Worried about debt

[Floralapron]

I’m in £800 debt on my credit card. I pay off the minimum monthly, but I know I need to pay it off completely soon as it’s racking up.
I’m currently out of work because of Covid. I’m really struggling and in a panic as I didn’t even realise it was as much as £800 until I just checked.

Can anyone advise me? It was originally a 0% interest credit card, it isn’t anymore.

Right now, change your payment from the minimum to the amount of your last payment every month - even if you can't afford a penny more then at least you'll be making tiny chips away at it.

If you can afford more, even £10, then pay that.

Can you get another 0% card? If not, the interest on £800 won't be enormous (for comparison, my MBNA ex-0% card is something like £14 per month interest on the £500 balance - I'm paying off £100 per month so obviously that goes down as I pay off and more of the fixed amount pays the balance rather than interest).

The main thing is to keep making payments and always more than the minimum. The more you pay, the faster the progress, but any fixed amount is better than the minimum.

If you're still spending on the card then obviously that's a different issue.

Have you been on money saving expert? They deal with all types and sizes of debt. First off, have you tried another 0% balance transfer card? You can do a soft search to gauge how likely it is you would get it before you decide if that’s the way you want to go.

Move to 0% if you can and pay the minimum payment at least - agree look at money saving expert for advice too

800 quid isn’t the end of the world. A huge “but”is whether you’re still using it and consequently increasing the balance every month. As sleepyhead said, pay a bit more than the minimum even if it’s only a pound or two.

I just went through MoneySuperMarket a couple of days ago for a similar amount of debt. Virgin Money are currently doing 20 months interest free on balance transfers. I think the transfer fee is costing me £1. Work out how much it would cost you to pay every month till it's cleared and pay at least that. You can probably clear it quicker.

Can you get an interest free card to transfer the balance to? MSE has an eligibility checker tool that is pretty good that gives you an idea of your likelihood of being accepted for various cards.

Get advice from trained staff, on appropriate sites. Step Change, Money Supermarket, National Debt line will all answer your questions and help you very quickly.

I've just moved a (very much larger) balance to a Virgin card with 20 months interest free on balance transfers. Can you check eligibility for another card to transfer it to?

Otherwise have you already had a payment holiday due to Covid? It may be worth speaking to your card provider even if they're not being advertised anymore. It was earlier in the year but AMEX gave me a 3 month holiday and I think they'd have extended it had I asked. I was still able to pay off the interest each month so the balance didn't get any higher, but I needn't have if I'd been stuck.