I’ve got £20,000 of credit card debt – how can I clear it?

I’m in my late twenties and find myself in a situation where I have about £20,000 in credit card debt.

This started when I was at university and needed help to make ends meet, and for the past few years I’ve used credit cards for daily expenses at the end of the month, as well as some big purchases like furniture.

If I’m totally honest, I have used it for a few things I don’t really need as well.

I’ve moved the debt on to new cards a few times to try and avoid high interest rates, but it keeps mounting up.

I usually just make the minimum payments each month, but I’ve just got a pay rise at work and want to start clearing the debt.

I’m single, rent my home and don’t have any other debt apart from my student loan.

What’s the best way to go about this?

Helen Kirrane of This is Money replies: You’re not alone in struggling to clear your credit card debt.

Almost one in ten households are in arrears when it comes to their credit card debt, and the average household spends £216 on monthly debt repayments, not including their mortgage.

While you may have only taken on debt in the first place to help cover day to day expenses as a student, this can get out of hand over time – especially when purchases slip into less-than-essential territory.

I asked two money experts for their advice on getting rid of credit card debt.

Andrew Hagger, personal finance expert and director of money website MoneyComms replies: It sounds as if you know what you need to do to repay your credit card borrowing, but you’ve continued to spend on your plastic and so ended up back at square one.

Zero per cent balance transfer cards are one of the cheapest ways to make inroads into your borrowing, but you need to be disciplined to keep paying back as much as you can afford each month without being tempted to spend on the card in the future.

You probably won’t be able to switch the full £20,000 to 0 per cent borrowing, certainly not on a single card anyway. 

However, shift as much as you can to a new 0 per cent deal or two, and ideally look to repay the most expensive cards you have at present.

If the new 0 per cent deal clears one of your existing card balances in full, be sure to close that card account down so it takes away any temptation to spend on it again.

Yes, you’ll need to pay a one-off balance transfer fee, but this only equates to approximately one and a half months’ interest, so in the scheme of things it’s a small price to pay.

You need determination and will power to succeed if you really want to make progress this time. 

Keep a note of how your balance is decreasing month by month – hopefully this will give you the encouragement to continue in the months and years ahead and not fall off the wagon this time.

The longest 0 per cent deals are currently 32 months from Barclaycard with a 3.15 per cent fee, MBNA which has a 3.20 per cent fee and Tesco Bank with a fee of 3.19 per cent.

Sarah Coles, head of personal finance at stockbroker Hargreaves Lansdown replies: Rising debts are costing us dear, so if you can beat your debt habits, there’s serious money to be made.

Draw up a budget and work out how you can cut unnecessary spending. You can direct this additional money into paying down your debts with the highest interest rate first. 

It’s a good idea to set up a direct debit for this, so it happens without you having to remember to do the right thing each month. 

As these debts fall, you’ll be spending less on interest and more on repayments.

In the interim, there may be the opportunity to move your debts somewhere with a lower interest rate, and if you have a good enough credit score you could switch to a credit card charging 0 per cent on balance transfers for a period, so you spend less of your money on interest and can channel more into repayments. 

However, if you do this, it’s essential to draw a line in the sand on borrowing, and not allow debts to keep creeping up.