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Trying to be Proactive

May 15th, 2015 at 09:07 am

I signed in to Swagbucks this morning and attempted a few surveys. No luck, but at least I tried.

I done the survey from Opinion Outpost that they sent to me in an email.

I checked my bank balance to confirm that I no longer have Love Film. That's it officially cancelled now. It only saves me 7.99/month a though.

Other than that, I will make sure that I meal plan consistently and limit impulse buys.

I've been thinking about what to do about my catalogue. I can't do a balance transfer because it doesn't seem to be an option for my Tesco credit card and I wouldn't transfer it to Capital One because their interest rates are the same as the catalogue (it was my first ever card). I am thinking about whether to use the credit card to pay off my Buy Now Pay Later items, which are the bed and clothes, 983 GBP I think, or use it to make a huge payment to the catalogue. Tesco credit card is 24% interest. Of course, I'd need to find the card first - I think it's in my folder in our room. Good idea? Bad idea?

22 Responses to “Trying to be Proactive”

  1. creditcardfree Says:
    1431694836

    Clarify a little bit for us: Is the BNPL and the catalogue two different companies you have balances with? Are they both charging you interest right now, and what interest rate is that? Will they let you make a payment with a credit card, without a fee? If there is a fee, how much is it? I'm just concerned you might not have all the information you need to make the right decision. At least we need more information to advise.

    Less interest charged on the balances is a better idea...it would be nice if you could get down to 10% interest or less on these debts.

  2. My English Castle Says:
    1431700384

    Agree with CCF. Let's figure this out.

  3. scottish girl Says:
    1431705562

    No they are the same. No interest yet on bnpl. i guess it would go through as a CC purchase if i made a payment?

  4. scottish girl Says:
    1431717812

    For those that are curious:

    www littlewoods dot com is my catalogue debt and BNPL

  5. FrugalTexan75 Says:
    1431817955

    Is there a payoff amount for the bnpl items? Or do they only give you the payments info? I'm just wondering if the interest is pre-built into it. (i.e. 25 payments of xx.xx)

  6. scottish girl Says:
    1431844315

    Yes:
    Interest-free price: 976.50
    If I don't pay it off: 1544.40 (39% interest) or 15.xx/wk I think

    I know if I used the credit card to pay off the BNPL item I would get charged 24% interest. I wish I had a credit card with less than 10% interest.

  7. creditcardfree Says:
    1431877865

    I'm asking to clarify again. Sorry. If you had the money you could pay the BNPL price of $976.50 right now and not owe any more? And currently you are not making any payments? When does the offer to pay in full at $976.50 expire? If you knew this date, it would be a your best interest to try to pay that in full before interest free period expires.

    Now if you are currently required to make payments, I think you are already being charged interest. It is built into the weekly payment amount.

    Have you looked to see if there are credit card offers available that you could look into applying for? Is there a bank you could visit to see if they have any personal loan options for you to consolidate this debt?

    I'm going to look around on the site to see if it helps me understand....really want to help you Sarah!

  8. scottish girl Says:
    1431880892

    Yes if i had the money right now it would be interest-free. It expires in December. No, I haven't looked into other cards or a loan.

  9. DecisiveParadox Says:
    1431927177

    While 24% is a lesser evil than 39% they are both still illegitimate children of misery and empty bank accounts.
    I'm not an expert but genuinely would like to see your tireless efforts working more for you than these greedy companies.
    Can you do those 'consolidation loans' for debt?
    I think some banks even offer them.
    Here they are called mediation companies. Be warned some are just scammers looking for a fee to try negotiate on your behalf.
    Hoping you get 0% or as close to it as you can find. more cash for your family and less for some banker.

  10. creditcardfree Says:
    1432005141

    Can you pay the 965 off by December? $161 per month for six months or $138 for seven months depending on the actual expiration date. This would be ideal. I would NOT 'transfer' any interest free portions of the bill to any other card or account paying higher interest until it would be close to expiring.

    I did look around on the Littlewoods site. It seems you can make a credit card payment for your purchases. I would only make a payment towards purchases that are currently being charged interest, not the BNPL items that are at 0%. To go from 39% to 24% will make a difference. Of course the minimum payment on your credit card (Tesco I think you said) will go up. I'm not sure if this would change the amount you are currently paying. Here in the US minimum payments are usually 2-4% of the balance.

  11. creditcardfree Says:
    1432005429

    Sarah, also look at
    Text is this site and Link is http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/?_ga=1.117338437.2110978170.1432004930
    this site which may be help you find a card or bank in your area that could offer better terms on your debt. I see a few with 0% up to 36 months and a small fee (which would likely be worth it in your situation).

