Help Please - Some Techie Advice :)

computergenieuk

Hi Everyone,

I have a few questions if you can advise me.

I just applied for a Mint card and got accepted with £600 spending limit. It comes with 0% for six months on purchases and 0% on balance transfers until November 1st 2009 (3% fee applies).

1) Basically i want to know if i transfer for example £100 from my lloyds tsb card to my Mint CC how do i work out what 3% is of the £100? also are there any other fees i need to think of on balance transfers?

2) I want to spend about £500 in the next few months, i was thinking of buying it all on my lloydstsb credit card as i have a high limit with them then transfer to my mint card to get 0% for 13 months instead of purchasing on the mint card and having to pay back by 1st April 2009. Will lloydsTsb charge me when mint transfers the money to my mint card? and when mint says 0% until 1st November 2009 does that mean once transfered i wont have to pay any interest on the money until 1st November 2009?

3) Some of the purchases will be from eBay, when making a purchase on eBay and paying through Paypal using a credit card do the credit card company class that as a purchase transaction or cash/cheque transaction? reason for asking if it is purchase transaction then thats fine but if its classed as cheque/cash etc then there will be a charge.

If someone could explain it in detail to me as balance transfers etc is all new to me that would be very helpful. Basically mint is only offering 0% on purchases until 1st April 2009 but as i got another credit card with LloydsTsb i thought purchase goods on my LloydsTsb card first then transfer my lloyds debt to my mint card and that way even thou there is a 3% fee i wont have to pay any interest on the money transfered until November 2009. or is there something that i am missing as this seems to good to be trued if you know what i mean and i am concerned i am not thinking it through correctly and there maybe other fees etc involved.

Thank you,
Mat

normanmark

Dont mix balance transfers & purchases on the card.

computergenieuk

normanmark wrote: »

Dont mix balance transfers & purchases on the card.

mmm, im confused you mean it not a good idea or something?

KiKi

computergenieuk wrote: »

1) Basically i want to know if i transfer for example £100 from my lloyds tsb card to my Mint CC how do i work out what 3% is of the £100? also are there any other fees i need to think of on balance transfers?

'Percentage' effectively means 'out of 100'. So take any amount, divide by 100 and then multiply it by the percentage you're wanting to find out.

Eg, if you want to know 4.5% of 1450:
1450, divided by 100, multiplied by 4.5.

2) I want to spend about £500 in the next few months, i was thinking of buying it all on my lloydstsb credit card as i have a high limit with them then transfer to my mint card to get 0% for 13 months instead of purchasing on the mint card and having to pay back by 1st April 2009. Will lloydsTsb charge me when mint transfers the money to my mint card? and when mint says 0% until 1st November 2009 does that mean once transfered i wont have to pay any interest on the money until 1st November 2009?

Firstly, Mint will not 'transfer the money' to your mint card - they will transferring your debt to your mint card - that's important to realise!

Secondly, Mint will charge you the 3% as you are doing a balance transfer. Lloyds shouldn't - but check your T&Cs.

0% until 1st November 2009 means that you will not pay interest, yes. However, you still have to make the minimum payments each month.

If you do not make the minimum payments on time, the 0% deal will be suspended, and you will be charged interest on the full amount from the day you made the balance transfer.

3) Some of the purchases will be from eBay, when making a purchase on eBay and paying through Paypal using a credit card do the credit card company class that as a purchase transaction or cash/cheque transaction? reason for asking if it is purchase transaction then thats fine but if its classed as cheque/cash etc then there will be a charge.

It's classed as a purchase.

However, it is not a good idea at all to mix transfers and purchases on one card. The reason is this: when you make payments to the card, they are applied in a particular order. What you will find is that (assuming you've made minimum payments on time) as soon as the 0% on purchases deal ends in 2009, the payments will first be applied to the balance transfer, then to purchases.

Without getting into huge detail, what this means to you is that you can never, ever pay off the purchases until the balance transfer has been paid off. So whilst you're enjoying the 0% on your BT and paying it off unecessarily, you're paying some ridiculous interest on your purchases with no way of paying it off unless you pay of the BT in full. So to benefit from both deals, you have to pay off the card in full, by 1st April 2009.

In short, do not use the card for both unless you can pay off the card in FULL by 1st April.

If you don't understand the above, given that you are new to all this, take our word for it on here and most definitely do not use the card for both!

I hope that helps.
KiKi

normanmark

computergenieuk wrote: »

mmm, im confused you mean it not a good idea or something?

Correct. Basically you'd have to clear the balance in order to not accrue interest if you put purchases on top of a balance transfer.

computergenieuk

Hi KiKi,

Thank you ever so much for taking the time to explain everything in detail.

Rite so the best thing then is to just purchase everything i want on my Mint card and enjoy 0% until 1st April 2009 and as i never pay interest on my cards just pay in full before 1st April 2009 to avoid interest?

As you have explained not only is it complex but does not sound as good as it seems.

I just thought for example purchase £500 on LloydsTsb card and trasnfer to Mint card (only applied today so not gotit yet but was succesful), and get 0% until November 2009 but as you have said not so good after all, well never mind still got 0% on purchased until 1st April 2009. I got the money to pay off the debt but thought earn interest off it whilst i enjoy 0% on purchases until 1st April 2009, can do this of course and earn a little interest in my saving account not what i was expecting but better than nothing at all

Thank you,
Mat

KiKi

computergenieuk wrote: »

Hi KiKi,

Thank you ever so much for taking the time to explain everything in detail.

