debts and balance transfer help.

[tennesseyhennessey]

Hi, i was hoping someone might be able to give me some advice. I have run up debts of around £2,800 split across a credit card (2000 of debt), store card and catalogue. Now that im working again i was hoping to get these paid off asap. Im making minimum paymenst but not getting anywhere.
I have been accepted for a credit card with a balance transfer free for 16 months. With the amount i could afford to pay each month i could have the card cleared with about 400 left, when the 16months is up. The APR is also at least 13% lower than the APR on what i owe.
My questions are
a) can i transfer store/catalogue bills as well as credit card
b) this seems to me to be the best way to get me out of debt or am i missing something that by combining it all together will make me worse off???
thank you.

What is the fee for transferring the balances?

Can you pay the store cards/catalogue bills by credit card? If so then yes you can. If not pay the minimum off on the interest free credit card and get the other debts paid of much more quickly - the highest interest one first.

the balance transfer fee is 2.9% and yes i can pay the other 2 by credit card. I admittedly have no idea how to work out the balance transfer fee, whether it is 2.9% of the total or 2.9% over the time it takes to pay it off?!

Oh and thank you for replying to me so quickly!

2.9% fee immediately added to the balance and no further interest incurred until the interest free period ends.

However you may then be charged interest on the remaining amount from the date of the transfer...

So it may then be cheaper to switch to another interest free deal!

Look on moneysavingexpert - they have excellent debt free advice and help on there.

Thank you fro your advice. So if my working out is correct that would be about £81 added on?? I was thinking if i go through with consolidating it all together,that when the time is up i could swap to another interest free one? I figured this would be better than the 29%+APR im paying across all 3 at the moment.

When I had cc and store card debt I paid off the smallest debt first and then kept on saving and paying off chunks.

I had to be really strict with myself to do it but the feeling of paying things off and closing the accounts was great. I still have all the letters confirming that the accounts were paid and cancelled 3 years later.

Google makes 2.9% of £2800 £81.20.

£2881.20/16 payments = £180.08 a month to clear the bill.

At the moment im paying about £160 a month for these 3 but this is all just minimum payments and then there's the interest of at least 29% on top, i feel like im not getting anywhere which is why im considering doing this ):

tenne yes I think that would be the best way forward

moneysavingexpert will also tell you which is the best interest free deal around at the moment.

You may be better off with one that has a higher transfer fee but a longer interest free period???

It just so happens the one ive been offered is the best one on there so i think i will be calling them on tuesday to sort it all out. It seem almost too good to be true that i could potentailly be pretty much debt free in under 2 years. I saw this hanging over my head for years and years!

Just be ruthless in scrimping and saving and get rid of it - will be so worth it

Honestly that website is brilliant you will get so much support, help and advice on there - think it is debt free wannabees thread or similar.

That's it i just want it gone! Im going to set up a direct debit for the £160 just after payday so the money is gone before i know its there!