Which cards to keep.

Benthosboy

Hello all.

As per my sig, I've got a fair bit of debt and I'm trying to get this credit card thing under control. Having just read all the stuff I can find, I'm wondering which card(s) to keep. At the moment, I've got three:

Halifax: balance - £7600-ish, bl - £8050, APR - 20.9% but has 0% for 6 months.

LloydsTSB: balance -0, bl -£10000, APR - 26.5%.

Virgin (just received): balance - 0, bl - £3000, APR - 15.9% but has 0% for 15 months.

Any suggestions what to do? And yes, I know that if if I'd waited until August (by which time the Halifax balance will have dropped by about £2500), to get the Virgin card I'd have got the full 15 months at 0% but with my luck, I wouldn't have got it so I'm happy to settle for 9 months at 0%. Incidentally, none of the cards will be used until the balances are clear, if at all.

Thanks all.

Martyn.

CannyJock

If I was you, I'd cancel the Lloyds TSB card - scary interest, 0 balance and a chunk of potential 0% credit being taken up by the card being active (assume 2 months before it's off your credit file)

I'd transfer the maximum possible (95%) from Halifax onto the Virgin card and setup a DD to take the "minimum" from the card for the next 15 months (first payment 3%, then 14 payments of £ 25).

I'd then plough every penny into clearing the Halifax balance, assuming it's a straight 3% minimum.

Personally, if you had a couple of months between applications, I'd be looking for other 0% cards to get rid of that Halifax balance before June/July to dodge that 20.9% coming in August.

For future ref - check www.whatsthecost.com for snowballing tips

Benthosboy

CannyJock wrote: »

If I was you, I'd cancel the Lloyds TSB card - scary interest, 0 balance and a chunk of potential 0% credit being taken up by the card being active (assume 2 months before it's off your credit file)

I'd transfer the maximum possible (95%) from Halifax onto the Virgin card and setup a DD to take the "minimum" from the card for the next 15 months (first payment 3%, then 14 payments of £ 25).

I'd then plough every penny into clearing the Halifax balance, assuming it's a straight 3% minimum.

Personally, if you had a couple of months between applications, I'd be looking for other 0% cards to get rid of that Halifax balance before June/July to dodge that 20.9% coming in August.

For future ref - check www.whatsthecost.com for snowballing tips

You are a star, Sir. I thank you. :T

Martyn.