You're welcome.

Rite so the best thing then is to just purchase everything i want on my Mint card and enjoy 0% until 1st April 2009 and as i never pay interest on my cards just pay in full before 1st April 2009 to avoid interest?

Yes, given that you'd have to pay a fee for the balance transfer, I'd just stick it on the Mint card and pay it off before 1st April.

As you have explained not only is it complex but does not sound as good as it seems.

The complexity comes with the fact that they have provided you with two dates for the two offers, and the fact that you cannot control where the money goes; you cannot instruct them to use the £500 you're about to pay in to pay off the purchases...they will make that decision for you, and they'll make it in their favour!

I just thought for example purchase £500 on LloydsTsb card and trasnfer to Mint card (only applied today so not gotit yet but was succesful), and get 0% until November 2009 but as you have said not so good after all

You can still do that. Just don't use the Mint card to make any purchases if you do that.

But as before, given that you'd have to pay a 3% fee (£15 for a £500 transfer), it's probably not worth it...it depends how much interest you'll save for those extra 6 months by doing a BT. It's probably a matter of small change, so you might as well stick with the purchases on the Mint and be done with it.

KiKi

computergenieuk

KiKi wrote: »

You can still do that. Just don't use the Mint card to make any purchases if you do that.

But as before, given that you'd have to pay a 3% fee (£15 for a £500 transfer), it's probably not worth it...it depends how much interest you'll save for those extra 6 months by doing a BT. It's probably a matter of small change, so you might as well stick with the purchases on the Mint and be done with it.

KiKi

Ah rite, i understand even more now. Sorry to have confused the situation.

Sorry to be a pain but what i meant was i will not use the Mint card to make any purchases only to Balance Transfer to it.

So basically this is what i wanted to do, spend £500 on my LloydsTsb card then transfer that debt to my Mint Card, and that way i get 0% until November 2009, but to verify if i do that i will have to pay the fee of £15 (3%) which i dont mind but am i correct in understanding if i do that i will have to make minimum payment each month and pay in full before November 2009 to avoid interest charges?, also how do i work out what the minimum payment is each month?,

This is the card i am getting On that link there is the summary explaining it all if you could help me in thinking what i am saying is correct.

Because if i do the above what i have just said then to my understanding i will have to pay £15 Balance Transfer fee which i dont mind and pay a minimum payment each month otherwise the offer will get suspended and pay in full by November 2009 to avoid any interest charges. So basically as long as i pay in full by November 2009 and pay the minimum payment each month i will have no other fees just the £15?

I also notice that Mint charges its customers interest on the 3% balance transfer fee which i find rather shocking, so technically it is not 0% but i dont think it is that much so i wont mind, but how much interest would i pay on the 3% balance transfer fee?

Sorry but that what i meant my fault for not explaining properly. And just to verify i will not be using my Mint card to make purchases until after November 2009 until i have paid off the £500 as anything i want i will just then use my LloydsTSB card and have the normal 56 days interest free period as i do now and have done in the past.

computergenieuk

anyone? please

NickX

computergenieuk wrote: »

anyone? please

Your last post seemed pretty much correct to me, I think you have sussed it out.

You will have to pay the 3% Balance Transfer fee, but £15 is not the end of the world. There will be interest on this fee. You should check your Terms and Conditions because sometimes there is a Minimum Interest Charge which could be as much as £1 per month. If there is not a Minimum Interest Charge then it should only be pennies each month.

As you correctly say you must make the Minimum Payments each month and make them on time to avoid incurring a late payment charge and possibly losing your 0% promotion.

Pay the entire balance back before the promotion expiry date and you will be charged no further interest.

Good Luck.

computergenieuk

Hi

Thanks for replying.

Well i just read through the contract and it says in one area

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"We charge interest on any interest you owe at the same rate which applies to the category of transaction on which the interest
was charged. We charge interest on any fee or charge (other than a Default Charge mentioned in Key Information 3(A)) from the day of debiting to the account at the same rate as purchases and we charge interest on such interest at the purchases rate. Interest on interest is charged from the date the interest is debited to your account. We charge interest on any Default Charge (‘Default Charge Interest’) at the same rate as purchases but we do not charge interest on Default Charge Interest. Default Charge Interest will start to accrue after expiry of any deferral period required by law."

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Now to my understanding they will charge the purchase rate interest for the 3% fee which is £15, the pruchase interest rate is 15.9% APR, so how much interest does that work out to be? 15.9% APR on £15. (mint summary box says 15.9% APR but monthly works out to be 1.240% per month.

I am so stupid when doing calculations like these, because i dont know how to work out the above calculation and also not sure how to work out the minimum payment each month?

This is what mint says:

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The minimum payment will be the greater of: (i) 2.25% of the repayments new balance shown on your statement, rounded down to
the nearest pound or £5, whichever is more; or (ii) the amount you owe over your credit limit less any overdue amounts from previous statements. We may change the way we set the minimum payment in accordance with General Condition 8 of the
agreement.

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I am not sure how to do the following calculation aswell. Mint says:

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Balance transfers are limited to 95% of the credit limit

---

So my credit limit is £600 and i want to spend £500 is that over the 95% of the credit limit? . As if i go over i would probably have to pay interest on the remaining amount which if it is over the 95% of the credit limit they be crafty and charge it as 0% purchases until 1st April 2009 and that obviously is not what i want to happen as you have all stated, never,ever, ever purchase anything on a 0% balance transfer card