Re: balance tranfers

Robert_Sterling_3

can't think of any reason why not. The BT should be OK. Cash withrawal often costs though.

bobbybee

i'm trying to lay me hand on about 3grand over 2years, without paying any interest. any advice welcome

Clariman

i'm trying to lay me hand on about 3grand over 2years, without paying any interest. any advice welcome

Be careful. When you make a cash withdrawal on a credit card you usually get hit with immediate interest charges (i.e. from the day of the transaction, rather than from the date of your next statement).

The only way I think you could lay your hands on £3K over 2 years is by Stoozing with the right types of cards. First off, you need to get a card that allows a super-balance-transfer (i.e. a BT that puts money directly into a current account). There are only a few cards around that allow this : MBNA (and the MBNA variants such as Abbey, Virgin etc), Egg and MINT. N.B. MBNA usually charge a transaction fee these days to do a BT, but it would still be worth it. Egg or MINT would probably be your best bet though, because they don't charge you at all.

Use the Egg/MBNA/Mint card to pay into your bank account. Then about 6 weeks before the end of the 0% intro offer, apply for another card that does 0% on balance transfers. BT from your first card on to this and close down your first card. To get 2 years, you may have to apply for and move the money 4 or 5 times, but if you have a good credit record it should be do-able.

Warning : Stoozing only works if you have a great attention to detail. If you can't pay the money back at the end of a 0% offer (either out of savings or from another BT) then you get hit with big interest charges i.e. there is significant risk.

For more info on Stoozing and the risks involved, see https://www.stoozing.com

Clariman

Reaper

Hi Clariman, and welcome to MSE in case nobody has said it yet!

For more info on Stoozing and the risks involved, see https://www.stoozing.com

Am I right in thinking you wrote most of the stuff on stoozing.com? If so how about an update to this bit:

18. Do I have to do my balance transfer at the same time as my application ?
No you don't have to...

These days almost all of the MBNA cards are charging BT fees if you don't ask for the transfer at the same time as the application or when you return the credit agreement.

Apart from that it is a good comprehensive stoozing explanation.

Clariman

Hi Clariman, and welcome to MSE in case nobody has said it yet!

Am I right in thinking you wrote most of the stuff on stoozing.com? If so how about an update to this bit:

These days almost all of the MBNA cards are charging BT fees if you don't ask for the transfer at the same time as the application or when you return the credit agreement.

Apart from that it is a good comprehensive stoozing explanation.

Thanks for the welcome. Yes, I wrote most of it. It started out as a FAQ post on the Motley Fool and then Stooz (another Fool user) put it up on its own webpage. It is probably due a review so thanks for the suggestion. Stooz is doing some restructuring to the site so it might be a little while.

Clariman

bpsy

I tried twice to use Mint's balance transfer cheque to pay into my own bank account but both times were rejected. One cheque was £3000, the other was £1000. They told me the amount exceeds their limit (though they gave me a credit limit of £4000), they said I could only issue a cheque under £500. Has anyone come across this?

Thanks

Unbelievable_2

bpsy

Don't understand this at all. I have so far written 6 cheques, all for several thousands, all paid into savings accounts, with no problems at all ???