Multuple CC's. What to do?

[ThatOne81]

I'm having trouble getting my head around what my best option would be and I'm wondering if anyone had a simple solution.

First off, I don't feel my level of debt (approx 7K) would require an IVA. In short, I have debt on 3 credit cards:

MBNA: £2,000 (33.5%)
Capital One: £2,800 (0% until September 2024 and then 22.4%)
Tesco: £1,920 (1.805%)

Im hoping to consolidate all of these into one monthly payment. Two of these cards have been previous balance transfers. I can't find a card that will grant a credit limit higher than £2,500 so I can't even transfer the two I'm currently being charged interest on.

Transferring the MBNA would make sense if balance transfer were the only option, I'm sure, but is there an easier way than still having three cards to pay off?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I've been looking at Ratesetter which has a manageable monthly for over 48 months but I'm wondering which way to go.

Are they all at their limits? Because the most sensible option would be to move the MBDA one to the 0% interest one...

Yes, all pretty much at the max.

Do not consolidate.

Why do you think one payment will be better than 3 (one of which is at 0%)?

Why haven’t you been able to pay off your previous balance transfers, and what’s changed this time?

What you need to do is set the 0% and 1.85% cards at a set fixed amount just above the minimum payments e.g. minimum payment is £43.50, set it to stay fixed at £50 and then absolutely hammer as much money as you possible can every month to that 33% MBNA card.

If you can get a 0% balance transfer card as your credit card levels come down, then great. But for now just throw everything you can at that 33% balance.

Are you sure about the Tesco interest rate - is that monthly or yearly? It looks like it might be the monthly interest rate, which could be around 20% pa.

Agree about not consolidating and also paying just above the current minimum (only paying the minimum puts a marker on your credit history, which may be viewed negatively by lenders).

Transfer the MBNA card, pay just above the minimum to MBNA and Cap 1, then pay down the Tesco card. Then you might be able to do further transfers every time a 0% deal - just do them to different cards if you can't get a big credit limit.

If any of your existing cards don't offer repeated 0% deals, cancel them and apply for other cards that do have deals.

Also review your finances generally to see if you can cut some other costs and free up money to get out of debt.

Have a look at Moneysaving Expert and work through their money makeover section - as well as getting out of debt, their budgeting advice about accounting for all expenses and putting money aside so you can deal with expenses that occur less often can be good for staying out of debt.

What are the minimum payments for each card and how much are you actually paying each month?

That MBNA interest rate is really high so paying that off asap should be your priority.