SBT's...does First Direct do them?

Reaper

If you don't keep a debt on your Egg card then you can continue to use it to pass money through even outside your 0% interest periods. Here is how:

* Your Egg card has £0 on it
* You take out a new 0% card
* Do a Balance Transfer to your Egg card resulting in a positive balance on the Egg card
* SBT the positive amount to your bank account. No interest or fees to pay.
* Repeat

I am obliged to say this is technically not allowed by the new card you took out as the T&C usually say BTs are to pay off credit card debt. However many people here do it.

Alternatively have you got a Mint card yet? That is another straightforward SBT.

chokri123

Sorry Reaper, I think I'm a little slow at this time of night.
If I give you a scenario,pls could you tell me step by step what I could do:

The siuation is this: I have £24k or so that I will have to pay back to Egg and MBNA(12k each) after 9m.
I know I can borrow this back on my mortgage and still reduce my balance significantly after the 9m 0% period is up. (I could then SBT funds again on the anniversary of both cards at 0% and fire those again into my mortgage)

I could also shift what is owed to Egg/MBNA to other 0% cards BUT I would then have to make the minimum repayments on a debt of £24k or so and that is around £480 pm. I know I could not afford that(thats the beauty of SBT's..they can pay for themselves if needed)

How could I continue to keep the initial funds borrowed on SBT's in my mortgage and find some other way to fund the min repayments on the new 0% cards OR is there a way I could borrow from Egg/MBNA again at 0% as an SBT?
Pls explain as if u were breaking it down for a 4yr old(or a newbie MoneySaver!)
Thanx.....

Reaper

The siuation is this: I have £24k or so that I will have to pay back to Egg and MBNA(12k each) after 9m.
I know I can borrow this back on my mortgage and still reduce my balance significantly after the 9m 0% period is up. (I could then SBT funds again on the anniversary of both cards at 0% and fire those again into my mortgage)

Only Egg has an anniversary offer. MBNA might make you offers when you come to cancel but don't depend on it. There are lots of MBNA cards though, so maybe you found one that does?

I could also shift what is owed to Egg/MBNA to other 0% cards BUT I would then have to make the minimum repayments on a debt of £24k or so and that is around £480 pm. I know I could not afford that(thats the beauty of SBT's..they can pay for themselves if needed)

Whether you have an SBT card or an ordinary one you still have to make minimum payments. I guess you are saying that you like to re-SBT the minimum payment you made.

I'd suggest you transfer the debt onto new BT cards when your 9m is up and just use some of the money you took out in the first place to make the payments. True, the amount borrowed gradually diminishes if you do this, but not by much. As each card needs replacing you can transfer the debt and do an extra SBT (via Egg) to top it back up to the original amount.

chokri123

Thanks for your comments Reaper. I would very much appreciate your opionion on what would be the best way for me to maximise my savings on the following.
I will explain my exact situation:

I have a flexible Mortgage and so can overpay and borrow back on it with no restrictions. I have managed to get £21k thru Egg and MBNA and will be firing this into my Mort very soon(via SBT)both at 0% for 9m.(I will need to pay off Egg in May 2005 and MBNA in Aug 2005)
By keeping my Mort payments the same as they are now, I will be overpaying each Month and so will be reducing my Mort balance. At the end of the 0% periods for both cards, I will have reduced my Mortgage substantially.

I am able to afford the min repayments on these 2 SBT cards(pay £210 pm for the Egg and £5 pm for the MBNA)
I am able to borrow back the funds needed to clear off the Egg and MBNA balances from my Mortgage and as I,m reducing whats owed to these 2 cards over the 9m
I will be borrowing back less than what I overpaid into the Mortgage initially and also making a saving by having overpaid each month.

I could clear off the Egg and MBNA balances by borrowing back on my Mortgage and then wait for Egg and MBNA to offer me 0% SBT's again(as they both do a year after u get the card) OR is there a way to to keep the money that's been borrowed from Egg/MBNA in my Mortgage/borrow again from them in the future via 0% SBT's?
What methods can I use to keep the stoozing going on indefinitely/what method would give me the MAX reduction in my Mortgage balance?

Reaper

I'd suggest you try to keep it going rather than paying it back in between 0% periods.

So a few weeks before your 9 months comes to an end apply for a couple more ordinary 0% BT credit cards and balance transfer the debt onto them. They don't need to be SBT cards. (I'm assuming you can get another couple of credit cards with high enough limits).

The minimum payments are likely to be higher than at present as you point out, particularly if you get the First Direct one which wants 3%pm. This need not be a problem. Pay what you can from your salary each month and for the rest either:

1) Take some money out of your flexible mortgage each month to meet the minimum credit card payments.

or

2) Alter your mortgage payments so that you are paying less off your mortgage off each month. This frees up money to help pay the minimum credit card payments.

When/if you get additional 0% periods on your original SBT cards you can use them to temporarily reduce your mortgage even further.

Hope that all makes sense.

isasmurf

Was your card really 8 months or was it the case that you did a BT 2 months down the line after you did your first BT with it thus giving 2 + 6 = 8 months, or so it would seem.    

No, I made the BT at exactly the same time I applied for the card. I only got the card because I was cancelling another FD credit card (that I never used), and they said we can give you another card at 0% for 6 months and I said OK, I want to transfer £x from a card that I do use (a non FD one). Although this might not have registered as a BT, they initially treated it as a Cash advance because I needed to do it before my new card was ready, so they paid it straight away and charged it to my card once it was set up.

chokri123

Thanks for your reply on the 01.12 Reaper. All is crystal clear now!