Credit card debt help

[Confuzzled08]

Hi everyone,

I want to start by apologising if this isn’t sensitive- I appreciate there are people in far worse positions.

Ive accumulated a lot of credit card debt; approx 10k. This isn’t awful, but I do have other loans etc that I am paying off, but the credit card debt payments seem to be more and more each month due to bad money management on my part . I earn a decent (I think salary). Take home pay is approx 1800 after tax but I never seem to have much left, mortgage is only 300, childcare about 150, food shopping about 250 a month. Phone contract 37.99, car insurance 15 . Can anyone recommend the best way to tackle the credit card debts please? Would you start with the lowest? Have you done it before and is it achievable?

I'd start off with an acurate budget of what you actually spend - and remember to include one-off things like a car MOT that might not happen every month, but you know are coming up.

Once you know what you have left over each month, look at all the interest rates on the credit cards. I'd start with the highest interest rate card, and pay as much extra off that as you can. Once that has gone, move all that money onto paying off the card/debt with the next highest interest rate.

But you need a realistic budget first, or you will e duplicate over spending some months, and having to borrow to get to pay day!

I’d work out whether you can move it all to a 0% interest card - if you’re paying interest- and go from there. At least that way it will all be in the same place and interest free so you can actually see a good chunk of it coming off each month. Then I’d cut up the actual card and work out a decent amount you can pay each month and work out a budget around that. That’s what I’ve done.

Are you still adding to the debt? If yes, then that's the first thing to sort out. Get rid of the card.

Can you move it (or some of it) to a 0% card if you're paying interest? Again, destroy the physical card(s) if you do this to remove the temptation to use it again.

How much can you afford to pay a month towards the card? Set up a direct debit for this amount. The more time goes by, the less your payment will be interest and the more will be capital. Don't be tempted to pay more than you can afford though, they key is to make sustainable, consitent payments. If you find at the end of the month that you've got extra you can pay towards it then you can make extra lump sum payments but your monthly payment should be a manageable long-term amount.

If you're not in a situation financially that you can destroy the cards then that's another issue.

And yes, if you have multiple cards, concentrate on the highest interest debt first while maintaining the minimum on the others (keep an eye out for any interest free periods expiring and becoming the highest interest), then move on to the next as the debt on one card is cleared.

The other thing worth considering if you can get it, is a bank loan to pay off the debt (if not able to move onto interest free). This is what I did when I had high credit card debt and was only able to move a couple of thousand onto interest free. Depends on what rate bank loans are at the moment.

But it bears repeating (over and over), this is only worth doing if you STOP using the card. If you're going to keep building up debt then new cards and loans will just put you in more trouble as psychologically it'll feel like you've "done something" and the temptation to just say, "put Christmas on the card and pay it off in January" will be immense.

Hi everyone, thank you so much there’s some great advice on this thread. I was half expecting to get absolutely flamed as I know this is all my fault.

yes, I’ve added to the credit cards recently- for some reason I seem to be very short a week or 2 before payday and it’s the old ‘I’ll put it on the credit card and pay it off next month’ but I haven’t been doing that.

I have considered a balance transfer but I’m worried I can’t trust myself, if I get another card to pay it off I’m worried I’ll fall into the trap of using it so would rather start paying bits off, one has 300 on it which I can clear in a couple of months and the interest rate is high on that one so I might start with that first?

I have no idea why I’m so useless with money. I remember my mum literally lived off a pittance and every penny was accounted for, yet I seem to be the opposite. I don’t even have anything to show for it, never get hair, nails done etc and buy my clothes second hand 🤷‍♀️

I think the advise to sit down and look at what my actual outgoings are is spot on; then I’ll know exactly what I have left over and can use to pay the debt off.

Can see the benefit of a bank loan to clear it, but again I can’t trust myself to close the cards down

Can I ask for those that have cleared debts off before, how much were they? It’s seems like such an insurmountable amount to ever get on top of

You balance transfer to zero 0% if you can and then start living off cash and when it runs out you do without.

You need to work out what you’re spending it on. Subscriptions, coffees, lunch, transport, broadband, etc. write it all down so you can see where it’s all going.

cut up the cards, that way you can’t put anything new on them. Pay off the highest interest card first.

if you can’t trust yourself with credit then after you’ve worked out your weekly budget take that amount on in cash (on maybe on a prepaid card) then once it’s gone it’s gone. Using cash you’ll be able to physically see the cash going down.

budget is the first thing to do.

I had over £15k on cards. It felt like I would never get out of it, especially as dh wasn't working and we also had council tax debt.

Took about 4 years to clear, BUT dh got on a course with a student loan in year 3 of that and then was earning the following year so I was able to pay off the loan I took out early.

It's going to be really hard, sorry. You're going to feel like you're not getting anywhere for a while and it's going to feel so tempting to just treat yourself but you CAN change and be disciplined and it'll be so worth it.

You need a budget and be able to work out to the penny where your money goes. Finding out why you're short at the end of the month is an important start. There's no point in paying off debt and then respending it a few weeks later - you're just standing still at best.

I agree with those who say you absolutely must write down everything you spend and work out where your money is going. Also, cut up your cards so you can't use them. You need to start living within your means.

the thing that jumps out from your expenses is that you spend £37.99 on a phone contract. That's a huge proportion of your salary. You probbaly have other expenditure that you don't notice.

We had £15k debt at its worst. We actually moved it to a personal loan and we now have about £1.5k left to pay off. This time next year it will be gone. You can absolutely do it.

Looking at your outgoings you can probably do the 300 in a month if you really put your mind to it, and then you can cancel that card completely and start working on the next one.

