when to apply for new credit card ?

sisk23

Hi , I am buying a lot of items on my halifax credit card from now until 5th september (about £3000) to refurb a property .I have good credit rating and want to transfer the debt to 0% deal for as long as possible . When do I apply for a new card? My next halifax statement date on my cc is 11th september.
Finally is HBOS part of halifax group?
Thanks.

latecomer

HBOS = Halifax Bank of Scotland

I would apply quite soon if you want the new credit card to be active in time to transfer the balance off your existing card prior to the statement date.

Moggles_2

I would apply ASAP.

It normally takes a minimum of 14 days to process a credit card application and balance transfer request. IME, there's little you can do to chase up applications & requests so, for peace of mind, it's sensible to allow at least 5 weeks, plus an extra day or two to compensate for the public holiday

sisk23

Hi thanks for the posts, I have just applied for Virgin credit card online as it has longest interest free time.I got credit limit of £5800 and got approved instantly , card will arrive 7-10days!! Happy times:T

Richard019

In that case your best bet is to get them to do one big Balance transfer (£5.5k ish) into your current account. You can then use that money to repay the Halifax card, and the extra money can go into a high interest savings for the 14 months before you need to arrange to repay the Virgin card. Just make sure you have a DD set up on the Virgin card for the minimum payment.

sisk23

Richard019 wrote: »

In that case your best bet is to get them to do one big Balance transfer (£5.5k ish) into your current account. You can then use that money to repay the Halifax card, and the extra money can go into a high interest savings for the 14 months before you need to arrange to repay the Virgin card. Just make sure you have a DD set up on the Virgin card for the minimum payment.

Hi, thanks for that , I did not know the money could be paid to my current account ,last time I did balance transfer from one card to another the balance was just paid by the new card . Does one have the obtion to do this always?
Can get 7% on the extra money if tie it up for a year.

Richard019

In most cases no.

You can with any MBNA backed card (which is Virgin and a few others), and Egg. Mint you can occassionally but it relies on them sending you cheques to do it rather than a normal CC. I think there are a couple more but I can't remember.

NickX

The facility to send funds to your Current Account is known as Super Balance Transfer (SBT).

Only a few rather special cards have this facility. These include Egg, Egg Money, Post Office Card and any card administered by MBNA (including the Virgin range of cards).

In addition MINT periodically issue Credit Card cheques that can be paid into a Bank Account at Balance Transfer rates. However, this is the least satisfactory option because the cheques cannot be requested and unless they are already on your possession you never know precisely when they will drop through your letterbox.

sisk23

NickX wrote: »

The facility to send funds to your Current Account is known as Super Balance Transfer (SBT).

Only a few rather special cards have this facility. These include Egg, Egg Money, Post Office Card and any card administered by MBNA (including the Virgin range of cards).

In addition MINT periodically issue Credit Card cheques that can be paid into a Bank Account at Balance Transfer rates. However, this is the least satisfactory option because the cheques cannot be requested and unless they are already on your possession you never know precisely when they will drop through your letterbox.

Thanks for that info,:rotfl: very useful to know ,pin already arrived ,did not realise how fast they would approve my card application .

sisk23

NickX wrote: »

The facility to send funds to your Current Account is known as Super Balance Transfer (SBT).

Only a few rather special cards have this facility. These include Egg, Egg Money, Post Office Card and any card administered by MBNA (including the Virgin range of cards).

In addition MINT periodically issue Credit Card cheques that can be paid into a Bank Account at Balance Transfer rates. However, this is the least satisfactory option because the cheques cannot be requested and unless they are already on your possession you never know precisely when they will drop through your letterbox.

I had a call fro Virgin money about my new creditcard ,the lady had a strong Scottish accent and I could not understand her at all , I thought she said I could transfer funds to my current account instead of paying off my halifax credit card , there is balance transfer fee for transferring my balance ,but is there a fee payble if the money is paid by Virgin direct to my current account? As I had difficulty understanding her maybe someone knows this? :rolleyes:

NickX

sisk23 wrote: »

is there a fee payble if the money is paid by Virgin direct to my current account? As I had difficulty understanding her maybe someone knows this? :rolleyes:

The fee should be the same as with a standard Balance Transfer, but it would be adviseable to get this confirmed by a CSA along with the interest rate that you will be on.

Hopefully if you call again you won't get such a strong Scottish accent