Best Balance Transfers / MoneySavingExpert.com discussion area

duggles

I see Egg have now slapped a 2.5% (with no maximum) handling charge on balance transfers, including their anniversary offer. I'm going to have to get my calculator out now for those Super Balance Transfers....

asumme

HELP - Is there any British Sterling credit card I can use/apply for, I am british living in France - (have been up to now having my mail re-directed from uk) but this runs out soon. Any credit card that I can use with my French address. Any clever person out there - got any answer to my dilemma. Many thanks

fbrj

asumme wrote:

HELP - Is there any British Sterling credit card I can use/apply for, I am british living in France - (have been up to now having my mail re-directed from uk) but this runs out soon. Any credit card that I can use with my French address. Any clever person out there - got any answer to my dilemma. Many thanks

I lived overseas for many years in a variety of locations - but always retained a uk bank account. Did you do the same?

beckempton

Can anyone tell me...I have been known to play the tart game - moving balances just before the 0% runs out. However, I now have a Natwest, HSBC, Capital One and Tesco card - all with nil balance. Will this have a negative effect on my credit rating by having all of these cards open, even if they are all cleared? If so, how do I go about closing them?
Many Thanks,
A fellow financial player!

grumbler

See:
Your Credit Rating: How they decide and how you find out for free
Should I cancel old credit cards?, Questions and discussion
http://www.stoozing.com/credscore.htm

If you want to close a CC account it is very easy. Just call them and ask to do this. Also ask to send you a confirmation and check in 1-2 months that the account is shown as 'settled' on your credit files.

Stumpy

We've just been shafted - or feel like it. We got a leaflet through the door for Capital One - 0% balance transfer until August 2007 with a 2% fee. Our Virgin 0% one was just about to run out so we went for it, transferring the balance over (£4,200). Got the card today, just in time, with the balance transferred over and we didn't mind about the 2% as Virgin were going to charge us about £50 interest next month!

Anyway, they gave us a hefty credit limit, so we decided to transfer our Barclaycard over to it as well which is on a 6.9% life of balance rate. My husband rang them up, arranged it over the phone (another £3,000 - I know, I know, but we're slowly reducing the amount), and arranged for a direct debit to be set up at the same time so we didn't get caught out with the first payment.

We decided we'd pay off the minimum, plus a bit extra (the minimum with Virgin on the £4,200 was about £5) - so asked what the minimum would be on this. £218!!!!

Apparently they want a minimum of 3% repayment each month - which is a huge jump from what we were paying. I've even had a look on their website (the bit where you sign up for the card) and there is no mention there of such a large repayment percentage. Can't work out what, if any, percentage Virgin were charging, or Barclaycard, for that matter.

grumbler

Stumpy wrote:

... I've even had a look on their website (the bit where you sign up for the card) and there is no mention there of such a large repayment percentage.

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Capital One Platinum[/FONT] > [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Summary Box[/FONT] :

3% of the outstanding balance or £5, whichever is greater.

Small £5 minimum payment is a feature of only MBNA cards (including Virgin) and is only for 0% introductory period. From the next month your minimum payment would be 2%. For all other cards min payment is 2-3% (2% for Barclaycard). Buy switching to Capital One with 3% min payment you incresed you minimum payment by 1/2 (£73) as against 2% (£145).

Stumpy

Darn - that'll teach me. But I've just won a car, so hopefully I'll just pay it off instead!! Hurray!!!!

schiff

Stumpy - I am seriously amazed at you! What on earth do you expect!!

You have been granted a virtually interest free loan of £7200 (normal interest charge about £700 pa) and you object to paying £218 (of capital) against what you owe. What on earth do you expect - jam on it? Or maybe a crate of champagne for your magnanimity.

Get real mate - or do you think credit card companies should operate like a charity - in other words your charity?

Stumpy

schiff wrote:

Stumpy - I am seriously amazed at you! What on earth do you expect!!

You have been granted a virtually interest free loan of £7200 (normal interest charge about £700 pa) and you object to paying £218 (of capital) against what you owe. What on earth do you expect - jam on it? Or maybe a crate of champagne for your magnanimity.

Get real mate - or do you think credit card companies should operate like a charity - in other words your charity?

Hey - up until this month I was paying £5 per month on just over half that - what did I expect? maybe a tenner? I'm a firm believer that credit card companies are out to get what they can - which means that they drag out the 0% loan until you end up paying their interest charges. It is not in the interest of the credit card company to pay off a loan quickly - the longer you have a debt with them, the more interest you pay.

Credit card companies tend to work on the assumption that consumers are lazy - that once you have transferred your custom to them you will stay with them. That way, they feel comfortable charging stupid interest rates (over 16%) as the vast majority of consumers will plod along and pay it, without a thought.

This is why a lot of people can get away with the "tarting" idea - and I have to say, if they had been more up front about it, it is much better for the consumer (and therefore much worse for them) to pay off the debt early - so in actual fact they are working FOR the person trying to clear debt. At the end of the day, IT IS an interest free loan so bully for them - but I would have preferred to set my own repayment rate. As I mentioned before, I wasn't planning on just paying off the minimum, my intention was to pay a bit more - but £200 more than I would have been paying with an MBNA card does seem a little excessive. And you have to take into account that I paid a 2% fee to transfer to them in the first place.

But hey, I'm not too bothered now - trying to find out how to sell a bright pink Ka to pay off the debt! (do you know anyone who's a Thunderbirds fan?!)

PS - "Matess" might have been a better choice! (not that it's a word, but I'm female, so have a right to make up words on the spot!!)