Overview
- Lewis tells borrowers to check balance-transfer eligibility on comparison sites before applying to avoid unnecessary marks on their credit files.
- When choosing a 0% card, he advises picking the lowest one-off fee for a long enough interest-free term, citing TSB at up to 38 months with a 3.49% fee and Barclaycard at up to 14 months with no fee.
- He reiterates that overdrafts often charge about 40% versus roughly 25% on typical credit cards, so people should pay minimums on cards and focus on clearing overdrafts first.
- To cut overdraft costs, he suggests moving direct debits to just before payday to reduce time spent overdrawn.
- He warns that sticking to card minimums can take decades—illustrating £5,000 taking around 35 years with about £9,000 in interest—urging an APR-ordered payoff strategy that targets the highest-rate debt first.