How many SBTs can be done in an Egg Anniversary

mary

I'm not sure when the Egg Anniversary month first takes place, if it hasn't already. I was wondering just how many times you can transfer money in and out of Egg to a savings account within 31 days. I'm assuming that you have to wait for the transfer to appear on the account before you can shift it on its way and then trigger off the next one.

Any thoughts?

Reaper

I'm not sure when the Egg Anniversary month first takes place, if it hasn't already. I was wondering just how many times you can transfer money in and out of Egg to a savings account within 31 days. I'm assuming that you have to wait for the transfer to appear on the account before you can shift it on its way and then trigger off the next one.

Any thoughts?

Yes. Firstly it is not 31 days from your anniversary. It is 5 months of 0% balance transfers, starting from your anniversary.

Secondly, why are you talking about doing lots of transfers? If you mean move the balance to a savings account just do it once for the value of your credit limit for 5 months. However if you mean you want to use the Egg card as a Gateway (aka Mule, Conduit) for other BT cards you don't have to wait for your anniversary. Do it any time. You will only pay interest for a day ot two as it passes through. In fact you can go further and put the money on it before moving it away resulting in a brief positive balance and no interest charge at all (however strictly speaking you are not abiding by the T&C if you do this).

Milarky

Mary,

I'm not sure what you are seeking to do here? The main points about the Egg anniversary offer are that

Balance Transfers 'to' Egg [those which leave it with a net debit balance, that is] can only be made in the first month during an offer, which is always a calendar month.

During the next four calendar months of any offer the Egg card is effectively unusable for moving money accross from other cards to savings accounts. Getting an Egg Blue card is recommended as a stand in SBT card.

AFAIK as soon as a credit hits the account the available credit on the card is increased. But you won't see a credit until the following bank day anyway. So [AFAIAA] you cannot get into difficulties with Egg moving further balances immediately from there.

I am aware from previous experience, however, that 'available credit' doesn't immediately increase on non-Egg cards once a credit that is not a cash credit but a 'balance transfer' [how can they tell the difference?] is received.

What happened to me was that I had written a Goldfish conv cheque out as soon as I saw a credit hit the account last year [close to Xmas] and the cheque was not honoured and a fee was charged.

But if you just try to 'send' money before the system will allow it I assume that they merely defer sending the transfer until they 'clear' it? In other words, I can't see a problem for you if that is the sort of thing you had in mind

Regards ???

Smitty

Hello Mary,

Secure message Egg to find out your anniversary month.

The only limiting factors for you will be your credit limit and time (the length of your anniversary calendar month)

Milarky's point about the egg blue card is well worth noting.

mary

Thanks Milarky, Reaper and Smitty for your comments.

I do know when my anniversary month will be - May and I realise any activity has to be done in that particular month, yet the borrowing lasts for 5 months in all.

Perhaps I didn't make myself clear - my query was, supposing you have 3 or 4 cards with say £5k on each to channel through Egg and yet your limit on Egg was only £4K, would you then first do a transfer from Card A, wait a few days, then from Card B etc.     I hesitated to create a positive balance in case it upset the Ts & Cs.

I thought the Egg Blue card was only 0% for purchases.  It doesn't seem to mention 0% for SBTs, or am I looking in the wrong place

Like Milarky I have noticed that Egg are a bit slow to update their statements. I did try to move some money a while ago, and basically was too quick for their system. The guy on the phone could see that I had the money there and somehow overrode the system to let me go ahead at that time.

Smitty

you won't be able to exceed your egg credit limit. So you would have to wait for the first SBT to remove your Egg balance, before your Egg card receives the next one.

Once you go past your anniversary month, and your green egg card has a balance left on it, it cannot be used as a mule. This is when the blue card comes in handy.

nh

I hesitated to create a positive balance in case it upset the Ts & Cs.   

I can completely understand your concern (I had the same ones) but I have transferred thousands of pounds through Egg over the past week or so by creating positive balances and then SBTing into my current account.

I put my partner's card £10,000 in credit through a BT from Texaco, and when I tried to SBT into my bank account, they rang him to check it was OK (probably because I was SBTing into an account not in his name). Once they checked it wasn't fraud, they went ahead with the SBT. What I am trying to say is that if Egg were bothered about it, wouldn't they have said something to him then?

My attitude is do it (put the card into credit before SBTing) until someone says you can't, because what is the worst that can happen if you get 'caught'?

I haven't read the T&Cs for Egg (naughty me). What do they actually say regarding this matter?

mary

Once you go past your anniversary month, and your green egg card has a balance left on it, it cannot be used as a mule. This is when the blue card comes in handy.

Can you use the blue card in the same way as the green card?

Gotabiscuit

Can you use the blue card in the same way as the green card?

Yes. You can use the blue card to SBT with - though, as you are aware, there is no 0% period on BTs (or SBTs).

This means that you would be charged interest from day one on a debit balance but it's still a useful 'mule tool'. ;D

Milarky

My attitude is do it (put the card into credit before SBTing) until someone says you can't, because what is the worst that can happen if you get 'caught'?

I haven't read the T&Cs for Egg (naughty me). What do they actually say regarding this matter?

Egg T&Cs are not the problem [if there really is a problem] Egg says merely that they will 'transfer a balance'. This literally means: To make a payment to either a credit card or bank account on your behalf. Egg say nothing about not making payments to your card at any time that will put in into credit.

Other posters have expressed the view that it could be the other credit card [the one which is technically 'transferring a balance' from Egg in the first place] which might punish you - if they were aware that you really had no 'balance' to transfer from your Egg card [say at £0.00]. To my mind this is excessively cautious. In law, what is a 'balance' anyway? A 'balance transfer' is actually a reverse statement of the fact that a payment is being made. How then does a 'balance' 'transfer' when this is done?

Here is a gem of the linguistic absurdity of insisting that a 'balance' is being 'transferred' [From Nationwide just after making a payment request - a 'balance transfer' to smile Visa]:

It actually says: "Please check with your other credit card provider that i]sic[/i they have received your instruction to transfer the balance to your Nationwide Credit Card account"

How can a payment, which is already on its way, depend upon some instruction to the intended recipient that they will [agree to?] recieve this money and somehow 'release' a negative balance by making it less negative, zero, or positive? They just get the money and knock it off the balance don't they. When doesn't this happen?  :P

mary

Yes. You can use the blue card to SBT with - though, as you are aware, there is no 0% period on BTs (or SBTs).

This means that you would be charged interest from day one on a debit balance but it's still a useful 'mule tool'.  ;D

If there is no 0% period on BTs with a blue card, and once you are outside the intro period for a green card, I don't see the benefit of having a blue card, unless it is to make purchases. I wasn't interested in the purchase side of things, simply to shift cash to savings.

Thanks Milarky for your words of wisdom. I guess there are a group of nerds sitting in every credit card home corner conjuring up some gobblediguk to put in the next set of Ts and Cs.