totally clear the card.

Ebe_Scrooge

First off, ignore your score - it's neither seen nor used by any lender.

Secondly, keep your other card - if you're using it and always pay in full, that's a positive mark on your history.

The phone contract will have caused your score to drop, but that means nothing.  The phone contract will (assuming you always pay on time) have a very small but positive impact on your history.

Yes, make extra payments to the Marbles card if you can.

You could try an eligibility checker to get an idea of your chances of being accepted for a 0% balance transfer card.  If accepted, you may not be offered a sufficient limit to transfer the entire balance, but transfer what you can - it'll still save you interest.

The biggest downside to your history will have been making only minimum payments, or only a bit more.  If you're not clearing it in full every month, this can be interpreted by a lender that you're struggling to service your existing debt.  But there's no harm in making 1 application for a 0% card and see how you get on.

[Deleted User]

The one note to add to the good advice above is that a loan (and indeed, a BT card) will be classed as additional credit, not replacement and is factored into lending
e.g. £3000 card debt + £3000 loan = £6000 total debt not £3000 card debt - £3000 loan = £3000 loan debt as there is no guarantee you will use the loan for the card debt
A BT card means more available credit and given your credit history of paying the minimum and (seemingly) struggling to clear your debt, lenders may be reluctant to give you a lot. A sub-prime card application and, if you get one, using whatever card limit they give you will help you clear the debt though.

ilikedrawing

Thanks for the advice, much appreciated. 

Deleted_User said:

The one note to add to the good advice above is that a loan (and indeed, a BT card) will be classed as additional credit, not replacement and is factored into lending
e.g. £3000 card debt + £3000 loan = £6000 total debt not £3000 card debt - £3000 loan = £3000 loan debt as there is no guarantee you will use the loan for the card debt
A BT card means more available credit and given your credit history of paying the minimum and (seemingly) struggling to clear your debt, lenders may be reluctant to give you a lot. A sub-prime card application and, if you get one, using whatever card limit they give you will help you clear the debt though.

Yeah I did wonder if that was the case. So maybe I should pay the £1000 off now and then....wait to apply for a better rate card? 

[Deleted User]

Credit file won't update that quickly, no harm in a BT card application now, even if you only got say £2000 limit, it's still around £1800 off your main balance onto 0%