Hi all!
So, I’m a bit of a noob at the moment with financials and basically I’m wondering if a plan I have for dealing with some temporary financial trouble is feasible or if I’ve missed anything out.
First of all, I’m UK based. I’m going back to university in September to study a masters degree for a year and I’m looking to consolidate a few debts, hoping to work it out so I can drop my overall monthly payments down just for the one year to give myself a bit of breathing room financially as I won’t be able to work full time whilst studying. My current debt (discounting previous student loan debt) is as follows:-
£2700 bank loan - started at £4000 in December ‘16, currently paying £110 a month. Remaining term is 29 months but I can pay this off early at any point.
£1100 owed to a family member - currently in the process of buying a car from a family member, have to pay at least £50 a month.
£500 credit card debt - paying around £30 a month on this at the moment, would like to clear this.
Total - £4300
Basically, I’ve been doing some research into the best way of consolidating all of this into a lower monthly payment and the best option that sticks out to me seems to be a credit card with a 0% interest money transfer promotion.
If I take out one of these cards with a limit of £4300 to cover my debts, transfer that into my current account and pay everything off, and pay the minimum (which with the card I’m looking at is 1%) JUST for the time I’m in uni, would this end up being a bad idea? I fully plan on trying at least to repay more than the minimum during my time at uni but I’m not 100% sure of what my exact financial situation will be at that point. If I can only pay the minimum whilst in uni, I am planning on paying off as much as I can before the introductory offer ends once I am back in full time work.
I guess my questions are as follows:-
1) if I can’t manage to pay off the credit card before the intro offer ends, would I be able to take out a 0% interest balance transfer card, transfer the remaking debt and pay it off that way?
2) the card I’m looking at states a minimum repayment of 1%, if I use the card for nothing other than this initial money transfer does that mean my payments will reduce to less than £50 a month for the introductory offer period?
3) I know I’ve made some silly financial decisions in the past that have left me with this debt, is this another one? Is there a better way to go about lowering my monthly payments?
Thanks guys! And sorry if this doesn’t make much sense, I’ve tried to find out on my own is this is a sensible plan but I don’t trust my own judgment when it comes to finances.
Submitted July 22, 2018 at 06:11PM by KazmMusic https://ift.tt/2zYt1Y5
