Clear Credit Card Debt UK: Beat the 24% APR Trap
A £4,000 card balance at 24% APR. You're paying the minimum every month, never missing. The lender already knows when you'll clear it, and it's not in this decade.
Typical UK borrowing rates in 2026
Why credit card debt is the easiest debt to attack and the most expensive to ignore.
Key takeaways
Average UK credit card APR is around 24%, which means an unpaid balance roughly doubles every three years if you only pay the minimum.
The minimum-payment trap is engineered to keep you in debt - clearing a £4,000 balance at minimums alone takes 18+ years.
0% balance transfer cards are the single most powerful tool for clearing card debt fast, even with a 3% transfer fee.
Snowball or avalanche is mostly about psychology - run both through the calculator and pick the one you will actually finish.