To ask you to please help me sort this financial mess!!

I have a 0% with 5000 on it which I am paying of slowly but also saving in a higher interest account that I hope to transfer over to pay the card.
However I just about to get anouth 0% to pay for some very needed house repairs. ( another 2-3k!)
Sometimes these things happen.
So your credit card balance doesn't sound terrible as long as you are paying something off towards it each month

Just get a 0% balance transfer card only, transfer the balance and cut up the card and don’t add it to Apple/Google pay.

It sounds like you took out the second card to transfer the first lot of debt to 0% and then ended up using the original card again. Perhaps he’s worried about getting a third card & having the same thing happen again. Is it even possible to get a third card? Surely they would do checks?

I agree with consolidating into a 2 year loan & paying off monthly. Then getting rid of both cards.

Keep hold of the house savings & focus on getting that up to more so you get your own place. Renting is just wasting money when you could be paying off your own mortgage. Having so much on the credit cards will affect what you can borrow as mortgage companies will do a search & you have to justify everything. So best to spend two years clearing the debt.

Don't touch the LISA (I don't think people saying "take the hit" realise that the bonus is £1k a year if you put in £4k and they take back 20% of the balance so you actually lose money). But do stop putting anything else into it - you need the money now.

I think getting one more 0% card, transferring and then paying this off before accruing an emergency fund makes sense. Then save 3 months bills and costs. Then go back to the LISA. I know you will miss bonus money but you can't afford to top it up.

Mumsnet is not the best place for help with debt advice and support.

The debt support forum on Money Saving Expert will give non judgemental support as well as advice that makes financial good sense:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/categories/debt-free-wannabe

If you post on there you will get great support and advice from other members and site administrators. I have found it really helpful.

This is also a great overview of managing debt on the same site:
https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/loans/debt-help-plan/

If DH won’t apply for a new 0% card, can’t you do it? Or do you not work?

Read her replies. She replied earlier that wouid lose a lot of bonus as in a lifetime

@MoneyMare getting a 0% and transfer is the best bet - that’s what I did for 3/4yrs at end of every 0% to move to another and pay the transfer fee and then no interest and now it’s all paid off

why did you use a credit card - what was the debt for ? Emergencies or stuff you could have saved for

I mean this kindly - but £6000 of debt that you didnt have a solid plan to manage paying back, is quite a lot of debt.

It sounds like you’re piecing together a reasonable plan.

1. Transfer the debt to something with the lowest interest / running costs as possible.
2. Focus hard on getting that paid down during that low interest period. Probably by cutting discretionary spend for a while.
3. Aim not to accrue any more credit card of short term unsecured loan type debt.
4. Once card debt is paid off, run another few months on that same tight budget until built up an emergency fund buffer in an instant access savings account or premium bonds so that you can avoid repeating this situation.

You’ve got what you need to sort it out. It’ll just need a few months on tightening spend up a lot.

Edit - double post

OP this is not a big deal. Get a 0% balance transfer and deal with it in 48 months. Done.

I take 6k every couple of years just for the fun of it. It’s free why not!

Exactly. You aren't giving within your means. Racking up debt and paying it off with more debt isn't sustainable. You need to work out how this stops once cards paid off. I personally would take savings and pay off debt. I would then invest and anything I would be throwing at debt I would be saving.

Do not get a loan. Debt consolidation is the worst thing to do. Have you addressed why you got in debt in the first place and are you now living within your means?

You were right to prioritise the card charging interest. Your DH may be sick of credit cards but ignoring it and not applying for 0% balance transfer cards will make the situation worst. You both should be prioritising paying them off if you don't want to use them.

See if you or your DH can get a card for both balances and make a plan to pay them off before the deal ends. Maybe you could both apply for one each? £6000 is not a huge amount so fixable if you do not do anything stupid like continue to run up debt or go down the debt consolidation route.

Yet two of those times were asked after the OP had already answered…

Transfer to 0% (sounds like he's on board now from your updates) and then you need a monthly zero pound budget where every £ is accounted so you can be assured you're putting everything you reasonably can towards debt repayment.

Agree also that you need a readily accessible emergency fund to avoid building it back up. General steer is 3-6 months worth of expenses. Best of luck - you'll get there if you make these cards your primary focus.

Completely agree with this. It can be so emotional as a conversation. Make it data driven and you and partner will clearly see the answer.

agree also about the balance of lots of different types of savings.

also, a learning point is how you track when the 0% is coming to an end. If you really want to get on top of this then you need to get shaper at the management.

I think the end is in sight. Transfer the credit card you are paying interest on to a new 0% card. Pay off a thousand on the remaining card and then pay that off in big gulps every month. Once that’s done tackle the new card in the same way. It’s painful but the faster you do it the better and personally I find short and painful easier than slow and steady.

You need to prepare a spreadsheet with 3 scenarios to compare:

1. Do a balance transfer to a 0% credit card, calculate the monthly repayment, paying off the debt by the time the 0% runs out.
2. Take out a personal loan, pay off the credit cards, calculate how much monthly repayments would be and how long it would take you to repay the loan
3. let the current 0% card run out, calculate what would the new repayments be and how long would it take you to clesar the card.

Take the hit. Pay off debt rebuild savings.

She already said its in a LISA where they would lose the bonus and pay penalty interest which would negate any saving by doing so.

It's in a LISA and the loss of the bonus would be more than the saving in interest. She said.

I would transfer to another 0% interest card with the longest interest free period and set the monthly payment so the debt is paid off at the end of the period and cut it up so you can't use it. Any extra money you have you can make additional payments to pay the debt off quicker. I was in the same position a couple of years ago as we had credit cards from when we did house renovations and we did what I have described above, one will be paid next month and the other in about 6 months. It's taken a couple of years and I'll be glad when they are paid off.

Why can't you access??? 3rd time asking.

I don’t think it’s actually that much relative to how much you have at your disposal. Won’t your other CC take a balance transfer of the expired one? Then just chuck as much as you can spare at it.

Op you need to have a saving account that you can access as well as the other one for any unexpected big bills. Like your car repairs.

I know this is achievable right now, but it's something you need to look into.

I would pay as much down as you can, as you seem to have excess in your current account and see if you can consolidate onto a new 0% card. Then try and pay off as much each month as you can afford.