Help with credit card

ultra_violet109

Hi,

Maybe you can help? I am struggling with my credit cards a bit - I have 2 of the damned things and want to get rid of them, attempting to pay them off as quick as i can. However, in the meantime i want to transfer to a 0% card but cant seem to find one that will offer me a credit limit over £500 as i am young (thats their excuse anyway). One of the current cards has a limit of £2500, though there is only £1000 on it. So why would the other cards offer such a low credit limit?

Or do you think a debt consolidation loan would be of benefit - the total on the 2 cards comes to around £2500.

Thanks in advance.

Clare

SarahNeedle1872

Ur age may have something to do with it......

A consolidation is probably not the best route for u.... why don't u take a look at the sticky at the top of the front page, so we can see if we can help

Sarah x

Tiglet

Hi Clare,:hello:

It;s not usually a good idea to take out a consolidation loan. Although the interest may be lower, you usually end up paying more in the longer term. Also if it's secured you could end up risking your house. Most people who take out consoldidation loans just get into debt again.

Which cards have you got, what are the balances, APRs and credit limits on each card? It's often best to reduce your interest payments by transferring the balance between your cards - many companies offer special rates for transfers.

Someone will probably pop up and ask you to post a full SOA (statement of affairs) - that's certainly worth doing but you should be able to make some progress with just the card details.

ultra_violet109

right.... just the credit card details for now - will do a full SOA as soon as i get chance - hopefully tomorrow or thurs

CC 1 - HSBC - limit is £2500, currently £954.87 outstanding 16.9%APR
CC 2 - Virgin - limit is £1500, currently £1218.18 outstanding 15.9%APR

Store Card - New Look - limit is £100, currently £15.07 outstanding 28.9%APR, will pay this off in full this month as it is a small amount and get rid of the card so i'm not tempted.

ANy help/advice you could give me on these cards would be great and as i say i'll post my full SOA as soon as i get chance - really need to sort my money stuff out as i'm fed up of worrying about it.

Clare

tesuhoha

If you have been offered £500 at 0% I would take that and BT £500 from HBSC because that will save you some money, then try to get another low rate card. BT as much as you can to lower rate cards then pay of the remaining HSBC balance first as its the highest rate. Just pay the minimum rate on the Virgin card and the 0% card till the HSBC is paid off, then attack the Virgin Card. Try to BT the 0% balance before the introductory term runs out.

Tiglet

Thanks for posting those details. First of all, yes - it's definitely a good idea to pay off the store card as it's the most expensive one.

According to this page, that Martin has kindly compiled, Virgin are likely to offer 0% on balance transfers for 6 months. You'd have to get them to increase your credit limit to at least £2200 to allow for the whole of the balance from the HSBC card but then you could close the HSBC card, reducing your overall credit limit by £1800.

Even if they won't let you transfer the whole amount, you can still transfer as much as possible if they give you a decent rate. Then pay as much as you can off the HSBC card until you've cleared it, and only pay the minimum on the Virgin one.

(You could also try doing it the other way round, and see whether HSBC will give you a better offer, as you can do this without having to increase your credit limit. Also, you will be moving more of your balance on to the cheap rate).

The credit card shuffle article describes several different ways of doing things, depending on your circumstances

Lemon_Tree

the other thing you must do is cancel the cards when they are cleared not just cut them up, if people see that you have credit available to you even if you're not using it then they are reluctant to lend you more.
This may be able to help you get offered higher balances.

CreditMonkey

I applied for a few credit cards last year to transfer a high rate loan to 0% cards. I got Egg, Mint and Amex. Then applied for the BT and got success on egg and mint but the biggest was Amex (6k) Guess what a call a few days later to say sorry its not gone through. They couldn't say why it just hadn't gone through....!.....here's the catch....they still let me spend the money on the card(opps). The morale of the story is don't apply for the cards unless you are sure you have the will power (unlike me) to cut them up if they don't give you the 0% BT.

ultra_violet109

Thanks for the advice so far.

Looking at the state of my finances etc today has really made me think about things and I have decided that in the next few days I really need to look at my SOA, where I am wasting money, what I can do to make some more money and save what I DO have and even down to things like sorting out the cupboards and freezer etc so i am not wasting money unnecessarily on food when i know for a fact I have plenty in the house. (been a problem since living alone - i tend to pop to the garage for food far too often).

I'm sure this site and the boards are going to help me a great deal with all of this and you will be hearing much more from me in the future :-)

Any further advice on the cards will still be gratefully received.

Clare