When it's good, it's fun. When it's bad, it's funny.

Sarahwithlove

You should be able to do more than one balance transfer. You just pay the fee on both amounts is all and usually have a certain date you have to pay by. I'd work out the minimum then round up to nearest £5 so that you are paying slightly above. It looks better that way especially as barclaycard minimum is very low percentage anyway. 

BrotherUuurgh

Fingers crossed that is the case. Be nice if you could swap a loan over too but that's wishful thinking. Indeed the minimum is £5 + 1% of balance, so will round up of course. The 30 months gives me time to focus on the other interest bearing accounts and get those down and gone. I will of course be mindful of making sure not to go over the 30 month period when doing some new calcs - will do that when the balance(s) are transfered. 

BrotherUuurgh

A shiny Barclaycard Platinum arrived in the post today 😊. Got registered online and activated it, promptly initiated a balance transfer. Funnily enough CC2 is one that actually had a pair of scissors put through it and disposed of, so I've ordered a new card so that I can use the card details to put through the second transfer.

Feels great to be able to shift so much debt to 0%, and for so long - the cards were costing me approx £100 in interest every month alone. 

The Vanquis card, CC1, will be closed as soon as possible, following a phone call to clear any trailing interest. I don't see any point in keeping this account open, though it is a relatively long standing account (which I believe can be seen favourably by lenders?) - the BC itself is 30.9% so not great but still lower, however I don't plan on using this for anything else at all until the balance is zero. Even then, it will only be carefully planned purchases during a promotion, or deposits/holds while on holiday. I have learned my lesson this time. I didn't last time.

Really will be great to close them down, unless of course it may be beneficial keeping one open (in terms of credit history)? 

biggerpickle

That's great at sorting such a long 0% balance transfer cards - having done some card shuffling myself, it just makes the admin and payments head to being debt free just that bit quicker even if it still feels like a long road ahead.

BrotherUuurgh

Thanks, yeah I have no idea how I was accepted for this card, but I'm not complaining.

Psychologically it feels like a shorter road now, as I know every penny on that BC will be put towards the balance itself. Couple that with family debt (in fact, "Family 2 isn't a loan as such, but a commitment all the same to a large family holiday) being 0%, I'm now only paying interest on the loans which makes it easy to prioritise which account to hammer first. 

BrotherUuurgh

So I got the balance transfers underway earlier on this week. Zopa is now pending closure, and will be cleared and closed once I pay the final balance, which I'm assuming is just the trailing interest. On the other hand, I had to order a new Zopa card to get the card number to do the transfer (see, never thought I'd get any kind of BT otherwise I wouldn't have done this), as I'd cut it up, so had to wait a few days for that to arrive. I kept trying to put it through the online servicing but no bueno. Rang Barclaycard and they said I needed an alphanumeric reference number. Rang Zopa who advised of its whereabouts. Rang Barclaycard again and the transfer was accepted, though a wait of up to 4 working days for it to go through due to it being done manually.

So hopefully by the end of this week, I'll have all the credit card debt shifted to 0%, and will just have the final balances to clear on payday at the end of the month. I'm not too fussed about the closure of a long standing relationship with a creditor, as it won't matter in the long run - by the time I'm in a position to think about mortgages will be years down the line. Might be wishful thinking, but I've got to try before it's too late. 

In the mean time I've got a Tesco Clubcard credit card, which will be used for small spends here and there to gain points. It's for £250 and I'll be treating it like one of those 'credit builder' type cars. I'm not going to count this as a debt, as it's just going to be a different vessel for the same overall spend - the money that I'd otherwise use will always be in the bank. I felt this would be an overall benefit as it will increase the points yield, which I convert to Virgin flying club points. Currently at around 28,000pts, so another year of collecting at this rate, now I've got my new job, and I will be able to get a rewards flight for my wife and I. Hopefully anyway! 

fatbelly

Well done. Good to see your debt coming down in your signature

BrotherUuurgh

I'm just going to pop in here that I hope this all makes sense so far, I'm not very good at "telling stories" and keeping time and small details, so hopefully it all adds up. Anyway... 

The balance transfers have been completed! Decided to pay the final balance on Vanquis and get it out of the way. Zopa was completed today and there was no outstanding balance. They are one, or even two, less payments to make next payday. They're gone, they're history. 

Reformatted my signature to make it a bit less of an eyesore but also make it easier for me to follow. Done some up to date numbers and despite BT fees, the debt has come down by just over a grand this month overall 😊.

I've also updated and tallied up my monthly outgoings, (rounded to nearest £1) which have reduced by a few hundred to £2,020. I could now probably post a more accurate SOA which includes things like haircuts, clothing etc that were left out of my first one. Even factoring in this extra cost, I might be in the position to have at least an extra hundred to put towards debt, and that is based off my contractual wages only - with overtime (of which 8hrs+ is all but guaranteed) the situation is even better. 

It's exciting 😁. 

fatbelly

fatbelly said:

What struck me from that soa is that you don't have a lot of surplus at this stage - £50 ish - and your debts are high interest

Can you get another 0% deal to transfer the Vanquis debt to?

Have you thought of an affordability complaint to Lendable and Plata?

https://debtcamel.co.uk/refunds-large-high-cost-loans/

My first suggestion seems have worked well

Do you feel like trying my second one?

BrotherUuurgh

fatbelly said:

fatbelly said:

What struck me from that soa is that you don't have a lot of surplus at this stage - £50 ish - and your debts are high interest

Can you get another 0% deal to transfer the Vanquis debt to?

Have you thought of an affordability complaint to Lendable and Plata?

https://debtcamel.co.uk/refunds-large-high-cost-loans/

My first suggestion seems have worked well

Do you feel like trying my second one?

Indeed it did. I managed to shift just under £500 @ 0% with a Post Office balance transfer card a short while ago but that was only 3 months. By pure luck I came across the 30 month 0% Barclaycard on Clearscore. Not only accepted but with every bit of credit I needed plus a bit. Game changer!

I did post a thread a few weeks ago regarding affordability complaints, whether Plata made enough checks to gauge affordability. In the replies I felt the vibe was that I was being cheeky, exploring this avenue only a few weeks after taking the loan out. I think unless I start to struggle, I'm happy enough plodding along for the time being. Things are gathering momentum quickly, obviously for the better, and it's perhaps one less thing that I need to worry about for now. I do very much appreciate your advice.