Credit Card! Pay of full or bits?

dastley

Hi peeps just a quick question really if you dont mind "help" !
I have one credit card owing, £1600 left on it and have only only been paying minimum. Then it occurred to myself that its just not going down im have been a paying a bit for a while now and still stuck over £1500.

My question is it wise to just pay it off in full with my small savings I have "which are incase of a emergency on the house, car, pets"
or leave it and just start paying of a little more each month and reduce the amount I save.

Thnx.

dastley

Being as its a CC, Will i be able to pay of what i owe on it or will i have to pay interest on top EG.. £1600 but to pay it of might be £1680 or sumit

Donedoingdebt

Pay off the balance owing as per the statement. Next month, you'll almost certainly have a bill for outstanding interest.
As Al Mac says, it would be better to get rid of the credit card. However, if this leaves you with no savings & feeling vulnerable, you could set up a standing order for this months minimum payment & pay that same amount every month. This will pay off the balance lot quicker than just paying off the minimum.

dastley

yeah again thnx for the advice guys, just a bit unsure about this:
"However, if this leaves you with no savings & feeling vulnerable, you could set up a standing order for this months minimum payment & pay that same amount every month. This will pay off the balance lot quicker than just paying off the minimum" donedoingdebt can you explaina little more please.

Donedoingdebt

If you go to www.moneysavingexpert.com/cards/minimum-repayments-credit-card this will explain everything.

IWantToBeFree_2

I have some savings which I am reluctant to use to pay off the debts.

Whilst it doesn't make as much interest as my debts are accruing, I am about to move into a new house and as I am a first time buyer, I want a safety net to fall back on should I have under estimated bills etc when budgetting to see if we could afford it.

If you don't feel comfortable spending all your savings, don't is my advice.

Its ok having a credit card to fall back on for emergencies, but then you'll start paying interest again etc and its so easy then to fall back into the debt trap.

Donedoingdebt

Sorry, I put the wrong link in. I've now corrected it

vmf199

Can you change it to a 0% cc? I've got £1700 just left to pay off now on credit card but it's 0% till Aug, so I'm currently paying £50 off it (min payt bout £39) and any money I save to pay towards it (from £2 coin savings and ebay sales) i'm paying into an ISA so it can earn a bit of interest. Then in Aug I'll either swap it to another 0% deal if there are any that don't have balance transfer fees or will pay off with what I've put in ISA.

dastley

Again some great advice, im really unsure, i have been putting it of for a while now. i think my min is £35 but the interest is crap, i may try and swap to a o% card, and pay half of then start paying a little more each month, then try and pay the rest of " want to be clear by the end of the year".