Do I consolidate

kimwp

I'm not sure how the numbers work out, would you be willing to share the amount on each credit card with the  payment and corresponding Apr and the loan numbers?

enthusiasticsaver

I don’t think you should consolidate. Can’t you get any 0% deals to move the existing cards? Too late now but perhaps it would be better to forego holidays until the debt is gone. 

ThunderHoof

I just don't understand the point of consolidating, if the interest rate is the same then you will pay the same amount back if you just paid off the cards over a period of 18 months, and that £800 holiday should really be going to the cards if we are being sensible.

stymied

I’m confused. How can the same amount of money as all the cards with the same high interest rate as one of the cards paid back over a much shorter period of time equate to the same monthly repayments?

Please do recheck as this doesn’t make sense.

sourcrates

rowas02 said:

Thanks for everyone's comments, judgemental or not. I intend to cancel all credit cards, actually did one yesterday after clearing it, and yes for those skeptical, the repayment time jump is huge but one I can afford due to reducing interest paid by only having 1 outlay, not 4 and still paying out the same amount as I pay out now.
I'll update you all as it goes

Just don`t make the classic mistake of thinking you now have much more disposable income to play with, and take out a new line of credit to "treat yourself", then another, and another, and before long you find yourself back in the hole again with unaffordable repayments, you really need to exercise discipline to stop that from happening, because its the path almost all consolidators have dared to tread, and what makes consolidation such a double edged sword.

Some folk go down this route many times in life before they realise what they are doing wrong, I hope this does not describe you, I wish you good luck with it.

TripleH

If you have worked out the numbers and budgeted it's up to you.

The only point I'd make is that reducing the payments into 1 rather than 4 doesn't save money but it can help budget better.

I'd plan the payment to come out sooner in the month (closer to payday), just be aware of not running out of funds between paydays.