Loan or 0% CC

[OhPickle]

On my last maternity leave; I racked up quite a bit of debt.

At present I owe;
£4000 on my car loan (personal loan not finance)
£5000 on a 0% CC
£1500 ish on another 0% CC

I’m currently paying about £280 a month on these 3 things.

will be going off on mat leave again soon and it’s bothering me that my finances feel so wishy washy. I’ve got my debts down a lot with 0% cards but I’ve done about 3-4 different transfers and every time there is a fee.

I was thinking of taking a loan out for 5 years which will clear all debts and leave me with something to put away. Monthly payments will be £240

am I better getting a loan or continuing to pay the 0% cards and my single loan?

I feel like 0% CC’s are great but I’m paying the minimum payments so it feels like they’ll never be cleared and I’ll just keep transferring them to a new card after 2 years

Why are only paying the minimum?
Wpuld the loan be 0% interest?.

Because it’s all I can afford at the moment. No the loan is interest bearing

Do an interest checker. 0% cards are great and you only pay the fee once. I don’t think you can get a loan for under 5% APR at the moment which is usually the highest of the transfer fees for 12 months.

Not sure how the loan that covers everything is less payment per month if there is interest with it.

Is the current loan you have high interest. Could you change it to a lower interest loan? While keeping the 0% interest card on 0%? Would that free a bit more money to pay down some debt

It sounds like you’re leaning towards taking out a loan to consolidate the payments, which can make things feel more manageable day to day. But in reality, a new loan might just delay the issue and could end up costing more in interest over time. Wishing you all the best with the pregnancy! 😊

I’m not sure how it gives you something to put away. Do you mean more debt?

How will you stop racking up more debt? Can you live within your means?

The danger is you get a loan to pay off your current credit card debts, then you start spending on the credit cards... Ending up with a loan AND new credit card debt.

OP, do you have a partner? You keep saying 'I', never 'we'? Why are YOU racking up debt on maternity leave? Could it be that whilst you have a reduced income on maternity leave (and possibly greater costs, like with things for the baby) your partner still expects you to be paying the same amount into joint costs like mortgage/rent, bills, food etc?

I see it a lot on here 'oh I am saving for my maternity leave' because the partner gives no concessions whatsoever to the reduced circumstances of the mother of their JOINT child, and appears to feel little responsibility. They need to step up! When you are a family it's better to have joint finances imo.

If I'm way off the mark, forgive me. Maybe you're having the baby solo, good luck to you if so. I just wonder if it could be the case,? if so you need to have a conversation with them.

Where’s your partner in all this? You’re taking time off to raise their child too - you should both be sharing the load of this and they should be financial supporting you whilst off work.

Why does MN always attack the partner? My husband isn’t responsible for my irresponsible spending lol. Thankfully I have stopped spending on stuff we don’t need but I need to clear the debt I do have ☺️

Because quite often when you dig down into it, the mother is still trying to pay her half of household expenses on a reduced income while at the same time paying for a disproportionate amount of baby related costs, as if having a baby is her hobby she is indulging in, as opposed to a child both partners are equally responsible for.

I wouldn't swap interest free debt for debt where you have to pay interest on top of the balance. Set up a direct debit to the credit cards for the same amount you would pay to a loan each month?

If either of you have savings it’s better to use them to pay off the joints and then you commit to building back up the savings.

5 year loan at £240pm will be a total repayment of £14,400 whereas you currently owe £10,500.

So you’ll be paying about 4K to the bank for nothing.

Why not stick with the balance transfers? How long is left on the 4K loan? Once either a loan or card is paid off you can move that cash to the rest.

This has just made my mind up. Thank you so much. I’ll stick with what I’m doing currently. 2 years left on the car loan, it’s the least of my worries as the car is currently still worth about £18k as I didn’t need a loan for anywhere near the full amount