Credit Card Debt - Any ideas?

creditcardnewbie

Hello to you all.

I am currently at my wits end with my credit card situation and not sure what my next step should be? I currently do not spend any more on the following 4 cards and they are all cut in two and hidden away until they can be paid off.

My current credit card situation is as follows:

HSBC – owe £3,665 (Credit limit £5,000) APR 15.9%
Barclaycard – owe £2,584 (Credit limit £2,600) APR 14.9%
Bank of Ireland Rugby Mastercard – owe £2,710 (Credit Limit £3,000) APR 16.9%
Citibank – owe £2,765 (Credit limit £3,000) APR 4.9% Life of Balance Transfer

I have never once missed a payment on any account I have held and I currently pay as much as I can off each of these cards every month but, as you can probably imagine, I am paying more interest than I would like to as my 0% deals have ran out. I would normally have transferred my balances to a new 0% deal but, as we all know, it is very difficult to get a new card these days.

I have recently been turned down for Egg, Lloyds TSB and Goldfish for credit cards in the past few months and I feel that performing many more searches would be a bad idea.

Given my situation above is anyone aware of anything I can do with my available cards or, if you were in my shoes what steps would you take?

Any help would be extremely appreciated.

Many thanks,

creditcardnewbie :beer:

CLAPTON

if you have been turned down for three cards I would suggest you wait a few months before making any further applications

pay the minimum on each card except the one with the highest APR (BoI) and pay as much as possible on that... this way you will pay the debts off quickest and with the least interest.

consider your income and spending to see if you can get more money to pay the debts off

maybe overtime or a parttime job?
do you know where all your money goes each month
do you have a detailed budget and do you stick to it
start a spending diary and write down everything you spend.. this can often be quite a relevation.

Bismarck

sorry, disagree.

I'd suggest paying the minimum on everything and hitting the barclaycard and getting a lifetime balance transfer at 6.9% on that as an existing customer. One you start hitting it you should be able to start transferring to up to 90% of the credit limit.

it's fee and you won't need to apply.

jonathon_hart

Try the Debt free Wannabe forum - they are full of ideas and help!

creditcardnewbie

Many thanks to you all,

I definitely agree CLAPTON - applying for more cards would be a waste of time at the moment and would have an adverse effect on my credit history.

Many thanks Bismark - that is extremely interesting about Barclaycard - that is definitely something I could aim for as I have always had a good relationship with Barclaycard.

Thank you also Jonathan - I might give that a go to see how it goes.

creditcardnewbie :beer:

neverdespairgirl

DEfinintely try the debt free wannabe board - it's very friendly and helpful.