Advice appreciated on the best approach for managing my credit card and overdraft debt

Superhoopza

katsu said:

Go on a comparison site and take out buildings insurance. It will be easier than you think and the main MSE site has info and links so you can follow them from the top of this page. 

I personally wouldn't go for the Dave Ramsey method in that focusing on debts from smallest to largest values isn't as efficient as paying off highest interest to lowest interest. 

Dave goes for simplicity not efficiency. 

I hope this helps

Good luck! 

Also only points 2 and 6 are relevant to clearing debt and only point 2 is immediately relevant.

Just stick to the good advice listed on this thread.

notation

Thanks all!

So immediate tasks are:

1) Organise buildings insurance

2) Reduce groceries expenditures and general overdraft account spending to reduce interest payments on this overdraft account.

3) Get a roughly 24 month 0% interest balance transfer card to pay down Barclaycard and Natwest interest-bearing credit cards

...But I'm not sure about the faster ways of getting the overdraft down.  Which are a) putting all non-direct debit spending on to a 0% interest credit card and/or b) applying for a money transfer card which has a 0% interest period for a max of about 12 months to pay down some of the overdraft. 

Any further thoughts on these quicker ways of getting the overdraft down?

MFWannabe

Morning
Task 1 needs to be Buildings AND Contents insurance; this is priority; please ensure you obtain both and please try and do this today x 

Then move on to the next task: Check Eligibility calculator to see what cards you can get and your chance of getting them. Then apply for the one you have the best chance of getting. You will probably have to leave it a few months then before applying for another 

You need to break this down into manageable tasks and tackle them. The grocery budget should be very easy to slash 

TheAble

I'd just be wary about taking out another credit card, for all that it appears a sensible suggestion. You already have three plus an overdraft; a few months down the line that may become four plus an overdraft unless you're very disciplined.

MFWannabe

TheAble said:

I'd just be wary about taking out another credit card, for all that it appears a sensible suggestion. You already have three plus an overdraft; a few months down the line that may become four plus an overdraft unless you're very disciplined.

It’s not suggested to take out an additional card; it’s to replace the overdraft or the interest bearing cards; but yes you do have to then close the cards you pay off to ensure you don’t use them again 

TheAble

MFWannabe said:

TheAble said:

I'd just be wary about taking out another credit card, for all that it appears a sensible suggestion. You already have three plus an overdraft; a few months down the line that may become four plus an overdraft unless you're very disciplined.

It’s not suggested to take out an additional card; it’s to replace the overdraft or the interest bearing cards; but yes you do have to then close the cards you pay off to ensure you don’t use them again 

Easily said but not so easily done. I'd get the spending under control first before taking out any new cards. See if you can do a couple of months of £200 groceries as a starter (again may not be as easy as it sounds if used to spending 3x as much)