Barclaycard 0% Forever on BT's

That old chestnut! That used to come up all the time (on the old site) when there was even a dedicated board to Barclaycard.

Just do a google on "Barclaycard 0% forever" and you'll see it mentioned elsewhere also.

In answer to your question, it depends on the initial credit limit to some extent - and on whether the sums were being 'stoozed' or to offset generally more expensive borrowing. So there is no one precise figure for the remaining balance at which the sums cancel out. But crudely speaking there would be no point continuing for stoozing purposes once the ratio got down to 5 to 1

i.e. £1 @ 17.9 apr (18%) : £5 @ 4.5 aer (3.6% net)

However on the following assumptions:

£5k borrowed
£25 min spend every month
only min payments made (no 'overpaying'). Bank balance is reduced to make these.
Fee on 0% balance is paid off first/ is interest-free also.

That you could turn into 'profit' after about 1 year and should exit about 12 months after that

............In Bank (3.6%).....At 'zero'.....At 17.9 apr....Min Payment....InterestTD.....Net Position

..1)........£5,000.00 ........£5,125.00 ...........£0.00 ......£102.00 ........£0.00 ........-£125.00
..2)........£4,912.70 ........£5,023.00 .........£25.00 .......£100.00 ........£0.00 ........-£110.30
..3)........£4,827.14 ........£4,923.00 .........£50.35 ........£99.00 ........£0.35 ........-£96.20
..4)........£4,742.34 ........£4,824.00 .........£76.04 ........£98.00 ........£1.04 ........-£82.71
..5)........£4,658.28 ........£4,726.00 ........£102.10 ........£96.00 ........£2.10 ........-£69.82
..6)........£4,575.97 ........£4,630.00 ........£128.51 ........£95.00 ........£3.51 ........-£57.54
..7)........£4,494.43 ........£4,535.00 ........£155.29 ........£93.00 ........£5.29 ........-£45.86
..8)........£4,414.64 ........£4,442.00 ........£182.44 ........£92.00 ........£7.44 ........-£34.80
..9)........£4,335.62 ........£4,350.00 ........£209.97 ........£91.00 ........£9.97 ........-£24.35
10)........£4,257.37 ........£4,259.00 ........£237.88 ........£89.00 ........£12.88 ........-£14.51
11)........£4,180.88 ........£4,170.00 ........£266.17 ........£88.00 ........£16.17 ........-£5.29
12)........£4,105.17 ........£4,082.00 ........£294.86 ........£87.00 ........£19.86 ........£3.32
13)........£4,030.24 ........£3,995.00 ........£323.94 ........£86.00 ........£23.94 ........£11.30
14)........£3,956.09 ........£3,909.00 ........£353.43 ........£85.00 ........£28.43 ........£18.66
15)........£3,882.72 ........£3,824.00 ........£383.32 ........£84.00 ........£33.32 ........£25.40
16)........£3,810.14 ........£3,740.00 ........£413.63 ........£83.00 ........£38.63 ........£31.51
17)........£3,738.34 ........£3,657.00 ........£444.36 ........£82.00 ........£44.36 ........£36.98
18)........£3,667.33 ........£3,575.00 ........£475.51 ........£81.00 ........£50.51 ........£41.82
19)........£3,597.11 ........£3,494.00 ........£507.10 ........£80.00 ........£57.10 ........£46.01
20)........£3,527.69 ........£3,414.00 ........£539.12 ........£79.00 ........£64.12 ........£49.56
21)........£3,459.06 ........£3,335.00 ........£571.59 ........£78.00 ........£71.59 ........£52.47
22)........£3,391.23 ........£3,257.00 ........£604.51 ........£77.00 ........£79.51 ........£54.72
23)........£3,324.20 ........£3,180.00 ........£637.88 ........£76.00 ........£87.88 ........£56.32
24)........£3,257.97 ........£3,104.00 ........£671.71 ........£75.00 ........£96.71 ........£57.26
25)........£3,192.55 ........£3,029.00 ........£706.02 ........£74.00 .......£106.02 ........£57.53
26)........£3,127.94 ........£2,955.00 ........£740.80 ........£73.00 .......£115.80 ........£57.14
27)........£3,064.13 ........£2,882.00 ........£776.06 ........£73.00 .......£126.06 ........£56.08
28)........£3,000.14 ........£2,809.00 ........£811.80 ........£72.00 .......£136.80 ........£54.34

Just to point out too that you would have a substantial extra amount of debt on the card at the point of exit due to spending £25 (for which you would receive goods or services to that value) each month. Arguably you will have been 'saving' £25 per month out of normal 'spending' into the 3.6% net (or equivalent) savings account for later settlement of the full Barclaycard debt. Is this additional saving (referred to sometimes as 'slow stoozing') additional 'profit' also? I think that it can be claimed to be, yes, but that just adds a few pounds at the end of the day and would not change the calculation for when is the time to pay off Barclaycard - about 3/4ths of the original debt!

Saving £25 per month for 23 months (I think you might get that first 30 days 'free' without needing to spend on the card?) gives you another £18.90 in your savings account at the end - not entirely insigificant against the maximum profit on the remaining borrowed sum of £57