Debt Advice

Rose0410

Hi there,

Hoping anyone can help me as I've tried asking CAB amongst others and they all just refer me to someone else... 

I have some debts that I'm trying to work out how to consolidate to null some of the interest I am currently paying 

I currently have:

£1550 on a credit card and £2726.51 in a loan that I need to pay off. 

I had a possible idea of using the remaining £2450 of my credit card to pay off most of my loan and then balance transfer to the Virgin(? I think - can't remember) 0% for 25 months guaranteed balance transfer card. This would mean my monthly repayments were fixed without interest on the new card. 

My questions is whether or not that's a good idea or whether I'm missing something... Have I forgotten about any charges? I've looked at my loan and there isn't an early payment fee as long as I have paid off the interest required on the loan. But have I missed anything from the credit card side of things? 

Any help would be gratefully received!

RAS

What rates are the loan and card? What might the transfer fee be for the 0% card, 3%?

CliveOfIndia

Rose0410 said:

I had a possible idea of using the remaining £2450 of my credit card to pay off most of my loan

How do you intend to do that?  You can't use a Balance Transfer option to transfer the loan to the CC, and you're unlikely to be able to do an ordinary "purchase", as it were - even if the loan company accepts payment by credit card (most won't), it would be classed as a cash transaction with associated fees and interest.

If you have a Money Transfer offer available then that would work - though you'd need to account for the transfer fee.

Rose0410 said:

...then balance transfer to the Virgin(? I think - can't remember) 0% for 25 months guaranteed balance transfer card.

When you say it's "guaranteed" - have you already been given a firm offer for the BT deal?

If you have a Money Transfer deal available then it may work - but be aware you'll almost certainly have to pay a fee for the MT, and then possibly another fee to subsequently BT to Virgin.

Rose0410

CliveOfIndia said:

even if the loan company accepts payment by credit card (most won't), it would be classed as a cash transaction with associated fees and interest.

Apologies... I didn't know that. I feel really stupid now... sorry to have bothered you all. I'm still trying to learn all of this and don't have anyone who can guide me. Apologies again...

Rose0410

RAS said:

What rates are the loan and card? What might the transfer fee be for the 0% card, 3%?

The loan is 13.8% and the cc is 28.8% interest. Transfer fee is 3% i believe... But as has been stated above, my idea was silly... Sorry to have bothered you all. 

enthusiasticsaver

To pay off the loan with a card you need a money transfer card. Are you able to get a 0% card to BT the existing card? 

Have you done a budget to work out how much you can afford to repay monthly?

flipflopflo

Rose0410 said:

CliveOfIndia said:

even if the loan company accepts payment by credit card (most won't), it would be classed as a cash transaction with associated fees and interest.

Apologies... I didn't know that. I feel really stupid now... sorry to have bothered you all. I'm still trying to learn all of this and don't have anyone who can guide me. Apologies again...

Don’t apologise, as another poster used to say the only stupid question is an unasked question. The way you learn is asking questions and taking onboard what people who have experience explain. Nobody thinks you are stupid at all. Well done on asking and finding out what you need to do. 

RAS

Rose0410 said:

RAS said:

What rates are the loan and card? What might the transfer fee be for the 0% card, 3%?

The loan is 13.8% and the cc is 28.8% interest. Transfer fee is 3% i believe... But as has been stated above, my idea was silly... Sorry to have bothered you all. 

Ok, given those rates, you need to concentrate your efforts on clearing that card, not transferring your loan onto it. 

They aren't good, so that may reflect your credit record, or just that you hadn't got much of a credit history when you took them out.

Do check the MSE 0% deal Page and do a soft check to see if you can get a balance transfer. Don't do a hard check until you are know the situation. Doing three in short succession will make it harder to get another deal in the near future.

Come back here if you want to discuss the options. Believe it or not we don't bite. 

Even if you can't get a 0% card, a balance transfer of your existing card debt to 13.8% would save you money in the long run.

Even a new card with £500 at a low rate could help. There are ways to transfer the debt to the lower rate card if you are very disciplined.