Half Price Plastic Personal Loan Discussion

System

hi martin

thanks for the tips

i have a personal loan of £7k with egg and a £9k business loan with natwest.

if i go down the 0% card route i would need 6-8 cards over 3-4 years. what effect is this going to have on my credit rating.

would i be better off going for a 3.9 capital card insead?

regards

michael

LizardKing_2

I need to get a loan of about £2400. After reading some of the articles on this site I thought about doing this:

Applying for a Mint card, using a balance transfer/credit card cheque to put the £2400 into my bank account then just before the 8 months 0% is up (I will be paying some of the debt off each month), transfering it to Blue American Express at 4.9% and paying the rest off (a payment each month).

I just wanted to run this by other people who most likely have better knowledge of this than me to make sure it sounds like a plausible idea. This is bearing in mind that I get accepted for these cards, I see no reason that I wouldn't except I have a very low income at the moment (somewhat below £10,000).

I would really appreciate any advice given. Also any possible alternatives because I do need to loan the money.

System

i have a graduate loan of 12500k with hsbc @ 7.9% thinkning of doing the plastic loan thing what do you think ?

zcaprd7

Tricky one..

Depends what you get from capital one limit wise.

However I got £5k and waited four months (proving I could pay, used direct debit).

Phoned up last week and asked if they could up my limit for a balance transfer (someone else did this on this board) - I was expecting a no and would have transferred the last four payments but they said yes and tripled it up to £15k!

All balance transfers in the first 6 months are at 3.9% so if you get a £4k limit it should be doable.

One thing to remember is the repayments - they will be higher to begin with 3% of total. You can stretch your HSBC loan out over a long term and pay a lot less (monthyl, you will pay loads more over the whole term).

Might as well apply and see (you can always rearrange the graduate loan for a lower amount)

System

Martin, I posted a thread on the cc board that could be of interest (pun?) [link=http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=Questions;action=display;num=1082408275] HERE[/link] which sinks like a stone on that board

Basically for existing Barclaycard holders, offers a 2.9% for life with a 2% initial charge, no extra charge for transfer to bank, no min spend, so very good as a long term loan, being 2.9% forever with a 2% monthly min. repayment. So costs £100/month reducing, not bad for a £5k long term loan?

limitations:-
existing users only?, Maximum of £5000, only allows 90% of credit limit , so a limit of around £5700 required, time limited offer.

Tips,
Transfer or pay off current Barclaycard, transfer £5k to high interest account, fee charged is £100, which could be regarded as an early first payment. Buy new car,etc which is what i done , or consolidate debts to reduce outgoings, put/hide card in drawer and dont use till repaid fully!

Dont use 0870 number to call as the 0800 free number on your statement will get you to the right place.

Regards the invisible Scat

reedi

This seems a good idea...but Im unsure whether or not to do it!....as Martin suggested, Ive been number crunching!

I have about £1300 on a Texaco Card that is already on 3.9% for the life of the balance...so I might aswell leave that be.

Next I have an Egg card which Im paying their interest rate on because the 0% 6 months has ran out.....this is about £1000

Finally I have a Cahoot flexible loan with £4400 outstanding at 8.8%.

Am I right in working out that to do this plastic loan thing Id need a credit limit of 5400 to cover egg card and cahoot loan....which will give me a lower rate at 3.9%, paying over 3 years which is fine except ive worked out that my Cahoot loan will be over in just over a years time as Im paying £170 a month.....so surely there is no point in me extending my loan over another 2 years is there?......granted Im paying more in interest but sooner done with the better....and it doesnt include my Egg card which I might as well just transfer to a 0% for 6 months.

Is this good thinking by me or am I foolish not to take advantage of this offer??

My brain hurts trying to work it out! ???

Thanks

Andy

System

I have just read in section 10 of the application for capital one c/card that the interest rate can be increased provided that they give you 30 days notice including balance transfers, due to changes in the interest rate environment or unforeseen circumstances or the way in which you use their card. Have I understood this correctly? This rather worries me that once I transfer a balnce to them I may end up paying more.
Please advise
Also does Northern rock use rule 78 on their loans and where can I find out more about rule 78.
Thanks
pete.

System

Can you tell me if there are any credit cards which give cheques without charging the 1.5% fee?

System

I am looking to borrow £5000.00 I think i have a good credit rating and earn over 35k per anum.These new credit card offer are for purchase or balance transfer only,how do i actually get the money.do i get a credit card and withdraw cash or write cheque with it ? Then i phoned halifax for Halifax 1 card they said if i withdraw cash or use cheque i have to pay 11.9%.have i not understood how to use them?or something.can any body help .i have no debts ,i don't want to purchase and want to get 5k !!

System

Hi Adam

I'm about to do just the same thing. I intend to buy a ca r for my wife for about £5000. To do this I'm going to pay for it on my existing credit card (14% or thereabouts). Once I've done this I'll transfer the balance onto my new texacocard at 3.9%. I have 6 weeks to do this otherwise the introductory interest rate on the Texaco card expires.
You need to have the new low rate card in place first before you go out and spend on your existing card. You also need to be sure that the credit limit on your new card is not exceeded.
So long as you transfer within a few days of purchasing, they'll be no interest charge on your existing card.
Of course, this only applies to something that you intend to buy with your 5k. If you want it for other reasons, you can't 'borrow' at this rate.
Hope this helps.