    When we first started out and had a lot of debt, we definitely moved our debt around to be paying the least amount possible in interest. There was a personal loan at the beginning and then a few balance transfers on credit cards. The main thing is not to keep adding to your debt while you are working on paying things down.

  12. DecisiveParadox Says:
    1432019942

    CCF - you are awesome.

    That is all

  13. creditcardfree Says:
    1432085371

    @DP, thanks. Just trying to help Sarah!

  14. scottish girl Says:
    1432097441

    Wow I didn't realise there'd been so much activmity on my post! I don't think I could get it paid off by Dec. I like the idea of transferring the balance to a 0% card if I get accepted. Before posting the details I was just going to pay extra to the catalogue to make up for it increasing when this gets added on.
    sorry for typos,on my phone.
    I'll look into cards soon.

  15. creditcardfree Says:
    1432129844

    The closer you can get to paying MOST of it off before December would mean less money that would start earning the higher interest.

    Another thing to think about when you are making your debt payoff plans is that generally it is best to pay the highest interest rate debt first and as fast as you can! Remember these high interest rates really are an emergency. If you haven't listened or read Dave Ramsey I would suggest it. He talks about being gazelle intense with paying off debt.

    Of course, I feel like I'm telling you two different things: Pay off 0% before deadline and pay off highest interest rate first. Part of the problem is that I don't know what your minimum payments are on these debts or how much money you actually have to pay on them each month? Do you know how much you have?

    If you feel comfortable I would lay out your debts, with interest, minimum payments and then the amount you have that is extra for paying extra debts. If there is a expiration of a special offer include the date of that as well. It would also help if you could provide income and expenses, we might be able to see if this is an income issue or overspending. Or both. There is also a link to What's the Cost site on my sidebar where you can figure out how to work a debt payment plan as well.

  16. scottish girl Says:
    1432135081

    If I don't pay the balance off in full by December, the interest is applied, regardless of how much I've already paid.
    As it stands, the catalogue is my highest interest and minimum payment (150.xx)
    Tesco just sent me a letter saying I can still balance transfer for 0% till June 2017. My question is: the BNPL hasn't really been added to my account, to pay it I have to actually make a payment, so I can't transfer that balance while it's still waiting to be paid off. What would you suggest? I can make payments towards it but that's it/.

    I already use WTC for credit cards but not the catalogue but I'll set that up soon.

  17. scottish girl Says:
    1432144191

    INCOME:

    Pay: 534 roughly ~(four-weekly)
    Child tax credits and working tax: 490 monthly
    child benefit: 152

    OUTGOINGS:

    Rent: 257.80 monthly
    council tax: 80.00
    tv licence: 12.12
    bus ticket: 73.20
    littlewoods: 152.32 (39%)
    tesco: 25 min (0% till june 2017)
    Bos: 77.xx (24.95%)
    shopping: 140.00
    baby e.g nappies/formula: 70.00
    xmas savings: 30
    savings: 18

    next pay: 60 for photo shoot/cake smash

  18. creditcardfree Says:
    1432212582

    Is the income just you or both of you?

    My math says, you have 498 that would not be considered for expenses you listed. Does that seem right to you? (I'm not including the photo shoot...which I hope you know is a luxury, but I realize it's a one time thing)

    Since Tesco is 0%, I would keep paying the minimum, since that gives you nearly two years to focus your efforts on other higher rate debts.

    Paying that BNPL before Dec seems really important...that saves you $568 that could go to paying other debt.

    I'd be curious WTC suggests if you include the catalogue. For some reason I can't see your sidebar again...I could see it yesterday. If you really have nearly $500 to put towards debt or a majority of it, you could make some major progress! That $500 could pay off your BNPL in two months, if you just paid the minimums on other things.

    I'm really cheering for you! I wish I could meet with you in person to sit down and really get this hashed out. Smile

  19. scottish girl Says:
    1432278409

    I never have that much left over, barely double digits sometimes. I realised I missed 50 for utilities and 12.00 for my phone bill.
    Just me, dh's pay covers his expenses, utilities and sky. His catalogues are high.
    Going to update what's the cost and try to make it pub

  20. scottish girl Says:
    1432278990

    I tried to link this in my sidebar but it never worked.

    http://www.whatsthecost.com/mySnowballs.aspx

  21. creditcardfree Says:
    1432487120

    I can't see your link, because I would have to have your login. Smile

    So you are spending another 400 each month that you don't have accountability for, based on your statement that you have just under 100 left over. It's time to start tracking where you money is going. Look at the receipts you have from your purchases everyday. And you probably should do this WITH your husband. When you look back can you see items you shouldn't have purchased, that were extras, or could have a cheaper alternative. Once you start seeing where some of the money is going it may help you to avoid spending on those things in the future.

  22. scottish girl Says:
    1432488776

    that's what i was thinking Smile

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