Try and have 3 weeks of absolutely minimal spending and instead transfer 100 to the card each week. Things like use the food you have in and plan really cheap meals; try and not drive anywhere; sell anything you’re not using on Facebook and use the cash for top up shops etc.

if you have a partner can you agree a Christmas limit of 5 pounds to spend on each other and pay whatever you would have spent off your card.

Good luck!

I use a free app called Debt repayment, it logs my payments and calculates how long until you are debt free.
I've got 47k to clear, 20k left to my parents as the paid for my flat for me (interest free instead of a mortgage) and £27k on bathroom, kitchen and central heating renovations. They are family / bank loans though. I clear credit cards monthly.

Hi, I don't usually reply but this hit close to home. :) So I had a similar amount on two cards after a bit of a disaster year that I now want to tackle. I got a 22month bt offer and moved both to that. It allows me to pay off only the money owed and if I pay bigger amounts I can pay it off in the time. You can split the amount by the months if you want to split them equally and if you set up a standing order than you don't forget.

I calculated I was saving around 150 pounds of just interest a month, this now goes towards paying off more of the debt. I don't know about you but I was surprised by how much the interest costs a month and didn't realise it was that much until I checked my statements. Now it feels much more achievable.

Hope that helps!

Hi OP
So a good few years ago now I had around 10k on credit cards and now I'm cleared. I was earning a little more than you but had higher rent payments.
How I did it
I did a budget to see how much I was spending (included the money that was going on the cards which must have been about £250 a month.
Cut up all the cards
Applied for a 0% - only got about £3k limit and when it came I shredded the PIN code and cut up the card and then moved the debt on to that and then focused on the £7k putting as much of the £250 as I could on to that.
Then a few months later I applied for another 0% and got a little more and then moved some to that (again cutting it up) and still focused on the debt that was earning interest.
I also downloaded an app called Emma which basically connected to my bank apps so I could specifically see how much I was spending and if I was going over budget (it sends you notifications and also shows you if you're going over your budget. I still use it now.
Also put notifications in my phone when the interest free period came to an end so I could move the debt.
I just kept focusing on £250, £250, £250 every month until eventually I wasn't paying any interest and all of it went on paying off the debt.
It was hard but so satisfying once you see it all really paying off and you can get quite into it!

The other thing that kept me motivated (your mileage may vary) is listening to debt free podcasts. There is a VERY American one by Dave Ramsey which I found v motivating - just reminded me every day how stupid it is to use plastic and spend money I didn't have. The Rachel Cruze show is also good.

It was a long old slog but you can do it!! Just one little bite at a time. And get organised.

Hi everyone,

this advice has been invaluable thank you; I was really embarrassed to be in this position and feel I’ve totally let myself down at 37 to be so useless with money, but I genuinely feel really motivated to get out of this before it gets worse due to the comments on the thread.

Im going to apply for a 0% balance transfer and then cut up the pin and card and use this to make sure at least some of it is going to paying off the debt and not the interest. I’m also definitely going to sit down and work out where my money is going each month; and take out a set amount of cash each month to use so it feels like real money.

thank you so much everyone, you’ve all been really supportive and helpful ❤️

So many of my numbers are similar to yours! I’ve just made up my mind to tackle it in the last few days. I’ve drawn myself a table and found out all my figures:

outstanding balance
interest rate
interest rate expiry date
minimum monthly repayment

1 of my 4 cards was out of the 0% period, so I’ve just applied for a new card and transferred the balance to that. As soon as that clears I’m going to close the old card down.

Another one is reaching the 0% expiry date so that’s my next one to target with as high as possible payments as I can. In 6 months I’ll apply for another new 0% card and transfer it.

I don’t want to apply for more than one card every 6 months as any more than that can hurt your credit score.

Another tip I read online is to make sure you’re paying fixed payments at whatever rate your minimum payment is today. So if minimum payment = £40 this month, keep it at £40 every month. The credit card company will reduce your minimum payment each month in line with the o/s balance, but if you keep your repayment at a fixed amount you’ll pay it off faster.

Good luck, we can do it!

Mine peaked at £43k, with no assets to show for it.

I'm in a similar position have about 11k to be honest I cannot afford the minimum payments they total at about 400 a month.

I know it's a nuclear strategy but I think I'm just going to try and get them to default and then pay a reduced amount each month. Sort of like a self managed debt management plan.

@starlight1278 don't default on them £400 for £11k is extortionate. Look at direct line I'm paying £326 for what was £27k after house renovations. That was at an interest rate of 3.3% and I know there lowest has crept up a little but but it'll still be cheaper than what you are paying.

Op, my debts peaked at £35,555 last summer. I was horrified! I was earning a decent amount, never defaulted on them and never worried about them until I sat and looked at them all!

i used some savings to pay some and have been working hard to pay them now and no longer use the cards. I’ve just checked and I’m at £17500 so about half way!

it is doable!

Hi all,

feel supported to have found this post, and by OP. I’ve got about 6 cards and amount to 9k in debt. Was in work but after Mat leave I couldn’t go back. Now have credit card debt I could pay but find it difficult to pay now as income not as it was. I’ve got three kids and on my own sadly. Would paying off the highest interest rate be better and work from this? Can I start this before Xmas or try after Xmas?

Don’t guess or estimate what your monthly outgoings are. Actually look at your historic spend by analysing at all your credit card and bank statements and add up each category. It is very sobering.

Apologies if this is obvious, but so many people get this wrong which affects budgeting.
£100 a week isn’t £400 a month - it is £433.33.

Good luck OP.