What do I do!

lokipops123

I have 3 credit cards. In 2022 I cleared my cards before I moved out of parents home to go rent. We done ok not spending on it for awhile after moving out but it quickly became living beyond our means (which is own fault) and we spent and spent on it with the idea of paying it back and never did. Since we bought a house in 2024 (was not my money saved) and there is a long back story to why we didn’t pay card off first. But we really became in a bad way with money and since used the cards for a lot and also now become stuck in our overdraft every month. We have an ok combined income. I got a 3rd credit card in 2024 to pay off the other two but I did not get accepted enough so I paid off a bit on the other 2 and now that 0% has ran out and I have not bought anything on that card for 4 months but pretty much with all 3 I’m paying £120-£140 each and have an interest of £70-90 on each so the reality of paying it off is going to take a VERY long time. It is really getting me down and really hangs over me always I just don’t know how to get out of this interest situation and nobody ever explained to me that even when you don’t buy something with the card you still pay interest. I’ve now not touched them for 2 months but I would be really intrigued to know if anyone has any advice how to get over this or advice how to pay it to avoid large interest amounts without damaging my credit score and remortgaging/taking money out the house is not an option for us. I’m currently in debt of £8,900 

MeteredOut

Please list the cards, their outstanding balances and their interest rates/minimum payments, along with what you're currently paying off each month against each one.

And how much extra could you realistically afford to pay down each month, by cutting down on entertainment, tv packages, phone packages etc.

General approach will be to pay the minimum on 2 cards, and as much as you can on the one with the highest interest rate. Then when that one is paid off, do the same with the other two, minimum payment on one, the most you can afford on the other.

So long as you keep up payments, your credit rating should not be detrimentally impacted (your credit score is a pretty meaningless marketing number).

enthusiasticsaver

I suggest you post on the debt free wannabe forum but the first thing to do is to do a soa (statement of account) showing how much you are spending on everyday things.  £8900 is not a huge amount now assuming you both are on reasonable incomes so you can fix it if you address it now.  Continuing to spend on credit on overdrafts will make things worse so cutting back wherever possible and strict budgeting will help you going forward. 

Brie

You'll be better off on the debtfree wannabe board to get some good advice on how to help find a solution.  I'll move this post over there for you.

First thing you need to do is fill out the statement of accounts so you (& we if you post it back on this) can see what you spend on all the essentials as well as what you need to spend on the cards.  Look for the link in my signature below for the SOA.  You can fill it out from memory of what you pay on bills etc but it's best to use the last couple of months of bank statements to get an accurate picture as so many of us don't realise what we actually spend (myself included!).  If you can share that with us we can hopefully help you tweak your budget to enable you to pay more against the cards and clear them quicker. 

Meanwhile - well done for facing up to the fact there's a problem that needs to be fixed.  

sourcrates

lokipops123 said:

I would be really intrigued to know if anyone has any advice how to get over this or advice how to pay it to avoid large interest amounts without damaging my credit score and remortgaging/taking money out the house is not an option for us. I’m currently in debt of £8,900 

Unfortunately you cannot have your cake and eat it, if you can`t increase your income and at the same time reduce your expenditure, then the only sure fire way to stop the rot is to default on the lot of them.

Credit cards are all non essential spending, there is no sense in trying to maintain a semblance of normality, when you can`t afford to put food on the table.

Your SOA will give us the details, but as homeowners with small debts under 10k, a debt management plan is the most likely outcome here.

The debt management is the easy bit, its realising there is a problem and taking steps to change it, that is the hard part for most people who are trapped in the creditcard game.