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Credit card trap
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Soldato
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For those saying consolidation loan, unless he closes the card after paying it off he’ll just end up with 2 lots of debt instead of 1.
Soldato
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Who is the card provider?
I would hope that given the OP has acknowledged he needs to get out of the situation, the first thing he'd do after paying it off is close the account!
Soldato
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There are two main simple ways to clear this issue :
1) Get 0%, low rate etc and use that approach
or 2) Earn more to clear the debt
You sound like you have tried most options in regards 1, so why not put some effort into 2 for a while and see if that throws up any options.
so looking at 2) can you, do some OT/extra hours
Could you get a second job, even if its for 6 months or something
Can you sell anything, CDs, old comp games, clothes, etc.
Can you spend time finding coupons to buy things, change habits in food purchasing, so bulk cook rather than cooking daily
Basically look at everything that saves pennies, everything that could gain you pennies. Credit card debt is such high interest that every pound paid off will start to make a difference.
Another idea, top cashback, do you use it, could you use it. Simple things like switching elec/gas can get you £35 quid cashback. You may get a better deal and get some cash. Don't obviously take a worse deal to get cashback, but do take the same cost deal to get cashback.
1) Get 0%, low rate etc and use that approach
or 2) Earn more to clear the debt
You sound like you have tried most options in regards 1, so why not put some effort into 2 for a while and see if that throws up any options.
so looking at 2) can you, do some OT/extra hours
Could you get a second job, even if its for 6 months or something
Can you sell anything, CDs, old comp games, clothes, etc.
Can you spend time finding coupons to buy things, change habits in food purchasing, so bulk cook rather than cooking daily
Basically look at everything that saves pennies, everything that could gain you pennies. Credit card debt is such high interest that every pound paid off will start to make a difference.
Another idea, top cashback, do you use it, could you use it. Simple things like switching elec/gas can get you £35 quid cashback. You may get a better deal and get some cash. Don't obviously take a worse deal to get cashback, but do take the same cost deal to get cashback.
1) Get on to the clearscore website (also have phone apps), get signed up. They'll do a credit check and you'll also get offers from them with credit card info, loans etc. Excellent site and totally free.
2) I bounced all mine to a Barclay Credit card, long 0% on balance transfers time frame. Really helps make a dent.
I'd start skrimping right back, remove as much expense as possible and pay off as much as you can. Takeaways, pub, subscriptions, cancel what you can, save where you can. It's often easier to save from spending less than making more.
^^ This
Make a note of everything you buy over a month and add it up, may surprise you.
Do you have Sky Sports and/or Movies, the £30 or so a month saved if paid extra on the credit card would start to make a huge difference in the interest charged, how about Netflix/Amazon prime? Try and shave as much as you can, someone mentioned selling old cds and DVDs, if you could raise £100 selling those that will make a difference in the interest charged.
As little as it seems £10 a month more than the minimum payment will start to chip away at the overall balance quite quickly and as someone alluded to, if you do manage to get a consolidated loan from the bank close the credit card account.
Good luck as I was there about 15 years ago, had to cut my cloth accordingly and eventually made my way out of it, it's a long road but the relief you get when free is immeasurable.
As little as it seems £10 a month more than the minimum payment will start to chip away at the overall balance quite quickly and as someone alluded to, if you do manage to get a consolidated loan from the bank close the credit card account.
Good luck as I was there about 15 years ago, had to cut my cloth accordingly and eventually made my way out of it, it's a long road but the relief you get when free is immeasurable.
Do you have more than one credit card? When i was in a similar situation, I had 3 cards. What I did was paid any extra I could off one particular card, even if it was just £10-20 some months. Eventually there was enough available credit that they offered me a 0% balance transfer offer. I think it was only for 9 months but as soon as I made that first transfer, the card I transferred from then also sent me a 0% so I transferred again and again and since they changed the rules so that any payments pay off the most expensive debt first, I don't think you can go wrong.
"The tool"? There are several out there which cover different lenders and so may give different results, it's worth checking a few (and directly with some lenders) as he may get different results *as long as they are soft searches only!!!*
Another one to look at is Money saving expert, it has a "credit club" which gives you a free experian report every month along with recommendations for loans/cards/etc to suit your profile
Also check things like taking out a bigger loan over a longer term (can give lower APR) and repaying the excess straight away, keeping the payments the same but reducing the term (check if there are early repayment/settlement penalties first!!)
Also, good luck, and we'll done for acknowledging it and trying to take control instead of just ignoring it like some people do
Associate
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Any possibility of a family member lending you the money to pay off the card?
how the holy crap do people get themselves in this situation?
Sorry that was brutal but I just dont get it, I'm 33 and with the exception of a mortgate have never been more than a couple of k in debt and that noremally been after something in the house broke and I needed a quick fix. My current debt stands at 900 quic on a credit card due to my wedding next week and car insurace hitting in the same week but that is going to get cleared with my bonus next month.
Maybe ive had it easy, maybe ive been sensible I dont know I just dont understand how things get to this stage before people start considering they need to do something about it
Sorry that was brutal but I just dont get it, I'm 33 and with the exception of a mortgate have never been more than a couple of k in debt and that noremally been after something in the house broke and I needed a quick fix. My current debt stands at 900 quic on a credit card due to my wedding next week and car insurace hitting in the same week but that is going to get cleared with my bonus next month.
Maybe ive had it easy, maybe ive been sensible I dont know I just dont understand how things get to this stage before people start considering they need to do something about it
Soldato
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Just ring and tell them you can't afford to pay it off and you need the account frozen so your not paying off interest only, in a worst case scenario if you defualt on your payments they will freeze the account anyway and demand the total sum of money, at which point you agree to pay ''x' amount monthly without the interest being added on monthly anyway, your credit rating might take a hit but that's the price you pay, at least you can pay the debt off.
Usually due emergencies popping up, unexpected bills and often living beyond their means and paying no attention to their financial circumstances. Let us not forget the complete lack of coverage regarding actual life skills at school.
Weddings, cars, big purchases often get put on credit cards, as do emergency repairs, vets bills, redundancies, even funeral costs
It doesn't really matter how the OP is in this situation, its more important he's looking at taking positive steps to get out of it.
You sound like me stuie, in my post #18, to which Angilion succinctly replied in post #20.
He got it right, I never made a purchase that I’d find hard to pay off, but I neglected to say that for a length of time before I did The Knowledge, and became a Black Cab driver, I had a truck driving job were there were ample opportunities to make a few quid “under the table”, with virtually no chance of being found out.
I’m not talking in telephone numbers here, but £50 here, and £60 quid there kind of thing.
This “mad money” went into a separate account in my wife’s name only, and often when a credit card bill hit the mat, I’d pull the dough out of that with her card and PIN, and pay it in cash, but even with that, I still tried to use the cards wisely.
Most likely a combination of the above - get a run of bad luck combined with making poor decisions on how to get out of it, and it's not that hard to be stuck paying for it for years, e.g. you lose your job and the same week your boiler blows up or your car gets written off wiping out your savings... You still need to eat/pay the bills etc. So what do you do? Obviously you can mitigate by increasing your savings, but if you're in a low paying job where you can only afford to put aside a minimum amount monthly anyway, then it can quickly spiral out of control
Most people are a couple of months without wages or two large unexpected bills from the **** hitting the fan to the point where it could risk a mortgage or a rental payment. Credit cards are the only way out for a lot of people who haven't yet had the opportunity to save and who don't have parents with deep pockets and hands willing to help them.