From: "Eric Jones" 
Newsgroups: uk.finance
Subject: Re: Credit card debt advice
Date: Sat, 12 Nov 2005 22:47:37 +0000 (UTC)


"Gareth"  wrote in message 
news:wIidnQwupuQiz-veRVnyvw@brightview.com...
> Red Macgregor wrote:
>
>> My gut reaction was to stick with the agreement we currently
>>
>
> Why?
>
> If I were in your position, I would be actively seeking out 0% credit
> cards to transfer the balance to.  If you can avoid paying interest you
> will be able to pay off the debt much quicker, especially with the high
> rates you get on most credit cards.
>
> Obviously, you need to check the small print carefully and be sure that
> you can afford the payments, but there are a lot of genuine good deals
> around at the moment.  As others have said, you just need to be careful.
> Make sure you note down when the 0% deal ends, and start looking for a
> new 0% card to transfer the balance to well before that date.
>
> I have a couple of other suggestions.  I am no expert, and obviously I
> don't know the details of your situation, so they may be bad suggestions:
>
> 1) Do you own your house?  If you do, have you considered remortgaging
> to pay off some of your credit card debt?  The interest rates on
> mortgages are often much lower than credit cards, and you can spread the
> repayments over a very long time.  The downside is that you could loose
> your house if you don't keep up the repayments.  Also see what rate you
> are paying and see if you can get a better deal.  Just check the terms
> and conditions of your current mortgage as well as the one you are
> looking at moving to.
>
> 2) Have you considered a loan to pay off the credit cards?  The interest
> rates on loans are often much lower than credit cards (though usually
> not as low as mortgages, and obviously not as low as 0% offers).  If you
> are prepared to spend time shopping around for a good rate you could
> save yourself some money.
>
> -- 
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> To reply to me directly:
>
> Replace privacy.net with: totalise DOT co DOT uk and replace me with
> gareth.harris
>
I think the OP had financial problems which might preclude him/her from 
obtaining 0% credit card and cheap Personal loans.If they missed one minimum 
payment then the whole thing would collapse.
Also it is generally not a good idea to switch unsecured lending to secured 
via mortgage - if you do not keep up repayments you could end up homeless!