Don’t get caught in the 0% bait and trap
The sun has finally arrived and things are starting to look better than they have in a long while.
Here at CLEVR Money we’ve had a great few months, welcoming hundreds more members and helping out thousands of people with fair and affordable loans.
Some of our new members are coming to us for help with paying off existing loans with other lenders, such as store cards, payday loans and credit cards.
We’ve noticed a worrying new trend from people who’ve had a 0% credit card and can’t get another new 0% card, and so face huge interest rates when the 0% offer comes to an end.
We’re not quite sure what’s driving this change, but we’ve had several people coming to take out one of our larger loans to pay off credit card with APRs of up to 25.3%
We think it might be that people spend more money when it’s at 0%, so their debt is bigger, or their circumstances have changed in the current economic climate, and so they struggle to get the same deal with a new lender.
There’s also the little-known fact that most lenders won’t let you move between cards within the same banking group. For example HSBC, John Lewis, M&S and First Direct, or Virgin, Clydesdale and Yorkshire Bank, or Capital One which is linked to Littlewoods, Post Office and Very.
I’ve had a few very upset people on the phone, feeling like they’ve been trapped by the 0% offer with no way out. Happily, we exist for just such problems and we are happy to help out.
Instead of forking out for higher interest payments, they use the CLEVR Money loan to clear the credit card and then pay us back in more manageable monthly instalments. With a typical APR of 14.8% for a loan between £5,500 and £10,000, our credit card replacement loans are proving a better deal for many.
*Representative example. Borrowing £7,500 over 48 months will cost £206.27. Total amount repayable is £9,900.96 which includes interest at 15.3% APR. The figures given above are for illustrative purposes only. The actual interest rates and repayment amounts may vary subject to loan amount and status.
