PayPal Credit and Balance Transfer vs Money Transfer Cards

shakeyboi

Hi All! 

New here and seeking some help. I have been in a debt spiral since finishing uni. I accumulated about £6K worth of debt after the first year which in January I was able to get a personal loan for. Already I have managed to get into a further £4K ish between an overdraft and PayPal Credit. 

Now I know PayPal credit can’t be paid off with a balance transfer card however a money transfer card could be used. But then these seem much harder to come by and apply for and I’d rather have just one to cover off both the debts rather than take one out for one and for the other. Could anyone possibly offer some guidence on how is best to manage this and then if money transfer is best then what things I need to look for? 

A note this is that I’ve already looked a lot online, YouTube videos and debt charities but there is a lot of information without really aiding me in making the right move or just so much information it’s hard to see the wood through the tress on how I can manage this. 

A solution I would imagine is just doing one of them to tackle either the overdraft or the PayPal credit and then just pay the other one off? 

And yes, I will be closing the PayPal credit and removing my overdraft following this, let’s not get into why I’m in that debt. I’m in it and I need a way out, we can save the money saving advice for another thread… 

thank you in advance for any support or advice, money anxiety is not fun so it’s really appreciated! 

Thanks, 

A very Shakeyboi

DullGreyGuy

neither can be paid off by a BT card so you are looking at a MT card or a loan and that will depend on if the interest rates are preferable to your current interest rates. 

Nothing really to look for, just use soft searches that many providers, but not all, offer to maximise your chances of success before formally applying. 

Obviously what too many do is get a new cheap line of credit to pay off their expensive one then 1) run up new debts and 2) dont plan for when the promotional period ends. Whilst some can get away with playing this game for years for many others there comes a point when promos end and you have tripled your debt all now on high interest and no one is interested in lending more. 

shakeyboi

DullGreyGuy said:

neither can be paid off by a BT card so you are looking at a MT card or a loan and that will depend on if the interest rates are preferable to your current interest rates. 

Nothing really to look for, just use soft searches that many providers, but not all, offer to maximise your chances of success before formally applying. 

Obviously what too many do is get a new cheap line of credit to pay off their expensive one then 1) run up new debts and 2) dont plan for when the promotional period ends. Whilst some can get away with playing this game for years for many others there comes a point when promos end and you have tripled your debt all now on high interest and no one is interested in lending more. 

Thank you for the info, really appreciate it! BT is credit card to credit card only then? 

I will get to searching then, see if I can get a 0% MT, they do exist somewhere I think! 

Yeah my plan is to get this in place and then close the overdraft and the credit, easiest way to fix a problem is eliminate the chances of it being a problem! 

Thanks again 😊

shakeyboi

DullGreyGuy said:

neither can be paid off by a BT card so you are looking at a MT card or a loan and that will depend on if the interest rates are preferable to your current interest rates. 

Nothing really to look for, just use soft searches that many providers, but not all, offer to maximise your chances of success before formally applying. 

Obviously what too many do is get a new cheap line of credit to pay off their expensive one then 1) run up new debts and 2) dont plan for when the promotional period ends. Whilst some can get away with playing this game for years for many others there comes a point when promos end and you have tripled your debt all now on high interest and no one is interested in lending more. 

I can’t seem to find a MT card with anywhere near the amount I need. Most seem to be around the £1200 mark which doesn’t actually solve the problem as I wouldn’t pay off the balance and then pay a fixed monthly rate, I’d be paying off the new credit card and still paying interest on either of the current balances… will try personal loans but already having one I don’t think will do me much good. 

CliveOfIndia

The figure of £1200 is just the representative figure that all credit card have to use in their advertising, to allow you to compare the total cost from one card to another.  The actual limit you're given will be decided when you make an application and they run your data through their algorithms.

DullGreyGuy

shakeyboi said:

DullGreyGuy said:

neither can be paid off by a BT card so you are looking at a MT card or a loan and that will depend on if the interest rates are preferable to your current interest rates. 

Nothing really to look for, just use soft searches that many providers, but not all, offer to maximise your chances of success before formally applying. 

Obviously what too many do is get a new cheap line of credit to pay off their expensive one then 1) run up new debts and 2) dont plan for when the promotional period ends. Whilst some can get away with playing this game for years for many others there comes a point when promos end and you have tripled your debt all now on high interest and no one is interested in lending more. 

Thank you for the info, really appreciate it! BT is credit card to credit card only then? 

I will get to searching then, see if I can get a 0% MT, they do exist somewhere I think! 

Yeah my plan is to get this in place and then close the overdraft and the credit, easiest way to fix a problem is eliminate the chances of it being a problem! 

Thanks again 😊

Basically BT is only credit card to credit card, the slight exceptions can be some will do charge cards (not that there are many offer these now a days) and some in principle can do certain store cards when the store card really is a credit card but locked to a single store rather than being something the store has made up themselves. 

shakeyboi said:

DullGreyGuy said:

neither can be paid off by a BT card so you are looking at a MT card or a loan and that will depend on if the interest rates are preferable to your current interest rates. 

Nothing really to look for, just use soft searches that many providers, but not all, offer to maximise your chances of success before formally applying. 

Obviously what too many do is get a new cheap line of credit to pay off their expensive one then 1) run up new debts and 2) dont plan for when the promotional period ends. Whilst some can get away with playing this game for years for many others there comes a point when promos end and you have tripled your debt all now on high interest and no one is interested in lending more. 

I can’t seem to find a MT card with anywhere near the amount I need. Most seem to be around the £1200 mark which doesn’t actually solve the problem as I wouldn’t pay off the balance and then pay a fixed monthly rate, I’d be paying off the new credit card and still paying interest on either of the current balances… will try personal loans but already having one I don’t think will do me much good. 

£1,200 would seem very coincidently the value that banks are obliged to use when calculating the APR figure. Obviously some are offered £1,200 but it could be you are mistaking the illustration of costs as the amount you are being offered. 

Traditionally lenders were tighter with MT than BT, doesn't seem as bad these days as it used to be but fees are still typically higher. 

Nasqueron

You need to go to the Debt Free board on here and post a statement of affairs (I think the Lemon Fool site has a suitable one). Consolidation doesn't work - as you can see with a loan to consolidate then already have 4k more debt. You need to have a lightbulb moment and stop living a life beyond your budget - the SOA will hopefully help.

Lenders always look at existing debt + new debt together as there is no guarantee you would use the MT card or another loan to pay off the debts.

shakeyboi

Nasqueron said:

You need to go to the Debt Free board on here and post a statement of affairs (I think the Lemon Fool site has a suitable one). Consolidation doesn't work - as you can see with a loan to consolidate then already have 4k more debt. You need to have a lightbulb moment and stop living a life beyond your budget - the SOA will hopefully help.

Lenders always look at existing debt + new debt together as there is no guarantee you would use the MT card or another loan to pay off the debts.

What’s SOA? 

CliveOfIndia

Statement Of Affairs : https://www.lemonfool.co.uk/financecalculators/soa.php

Basically it's a tool that allows you to fill in all your income and expenses and see what's what.  It's very useful purely for your own use, as it makes you think about pretty much every expense.

But if you fill it out, select the "Format For MSE" option and copy/paste it into the Debt-Free Wannabe board, others can have a look and make suggestions as to where savings can be made.  It's often very useful to have an impartial, objective opinion from someone else.