Best Balance Transfers Discussion Area

annual_gift_man wrote: »

I badly need a balance transfer to clear my high interest rate debts, but every card is turning me down. I don't know what to do.

Admittedly the best balance transfer deals are usually reserved for new customers, but you don't have to apply for a new card to get new credit. You may be able to reduce your costs using credit cards you already hold. For details, see Martin's *Credit Card Shuffle* article

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cards/cut-credit-card-interest

langold wrote: »

I have just got a Virgin card and a Halifax card to do a balance transfer from my husband's Virgin card, but I'm £1700 short.

I take it you're intending to route funds from your new Virgin card to your husband's card via your current account.

Can anyone suggest a card I can apply for? I have a good history. I have never missed a payment. I don't work, but my husband does. He has also never missed a payment, but has had identity fraud and gets turned down more than me. The last time I applied for a card was 2 months ago and my husband applied to HSBC 2 weeks ago, but hasn't heard back.

You say you don't work, but presumably you have a pension or income of some kind. (AFAIK, the only cc applications that ask for household income rather than salary are GE Money and Marks & Spencer.)

Have you considered the Post Office card?
12 months at 0% is currently available to new customers on balance transfers made in the first 3 mths. There's a 2.98% BT fee.
Also, 5 months at 0% on new balance transfers requested in the month of your 1st and 2nd anniversary

http://www.postoffice.co.uk/portal/po/jump2?catId=19400177&mediaId=34100665

fluffy123 wrote: »

I currently have a loan of around £10k with Natwest which is set at around 8.5% APR. Is it possible for me to transfer this in some way to reduce the APR? I’m also thinking that for 3 months I could make just minimum repayments and use that money to pay off my overdraft with Natwest and be in the clear and then make slightly larger monthly repayments every month in order to catch-up? Is there anyway I can do this and what would you recommend?

A few rather special cards will allow you to transfer an overdraft to them, (in other words, transfer cash from the credit card to your current account), at balance transfer rates. You then have funds in your current account with which to pay off the loan. You need:

a card issued by MBNA (e.g. Alliance & Leicester, MBNA itself, Sony, Virgin), Egg card or the Post Office card

Which option is best depends to some extent on which cards you have at the mo or have held recently.

To maximise the 0% period, 16 months is currently available to new customers from Virgin. There's a 4% handling charge.

Alternatively, you'd get until 1 August 2010 with Egg. A 3 % BT fee applies.

Whether this is a good idea is another question. If you will have savings to pay off your credit card balance before the 0% period expires, that's great.

Bear in mind that the reason Virgin can afford to lend you money at 0% for 16 months is because, more often than not, customers do not clear the debt and end up paying crippling interest when the promotion period ends. If 16 months isn't long enough to pay off your borrowings, it may be safer to stick with the fixed rate that you are currently paying.

stevet wrote: »

i have a planned overdraft of 2k at the moment due to a salary reduction which i'm finding hard to clear would it it be an advatage to me to balance transfer to say the virgin card?

what kind of monthly payment would i need to pay 2k off within the 16 month period

please bear with me not had a credit card before don't really know how they work hence the questions
thanks in advance

£2000 plus 4% fee will be £ 2080. £ 2080 divided by 16 is £ 130 per month.