Barclaycard Debt.

Blobbyjobbywobby

I have a Barclaycard with a debt of £8000. For the past few years I have been paying this debt off and it is now only down to £6200. Last moth's interest was £100 on a payment of £187. I have tried to get a cheaper card so that the debt can be paid of quicker as I cannot afford to pay this amount each month with a state pension. Every card on the eligibility calculator has a nil chance of being able to transfer this debt as I am not earning ! Is there anything I can do to please ?

Ebe_Scrooge

The usual advice would be to try and shift as much of the debt as possible to a 0% or low-rate balance transfer card.  However, it sounds like you've tried that with no success?

Do bear in mind that a pension can legitimately be declared as income when the application form asks for your income.

If shifting the debt to a lower rate card is not possible, your next step would be to see if you can reduce your outgoings at all - the debt-free-wannabe board on here is a great place to start.

In addition to reducing your outgoings, is there any possibility of getting a part-time job, even if only temporarily, to increase your income?  I feel your pain when you see that most of your payments go towards interest - if you can find any way to throw extra money at the debt, then it will greatly reduce the total amount of interest that you end up paying.

If none of these approaches are viable, then one of the charities like Stepchange can be a valuable source of information and advice.

born_again

If you are not using the card anymore than speak to Barclaycard. They may close the card but offer to freeze interest. Clearly it will affect any future credit you may want to get.

Fighter1986

You can include every monthly payment you receive as income on a credit card application, this includes DLA / PIP, state and private pension, pension credits, and anything else like housing benefit and council tax benefit. 

[Deleted User]

Fighter1986 said:

You can include every monthly payment you receive as income on a credit card application, this includes DLA / PIP, state and private pension, pension credits, and anything else like housing benefit and council tax benefit. 

*Where the Ts & Cs allow this - it's worth checking before in case they don't

maxmycardagain

"one step forward, 2 back" springs to mind?

Gerry1

If you can't get a 0% card, check out what an authorised bank overdraft would cost compared to the credit card interest rate.

MattMattMattUK

Gerry1 said:

If you can't get a 0% card, check out what an authorised bank overdraft would cost compared to the credit card interest rate.

I doubt someone on only a state pension (which I am making an assumption on, based on the fact that they cannot afford to continue repayments) would get a overdraft anywhere near £6k. Also because of the regulator's meddling almost all overdrafts now have an APR of 39.9%, which makes credit card interest rates look reasonable.