'Instant Money' - Have I got this right?

rdpro

Sorry if this is in the wrong forum, but debt-free seemed appropriate!

My young lady friend (a forum member) is in a slight pickle.

Her parents emigrated to France a few months back and her father has just been diagnosed with pneumonia, whipped off to a french hospital, leaving her mum alone in a quiet rural village. My friend is pretty stressed about it (hence my posting on her behalf) and needs to have a 'standby' of finance should she need to jet out there if things get worse.

She has just been upgraded from a basic Natwest no-frills account to a normal current account, after many years of bad credit history. (She chose Natwest because I work for them as a consultant, and knew the guys in account management - I know their accounts are pretty grim otherwise!)

She has a Visa (Natwest - 15% apr?) with 650 limit, but she's pretty much maxed it unfortunately.

She also wants to pay me back 3000 in 'borrows' she's made over the years (I've just bought my first house and am struggling with cash a bit).

I've agreed to put 1000 quid in a shared savings account we hold in case anything happens in the next day or two, but my real question is:

After looking at the main site advice, would she be better-off:

a) taking a Barclays loan of 4k and clearing her debt to me *and* wiping her card debt, and having a few hundred set aside for emergencies, or

b) transferring the balance of the card to Egg to get it interest-free, minus the 20-odd quid transfer fee and getting a 3k loan?

I've told her the best 'emergency cash' is an agreed overdraft that isn't used, and personally would plump for (b), but, as my mum always said, 'get three quotes!'

thank you all in advance

IWantToBeFree_2

Getting a loan that small would normally mean that the interest rate would be quite high, I know Egg are charging about 16.9% at the minute on that kind of balance which is extortionate for a loan. Interest rates tend to go up the worse the credit rating is as well so she could struggle.

Has she thought about getting a credit card which allows a balance transfer to her current account such as a Virgin one, which at the minute has around a 15 month interest free period.

Obviously interest will be charged once the promotional period is over but she could look at balancing transfering again, subject to credit rating.

Paparika

Thanks for the advice, i will certainly have a look