Not sure which is best

jean68

Can anyone help .We have 3 credit cards ,one with 15.75% one with 13.05% and the third is 12.90% . We were going to put every spare penny into clearing the 12.90% one because it has the lowest balance and then we would only have two bills coming in each month .There dosent seem to be much between the three interest rates .We applied for a 0% card to transfer the balance to but were refused because it was too near the limit .What do you all think .We would be grateful for any advice .Thanks .Jean .

dylanuk

Credit card 'shuffle' advice usually says to clear the most expensive interest rate balance first.

Understandably it may seem nicer to just have 2 credit cards with an outstanding balance - but your overall balance would still remain the same. By clearing the lowest rate balance first, you're doing yourself an injustice as you could of used the cash to knock down the higher rate balance and reduced the total amount of interest you are paying.

If you can't get a promotional balance transfer credit card to move any of the balances to, 0% or low rate for life, then the credit card shuffle would advise you to try and move the higher rate balance to the lowest rate credit card - and if you are still unable to do that, then to pay off the highest rate balance first, obviously whilst also keeping up minimum repayments on the slightly lower rate balances.

Hope this helps.