New loan or balance transfer?

Fluffydogs24

I have two credit cards. The second was a balance transfer only card and now I'm paying interest on that as well as my first credit card which was for spending. I am in receipt of benefits so I'm struggling to pay both of them off with the amount that's needed. So I think it would be more cost effective if I consolidated so I end up paying back less. But would anywhere accept me?

Emmia

Fluffydogs24 said:

I have two credit cards. The second was a balance transfer only card and now I'm paying interest on that as well as my first credit card which was for spending. I am in receipt of benefits so I'm struggling to pay both of them off with the amount that's needed. So I think it would be more cost effective if I consolidated so I end up paying back less. But would anywhere accept me?

The usual advice is not to take a loan out to consolidate, as this doesn't address the cause of the debt. The risk is you keep spending on the cards and quickly end up with a doubling of the debt. 

If you must do this,  you must also close the cards and not reopen new ones... no "emergency" card.


You may also want to go over to the debt free boards to see if there are areas in your budget you could reduce to make it less likely you'll need the cards - you potentially could also not need the loan.

Fluffydogs24

This is brilliant advice. Thank you so so much for responding. 😊😊Emmia said:

Fluffydogs24 said:

I have two credit cards. The second was a balance transfer only card and now I'm paying interest on that as well as my first credit card which was for spending. I am in receipt of benefits so I'm struggling to pay both of them off with the amount that's needed. So I think it would be more cost effective if I consolidated so I end up paying back less. But would anywhere accept me?

The usual advice is not to take a loan out to consolidate, as this doesn't address the cause of the debt. The risk is you keep spending on the cards and quickly end up with a doubling of the debt. 

If you must do this,  you must also close the cards and not reopen new ones... no "emergency" card.


You may also want to go over to the debt free boards to see if there are areas in your budget you could reduce to make it less likely you'll need the cards - you potentially could also not need the loan.

Emmia

Fluffydogs24 said:

This is brilliant advice. Thank you so so much for responding. 😊😊Emmia said:

Fluffydogs24 said:

I have two credit cards. The second was a balance transfer only card and now I'm paying interest on that as well as my first credit card which was for spending. I am in receipt of benefits so I'm struggling to pay both of them off with the amount that's needed. So I think it would be more cost effective if I consolidated so I end up paying back less. But would anywhere accept me?

The usual advice is not to take a loan out to consolidate, as this doesn't address the cause of the debt. The risk is you keep spending on the cards and quickly end up with a doubling of the debt. 

If you must do this,  you must also close the cards and not reopen new ones... no "emergency" card.


You may also want to go over to the debt free boards to see if there are areas in your budget you could reduce to make it less likely you'll need the cards - you potentially could also not need the loan.

This is the standard MSE advice over on the debt boards.
 
Pop over there, and if you feel comfortable do a Statement of Affairs (link below) pasting it in the format for MSE.

There's loads of help on the boards available from people who will constructively analyse your budget/spending to help you keep more of your income, or at least understand where the money is vanishing to!

https://www.lemonfool.co.uk/financecalculators/soa.php

Nasqueron

Keep in mind that any consolidation loan is done on both affordability grounds (being on benefits and struggling to pay off a BT card + paying interest on the other one indicates a loan would not be affordable) but also on the basis that loan would be in addition to the card debt as they cannot force you to pay off the cards or indeed, stop you just spending on the cards again which is potentially likely given your described situation.

I agree with the others about using the debt free boards, consider also a financial hardship case with the bank to freeze interest payments. Can you work even part time to help pay the debt off?