I did a bad thing...

numericallychallenged08

I spent on my credit card after balance transferring and now i'm paying a tenner worth of interest each month!

Help! What should I do?

I am highly uneducated when it comes to credit cards so would really appreciate your help.

NickX

Unfortunately once you have started accruing interest in this way, the only solution to stop the interest is to clear the balance in full.

You could get another 0% card and transfer the Balance over.

There will be another Balance Transfer fee so you need to work our whether you are better just taking the hit on the monthly interest or paying a fresh Balance Transfer fee.

Only other alternative is to borrow the money from somewhere else to pay the card off in its entirety.

numericallychallenged08

thanks for the quick reply! So if I balance transfer to a new credit card at the lowest transfer rate i can find, will i pay any interest on my debt?

NickX

numericallychallenged08 wrote: »

So if I balance transfer to a new credit card at the lowest transfer rate i can find, will i pay any interest on my debt?

As long as you transfer the entire balance it will stop accruing interest on the existing card.

If you can get a 0% Balance Transfer card, then you should not accrue any interest on the new balance for the duration of the promotion.

Only thing is SOME providers have been known to charge interest on the Balance Transfer fee so this is something to watch out for with whoever you decide to apply to.

NickX

Also one other thing to note - to stop the interest accruing your must transfer the ENTIRE balance, so you can only do this if the new Credit Card gives you a Credit Limit higher than your existing debt.

In fact you want it to be about 5.5% higher than the existing debt as many card companies will only allow you to transfer up to 95% of the Credit Limit.

numericallychallenged08

ok, right i had to read your message about three times but i think i get it! My balance is under £2k so i think i should be alright with the 5.5% credit limit malarkey. I will do some research into how much it will cost me to balance transfer and them um yeh.. hope to start being able to make a positive impact on this debt..

Thanks so much for your help Nick, :T

oldagetraveller

And well done for admitting it's your error. I fell for this once myself and did as has been suggested, (another 0% balance transfer card) fortunately before the advent of transfer fees.
Just remember to never use the "transferee" card for any purchases until it's paid off completely.

GeorgeUK

Having read that thread, i need to point out one thing as it not entirely clear from the panic the OP seems to be in.

When you spend on a card like this and get charged interest, you are only being charged on the amount you spent (plus any interest). The amount you had at 0% will still be 0%. The only thing is that any payments you make will go towards the 0% debt instead of the amount being charged interest. (Unless the lender has a special clause for this, but it would be the exception to most lenders)

As usual when doing the transfers, you will need to ensure the lenders do not have the same card provider. This table should keep you straight.
http://www.stoozing.com/cards.htm