How to juggle this bill?

sarahs999

Hello,

Hoping for some friendly advice. As you can see from my sig I've several cards with outstanding debts, most at 0%, that I've been paying off for a few years now. We've just received a nightmare unexpected bill for a blown head gasket of £1500. I'm wondering what to do and my options are these:

Pay half cash from savings, half on credit card (prob halifax) then BT to my empty Virgin card, which is offering 4.9% on BTs til december 08. I could possibly, but not def pay it all off by then.

Put it all on a CC, then BT to Virgin. Won't be able to pay it all off by Dec. However, it leaves the savings intact; savings are precious for day to day living at the moment, as husband is doing a degree (finished by July) and we only have one salary. Also am aware that mortgage is going to variable in July and we are likely to be v squeezed, so want to have savings around if we can.

Try to get another CC to BT to at 0%. Only just got my barclaycard in DEc, so worried I won't get another one so quickly. Also lots of credit available to me, and I'm aware they're tightening lending.

Are there any other options? I know we're not supposed to have savings when we have outstanding debt but for things like nursery cahrges I need cash, not credit cards. Things will hopefully change in September this year when my husband gets a job, and we can finally live on two salaries, but at the moment I'm preoccupied with keeping our debts as low as possoible.

Thanks for your advice and sorry for the spelling - comp at work is playing up and v slow!

sarahs999

Also I forgot to mention - I have an offer from Natwest to BT at 0% until feb 09 on the card I have, but I guess that means that the balance i have on there already will get trapped behind any BT I do?

chappers

Why not pay for the vehicle repairs on virgin and BT your Natwest to virgin too if you have alarge enough limit and then BT the whole lot back to Natwest, obviously you will have to pay all the relevant BT fees.

adaze

I assume your savings are £750?

Pay off Halifax & Lloyds, this will leave £356.54 in savings. Put the WHOLE bill on one card (assuming the limits are there, you now have a choice of 3 cards). It is a waste of time paying half from savings when you have outstanding debt. Pay it all on CC and maximise the interest free period. Then you can BT (i.e. what chappers says) just before that runs out, that should at least give you about 6 - 8 weeks, to play with.