Nervous newbie

GeorgeUK

Wait a few weeks after the card is clear, then call and enquire about closing the card. The person you are dealing with may try to offer you something but if it isn't 0% (possibly a life of balance deal - low %) you will need to work out which would best suit you. If you have a good limit here it may be worthwhile. If you don't want what they are offering or you could say i was looking at the virgin card which has less of a transfer fee, they may put you through to "customer retentions" who can make better offers.

Some put you through to the closure department, but you can just hang up if this is the case - sorry someone's at the door i'll need to call you back.

You do need to be prepared to close the account, but with that interest rate, you don't really want to keep it. There are a few threads that talk about this - especially in the credit card section.

Here's the link to the stick for that topic in the CC section.
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=33

~Beanie~

It seems to me that you can't afford £25 holiday or £30 emergency fund. Can you get rid of these for a while?

tirednewdad

~Beanie~ wrote: »

It seems to me that you can't afford £25 holiday or £30 emergency fund. Can you get rid of these for a while?

completely agree if you put this extra money into paying off your credit card debt you'll clear it quick and pay more off- there was an article on the main site a few weeks ago that put it very well.
If an emergancy does come up in the mean time then you can borrow it from one of your cards ( or better still a cheaper new one), so your always have a back up.

Clear the debit- most expensive one first.

Problem seems to be that your are looking for a quick solution,where as it will take time to sort out the debt (years)-

One place to start is too actually find out your credit score as work from there so you can get an idea about whats available.

Good luck. Hopefully putting it down on paper will actually make things a lot clearer.:T

theonlywayis_up

Thank Beanie and tirednewdad, was wondering if I cut the emergency fund, what I would use as a back up, but I guess putting it on a credit card IF an emergency comes up is an option.

bank_of_slate

Hi and welcome! Some of the APRs on your credit cards are REALLY high, have you used them to withdraw cash?
Can you balance transfer from high APR cards onto lower APR cards and stop using them?
...Linda xx

theonlywayis_up

Hi and welcome! Some of the APRs on your credit cards are REALLY high, have you used them to withdraw cash?

The high APR's kicked in last year when I had a really tough patch and made some late payments, the cards automatically put their APR up, saying it was in their terms and conditions. All cards are maxed up to their limits, but am exploring other peoples suggestions of looking at 0% Virgin card.
Am definately stopping using cards for new purchases, my aim is to gradually pay them off and get debt free.