Egg Card - 0% on Transfer and Purchases query

buchloe · 17 June 2007 at 3:56PM

Hi everyone, as a self-confessed "card tart" I tend to restrict my use of credit cards to the purchase of expensive items so balance transfer is the important one for me when choosing cards.

I've currently got 5 (Egg Card, Mint Classic, American Express Nectar, Bank of Scotland One, Tesco) and 1 store card (Argos). All are zero-balance except Mint which currently has £400 outstanding which was on a special 8% rate after I requested closiing the account they put me on that for 3 months to tempt me to stay.... now that's over and it's going back to 18.9% - time to tart again!

I've received my Egg card (the green one) and I've got a bit of a query about the current offer of 0% on balance transfers for 12 months (already taken advantage of) and 0% on purchases until September

I've actioned a balance transfer to clear the Mint card (regular payment of £38 per month to Egg should see the balance clear by June 2008 when the interest rate kicks in) but plan to make another single purchase soon for a couple of hundred pounds - is it better to make the purchase on the Egg card and pay it off by September (possible but prefer not to if I have the choice) or make the purchase on another card (thinking AmEx for the Nectar points) then balance transfer to Egg?

Does Egg allow seperate balance transfers to both qualify for the 12-months @ 0%? If I make the purchase on the Egg card which balance gets cleared first, the purchase or the transfer? I don't want my purchase accruing interest at 16.9% after September while the transfer is being paid off leaving an oustanding balance next June!

Grateful for any advice...

SarahNeedle1872 · 17 June 2007 at 4:14PM

You will have to check your T's & C's to see where the payment gets allocated first. If its purchases, you are fine, but if it's BT's, then you'll accrue interest on your purchase after Sept.
You'll also have to check to see if there's a set period where you can make BT's - I know with the anniversary offer, you only get a small window to do it.

buchloe · 17 June 2007 at 4:27PM

4. INTEREST

4.1 We will charge interest:

on Purchases put on the Account until 1 September 2007 at a monthly rate of 0% fixed until 1 September 2007, and thereafter at a variable annual rate of 16.9%;

on Transferred Balances put on the Account until 1 June 2008 at a monthly rate of 0% fixed until 1 June 2008, and thereafter at a variable annual rate of 16.9%;

on Cash Advances at a variable annual rate of 22.9%; and otherwise, at a variable annual rate of 16.9%.

5. HOW YOUR REPAYMENTS USED

5.1 If you pay up to the full minimum payment, we will apply the amount you do pay to reduce what you owe us in the following order:

interest on any Transferred Balances and the Revolving Balance;

any Card Repayment Protection premium (if applicable);and

the remainder of the minimum payment will be allocated first to Charges made under Condition 7 and then divided between the balances stated in Condition 2 and applied to those balances accordingly.

The amount apportioned to the Revolving Balance will be divided equally between the categories within that balance.

5.2 If you pay more than the minimum payment, we will apply any amount over the minimum payment in the following order:
Transferred Balances on which interest is charged at an introductory rate or promotional rate (in the order they were put on the Account); and
the Revolving Balance in the following order:

(i) Charges;

(ii) Transferred Balances that are not charged at any introductory or promotional rates (including any Transferred Balances on which any introductory or promotional rate is no longer charged) and Purchases;

(iii) Cash Advances.

Reading that it looks like the 0% window runs for the whole year...

buchloe · 17 June 2007 at 4:31PM

Would it appear that the smarter move is to do another balance transfer instead of making the purchase on the Egg card, despite an additional £5.34 transfer fee charge? (3% of the intended £178 purchase)

SarahNeedle1872 · 17 June 2007 at 4:34PM

buchloe wrote: »

Reading that it looks like the 0% window runs for the whole year...

Looks like that to me too. Re the allocation of payments, how I read it was that it goes to the BT first and then the 'revolving balance' which I assume is purchases, therefore making it a bad idea to put any purchases on there.

Thats just how it reads to me, but a quick call to them to confirm would probs be a good idea.

Sarah

buchloe · 17 June 2007 at 5:27PM

Thanks Sarah, you've been very helpful :-)

Robflh · 17 June 2007 at 9:35PM

Hi buchloe
Transfer the £400 to your Egg card. Then make your £200 purchase with the card that has the longest free period. You will need to check their T & C’s for that.

By free period, I mean the number of days before the purchase you make will start to acquire interest.

Then as soon as you have made your purchase, start the process to transfer it to the Egg card. Unfortunately, these days you may have to pay a small charge for the balance transfers but you will then have around £600 at 0% until June 2008.

If you make any other large purchases between now and June 2008, repeat the process.

Kill the Argos card. In all provability, it will have a large interest rate. So GET RID OF IT NOW. While you are at it kill two of the other four cards you have.

Make a small purchase with the other card you have left. This will keep it as an active account. If you do not use that card, it will be killed automatically.

If it does not happen automatically, every six months ring the two card companies and ask them to increase your credit limit.

At the end of February 2008, apply for whatever card is offering 0% percent on balance transfers for the longest time. If you are able to get it, transfer whatever balance you have on the egg card to your new card.

Now kill one of the other two cards, I would suggest the one with the lowest credit limit.

A couple of months before your new cards 0% is due to run out apply for another that has 0% and keep doing this as long as you can.

buchloe · 17 June 2007 at 10:01PM

thanks Rob, the argos card is only kept for their interest free period (3 months for £95 spends, 6 months for £195 etc) and discount vouchers, balance is always settled on due date without incurring interest

mint card will get killed as will american express (only got that for the nectar points offer), tesco and b.o.s. cards both have lowest aprs at 12.9% and very similar limits - not sure which one to keep of those two, probably flip a coin

Egg Card - 0% on Transfer and Purchases query

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