Free Cash From Credit Cards Discussion Area

Martinslovechild

Mikey,

You can certainly do it with other cards. For instance, my entire mortgage is on 0% cards. You can generally borrow somewhere between 1 to 2 times your salary (it varies depending on factors which i'll never truly understand!).

However, before you go running in there like a bull in a china shop, stop and read the excellent article here which lists all the potential pitfalls.

If you decide it's for you, then good luck. The savings really are genuine. I save approximately £400 per month on mortgage interest and car loan interest (both of which are on 0%) plus an additional amount which is in a high interest savings account. This is equivalent to a payrise gross amount of over £8000 per annum, for approx 6 hours effort a year.

I'm not sure that I could find another job easily which pays over £1000 per hour!!!

Good Luck.

H2SO4

On one Abbey web page, it says that some balance transfers count as cash transactions (see the demo of the online access if you don't believe me). Is this just confusing jargon or a sneaky way to charge interest on money that's supposed to be at 0%?

catnatlady

How does this scheme work if you don't have a balance to transfer?

grumbler

catnatlady wrote:

How does this scheme work if you don't have a balance to transfer?

Read the original article 'Make Free Cash from Credit Cards'
Read also 'What is a Super Balance Transfer?'.

If you don't have balance to transfer you can also just 'grow' it on the card with 0% offer for purchases (and save money that you do not spend as a result). At the end you have balance to transfer and you can keep on 'growing' it and saving money.

fellowship

Hi,

I'm very interested in this, but could someone please kindly let me know if I'd be better off transferring the money into my flexible NatWest One mortgage or into a Mini-cash ISA.

I understand how I would earn money from the Mini-cash ISA route, but here's my query regarding my mortgage account:

If I were to take out the Virgin card at 0% for 9 months, and transfer £3000 into my mortgage account, I understand this would be deducted from my outstanding balance and therefore reduce my monthly interest payments for the following 9 months, which saves me money. But once the 9 months expires and I then pay off the card in full (from my mortgage account), wouldn't my mortgage be back in the same position it was 9 months ago before I took out the card? Wouldn't my interest payments also revert to what they would have been as my outstanding balance would be the same as it was? I'm slightly confused as to how I'd actually benefit financially from transferring the £3k into my mortgage?

Any advice would be much appreciated.
Thanks in advance.

Chadsman

fellowship wrote:

If I were to take out the Virgin card at 0% for 9 months, and transfer £3000 into my mortgage account, I understand this would be deducted from my outstanding balance and therefore reduce my monthly interest payments for the following 9 months, which saves me money. But once the 9 months expires and I then pay off the card in full (from my mortgage account), wouldn't my mortgage be back in the same position it was 9 months ago before I took out the card? Wouldn't my interest payments also revert to what they would have been as my outstanding balance would be the same as it was?

Yes, but the alternative of sticking the money in a cash ISA would also require the funds to be repaid at the end of the 9 month interest free period. It is generally better to put the money into whichever charges/pays the higher rate of interest.

lipidicman

You would ideally keep your payments the same, ie paying off more capital than interest (compared to if you hadnt stoozed). If you let the payments be reduced then you would need to save the difference to benefit. Dont let the payments be reduced and SPEND the difference or you are effectively spending some of you stooze pot - make sense?

fellowship

thanks for the advice.

fellowship

lipidicman - Thanks very much, that makes sense. Much appreciated.

yumi_2

I am a housewife, will any credit card companies issue a card to me? I have always use a supplementary card. My husband is now working in overseas, so, I can't get him to apply for any credit card now.

How do you get the balance transfer to your current account? On the application form from Alliance & Leicester, it is only stated balance transfer to another credit card or store cards.

Pls advise, thank you. :j