Any suggestions.....!!!!! C/Card Crisis

mr_and_mrs_f

HI everyone, After listening to Martin on the radio today we thought that a post on this site might be able to point us in the right direction to rid us of these dreaded debts......????
This is what we currently owe on the following credit cards..............
Capital One..limit is £1250, balance is £1170, min payment is £35 @ ?% interest
Barclaycard visa..limit is £5250, balance is £3829, min payment is £94 @ 18.9% purchase, 23.4% cash
Barclaycard mastercard... limit is £2500, balance is £2253, min payment is £56 APR as above
Citicard visa... limit is £4340, balance is £3368,min payment is £101 @19.9% purchase, 24.4% cash

feel free to ask us for more info.........
many thanks mr & mrs f

Lopo

Welcome to the newsgroups and site!

Congrats on the first step taken towards wiser wealth and wisdom towards your hard earnt and spent money!

Best solution would be to try your luck on applying for a 0% credit card and transfering all your existing balances onto that card. That will give you some breathing space and consolodate everything together so you then have 1 single repayment to make each month and you can chip away at the mountain of debt that has been created. Dont wish to go into too much detail on the multitude of cards just yet until you have a better understaning of the ones out there and the benefits they will offer you. I'm sure other posters will assist there.

General idea without knowing more sensitive info about you (salary earning prowess/incoming/outgoing/mortgage/kids/cars/savings etc...) is to then "not" do any new spend on this new 0% card if you can obtain one. Your aim should be to minimise the exisitng debt to zero over time, perhaps even tone or curb your current spending as this will help. There are some 0% cards that will allow you to do both 0% balance transfers and also 0% spending BUT you really need to be aware of this fact and whether your new card will permit this.

Review the other posts on this site for an oasis of very useful information. You will find it beneficial.

If you are unable to obtain a 0% card then perhaps use some savings to pay off and remove the higher APR% charges if available.

A good starting point perhaps would be to ring up the credit card companies you are currently with and ask them if they are willing to offer you a 0% card. If not then ask them to consider giving you a lower APR%. If you achieve that then transfer all your cards to that in the meantime and then start from the top here again trying to obtain a 0% card!!

Look towards considering closing down cards that are no longer good to you that...ie: offer you no reason to keep them.

Money saving comes in many forms, every penny will help....consider reading the rest of the site to also benefit you in other areas of your lifestyle...bills...etc....

Good Luck!

[glow=purple,2,400]Lopo... ![/glow][glow=red,2,400]Lopo... ![/glow][glow=orange,2,400]Lopo... ![/glow]

smartsaver

Hmmm So u owe £10620 to credit cards  ???

I would suggest applying for a low interest life of balance card. I think barclaycard can offer this to existing customers. Then transfer as much of the debt as possible from the highest interest cards to this card.  ;D

When the transaction has gone thorough close the card if the balace is 0. If the whole balance is not taken up by the low interest card , I would look for the best loan deal around and try to consolidate as much as poss into a loan - without an early payment penalty. Destroy all cards at 0.  :(

Make sure you can keep up the payments. 0% interest cards are really only meant as a short tem loan so in your case I would avoid them as you will have to pay back a high monthly minimum.. Others might think differently...

PS Lopo's advice sounds good too.. This is not an exact science!!

Galstonian

Try readnig this:

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cgi-bin/viewnews.cgi?newsid1058700002,77120,

If you have questions after that please post them.

Lopo

Well said smartsaver....

Forgot about Loans which are useful too in your situation since a good loan will have alower APR% than what you are paying on all the cards....will certainly assist you as another option.

Your situation has many approaches to a solution. It is upto you to educate yourself with the options and determine what you consider to be your best approach given your circumstances.

Good luck again...!

deemy2004

HI everyone, After listening to Martin on the radio today we thought that a post on this site might be able to point us in the right direction to rid us of these dreaded debts......????
This is what we currently owe on the following credit cards..............
Capital One..limit is £1250, balance is £1170, min payment is £35 @ ?% interest
Barclaycard visa..limit is £5250, balance is £3829, min payment is £94 @ 18.9% purchase, 23.4% cash
Barclaycard mastercard... limit is £2500, balance is £2253, min payment is £56 APR as above
Citicard visa... limit is £4340, balance is £3368,min payment is £101 @19.9% purchase, 24.4% cash

feel free to ask us for more info.........
many thanks mr & mrs f

There are a number of good 0% cards out there where a balance transfer to would immediate give you some breathing space whilst you pay off the debt.

Such as Egg, Halifax One, MBNA - combined should cover the whole of your debt.

zcaprd7

First things first, ring up all of your creditors and make sure you know the balance, credit limit and APR rates for every debt...