MINT 0% for existing customers till 2/12/05

NEWBIE_SHOPPAHOLIC

I wonder if anyone can clarify this.I have been sent details from Mint with whom I have had a card with for a while. They are offering 0% on BTs until april 06, but are charging a 2% fee, my query is will I be charged interest on this amount or will it attract no interest.

I usually pay off my cards in full, but his month have bought some furniture and I think I will be better off putting the money into a savings a/c (4.75%),than paying it off in full.

Can anyone see me being worse off? Am I missing something?

thor

Well I would have thought that if they are saying that the bt is 0% then they mran that they will not be charging interest until next April.
Also I know that it is a no-no to do a bt and then purchase with the card as that purchase will be treated differently and will not be exempt from interest charges but I don't know what the situation is if you already have a balance for the futniture before doing the bt. They could still charge interest for the furniture and you should check your t&c or maybe call contact them to make sure. I would pay off the balance before any balance transfers but in that case with the 2% fee it may not be worth taking the offer up anyway.

Milarky

thor wrote:

I don't know what the situation is if you already have a balance for the furniture before doing the bt. They could still charge interest for the furniture and you should check your t&c or maybe call contact them to make sure. I would pay off the balance before any balance transfers but in that case with the 2% fee it may not be worth taking the offer up anyway.

Good advice. It's 2% for five months at '0%' - or about 5% pa allowing for minimum repayments - assuming it is an 'uncapped' fee. If you repay during the five months it's costlier still.

As regards whether you would get charged interest separately on the prior purchases made when making a subesquent balance transfer - In general it is the case that IF you pay the purchase balance PLUS the statemented balance transfer IN FULL BY the following DUE DATE you won't pay any interest ON the purchases themselves but MAY pay interest on the balance transfer part at whatever rate that attracted FOR the days between the transfer being made and the repayment. This is because purchases are generally interest free provided the statement is cleared by the due date. Now if you have purchases [but not BT element] on a statement with 25 days to pay and then do a BT during the 25 days, and then repay the statement balance it's a moot point, which I think comes down the all important ordering of payments. Most companies won't treat a payment like that as paying the purchases but the balance transfer part first. This leaves the purchases unpaid and therefore laible to interest right back to the date of purchase. If you repay the statement balance on the due date and THEN make a BT the payment has to come off the purchases logically, because there is nothing else to repay at that stage. However it's been reported that some companies [Barclaycard, I think] won't even allow this and only deduct payments at the statement date not at the due date. The only safe thing to do therefore is wait until after the statement that shows the purchases being paid in full - and no interest was charged [and with no purchases during that month either] and then do a BT.

YorkshireBoy

I read this one differently. ie, OP has made a furniture purchase on another card and was wondering whether to transfer this balance to Mint and put the money they would have paid their other provider (for the furniture) into a savings account until the end of the Mint 0% offer period.

If this is the case, then the 2% BT fee will be repaid with the first payment (with the other 0.25% going towards reducing the balance) if Mint apply their usual order of payments. ie, to answer the OP's question - there will be no interest on the BT fee.

OP will have to do the sums to see if, with a 2% fee, the offer is worthwhile - although I suspect not.

NEWBIE_SHOPPAHOLIC

Thanks for your replies, Yorkshire boy is quite right I have a zero balance on my mint card and wondered if I did a BTfrom my Tesco card to mint and saved the money I would have used to pay of the Tesco card in a higher interest a/c if I would be better or worse off, taking into account the 2% charge ?

Sorry, maybe I didnt explain v.well!

YorkshireBoy

NEWBIE_SHOPPAHOLIC wrote:

Thanks for your replies, Yorkshire boy is quite right I have a zero balance on my mint card and wondered if I did a BTfrom my Tesco card to mint and saved the money I would have used to pay of the Tesco card in a higher interest a/c if I would be better or worse off, taking into account the 2% charge ?

Sorry, maybe I didnt explain v.well!

Your plan is doomed from the start. Mint & Tesco are both run by RBS so you won't be able to BT between the 2 cards.

NEWBIE_SHOPPAHOLIC

Why is that? I am sure that I have done it in the past

YorkshireBoy

NEWBIE_SHOPPAHOLIC wrote:

Why is that? I am sure that I have done it in the past

"Please note: Balance Transfers from other MINT and other Royal Bank of Scotland Group Card accounts are not permitted."

http://www.mint.co.uk/credit_cards01.asp?id=CREDIT_CARDS

NEWBIE_SHOPPAHOLIC

Just spoken to mint and they are happy to transfer from tesco but not RBS or other mint cards.Apparently tesco is only card exempt!

YorkshireBoy

NEWBIE_SHOPPAHOLIC wrote:

Just spoken to mint and they are happy to transfer from tesco but not RBS or other mint cards.Apparently tesco is only card exempt!

NEWBIE_SHOPPAHOLIC

Thanks anyway Yorkshireboy, because I wouldn't have thought about checking!