Credit cards for non-credit-card balance transfer

kathtreading

New to the finer points of personal finance and trying to wrap my head around what type of credit card works best for me. I have never had one before, but I do have plenty of items bought on credit with Barclays Partner Finance, Currys Your Plan, PayPal Credit etc.
I want to put (almost) everything I owe onto a single credit card and get it paid off as fast as I can - but will it count as a balance transfer if I’m not transferring from an existing credit card? Is it worth getting a balance transfer card if what I’m actually paying off would count as a purchase? Am I even allowed to use a credit card to pay off these kinds of credit agreements?
(Sorry for newb questions, I have done my best to get answers myself but keep drowning in legalese!)

jay1804

What the reason for you wanting to get a credit card?

anna42hmr

reading between the lines of your post, if i am right in assuming you want to consolidate lending from barclays Finance, Curry's etc onto one credit card?  

If so as it is not credit card debt you are consolidating its not a normal balance transfer card you will need, you will need to find one that does a money transfer (which pays money from the credit card into your current account) not all 0% balance transfer cards support money transfers.  

You may want to take a look on this page on MSE

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/credit-cards/money-transfers/

however if you are also looking for one for new spending as well, you are best not to use the same card.  

kathtreading

jay1804 said:

What the reason for you wanting to get a credit card?

Consolidate the credit we’ve got outstanding. We bought our first home and had to get furniture etc straightaway, got them on credit and have never been able to get everything paid off and start saving.
My SO, best person I know but sees monthly payments for credit items as the same as just having monthly bills like gas and electric rather than a ‘debt’, and everything is ‘only an extra £10 a month, we can afford that’. I’m hoping that changing up the way we pay things off might change the way he sees credit purchases if he can see all the money we owe to a single card in one place.
Once that’s all paid I can start making a dent in the car finance 

[Deleted User]

I'd head to the DFW board. You've got a lot of debts kicking about and you need to tackle them properly, rather than just consolidating, even if that were possible. 

Do an SOA, with all your debts and APRs and they'll help you tackle them in the best way. 

kathtreading

anna42hmr said:

reading between the lines of your post, if i am right in assuming you want to consolidate lending from barclays Finance, Curry's etc onto one credit card?  

If so as it is not credit card debt you are consolidating its not a normal balance transfer card you will need, you will need to find one that does a money transfer (which pays money from the credit card into your current account) not all 0% balance transfer cards support money transfers.  

however if you are also looking for one for new spending as well, you are best not to use the same card.  

Yeah, spot on, better summary than mine!

Thank you for this, I didn’t realise ‘balance transfer’ and ‘money transfer’ aren’t interchangeable terms. This looks to be much closer to what I had in mind.

That does make sense based on what I’ve read, although I’m hoping to put an embargo on more credit purchases until these are paid off. Thanks again!

anna42hmr

kathtreading said:

anna42hmr said:

reading between the lines of your post, if i am right in assuming you want to consolidate lending from barclays Finance, Curry's etc onto one credit card?  

If so as it is not credit card debt you are consolidating its not a normal balance transfer card you will need, you will need to find one that does a money transfer (which pays money from the credit card into your current account) not all 0% balance transfer cards support money transfers.  

however if you are also looking for one for new spending as well, you are best not to use the same card.  

Yeah, spot on, better summary than mine!

Thank you for this, I didn’t realise ‘balance transfer’ and ‘money transfer’ aren’t interchangeable terms. This looks to be much closer to what I had in mind.

That does make sense based on what I’ve read, although I’m hoping to put an embargo on more credit purchases until these are paid off. Thanks again!

No problem, happy to help.   Also that way if you can consolidate the debt at a 0% basis will also mean a reduction in interest paid so more money is going to the debt to clear.   However I would suggest it is paid down as quick as possible and not retained with the intent of then transferring to another BT card at the end of the term.   As such the debt free wannabe board may help.  

If for any reason you are not able to consolidate and still want the debts cleared as quick as possible and reducing the number of debts, you may want to look into the debt snowball method - this is where you list the debts in order of smallest balance to highest balance, you pay off the minimum balances on all but the smallest debt and throw as much as you can to the smallest debt clearing that sooner, once that's cleared you then move on to throw as much as possible to the next smallest and so on.  

I also find Dave Ramsay's podcast and book's  an good way to focus on debts (thought not to sure on him as a person sometimes with some things he says) i do think his baby steps program has its merits.  - though he is more focused on US finances etc can be half on a British perspective.