Free Cash From Credit Cards Discussion Area

Galstonian

Of course you will ensure that any subsequent balance transfers are at 0%, some intro. offers will have shorter periods for making transfers (e.g. transfer within 3 months, intro rate for 6)

VJG_2

So if your minimum payment is say, £200, then phone them up a day or two after they take it and transfer this onto your card from whichever card you use for your shopping and normal purchases (preferably a cashback card).

Being new to this type of thing, I haven't quite got the gist of this. Would someone please elaborate for me?

crumpetman

The 6% halifax savings account doesn't look so good IMO. If you only have £250 to invest each month then it is a little bit better than the best mini cash isa but has no flexibility. If you have 3k to invest now then the cash mini isa will give a better return as it's earning interest on the full 3k immediately.

isasmurf

Does the MBNA deal apply to all their affinity cards? For example, my old university has a card which is operated by MBNA which they keep trying to gte me to apply for.

System

Martin - what's your opinion about using this alongside an 'all in one' mortgage and current account ? I'm thinking that you could borrow the money to reduce the amount of your morgage and hence the interest that you pay. This has an element of 'tax free' about it as you haven't truely earned interest, you have saved yourself paying it ?!

guiriman

So if your minimum payment is say, £200, then phone them up a day or two after they take it and transfer this onto your card from whichever card you use for your shopping and normal purchases (preferably a cashback card).

Being new to this type of thing, I haven't quite got the gist of this.  Would someone please elaborate for me?

VJG, to explain. Let's assume you have £8,000 on a zero % card. The minimum payment at 2.5% would be £200, so you pay that by direct debit out of the savings account where you have the money, leaving a balance of £7,800 on both the zero % credit card and your savings account. So, assume now that over the course of the month you have spent £200 on groceries, shopping, etc. all of which was on a Capital One credit card. Rather than pay this off out of your own cash, transfer this £200 on to your zero % card and bank the equivalent cash to the savings account, thus maintaining your zero % and savings balances at £8k.

Crumpetman, I take your point, but if you have £3,000 to invest now you can stick it all in the Halifax account, you only then need to put in £25 a month to get the 6% on this. However, lack of flexibility doesn't make it that attractive compared to an ISA, but how many of us regularly take money out of an ISA anyway?

crumpetman

Crumpetman, I take your point, but if you have £3,000 to invest now you can stick it all in the Halifax account, you only then need to put in £25 a month to get the 6% on this. However, lack of flexibility doesn't make it that attractive compared to an ISA, but how many of us regularly take money out of an ISA anyway?

Unless I've misread the conditions of the account, you cannot invest more than £250 per month. It is a regular saver account not a lump sum savings account. You cannot make any deposits other than the regular monthly one. At the end of the year the biggest the balance can be is £3k plus interest.

I'll apply for this account but I'll make sure I have used up my cash isa allowance for this year before I pay money into it.

mr.steve_2

I understand the concept of maintaining the balance on your 0% credit card and savings account by paying the minimum monthly installments to the card from the savings account, transferring your capital one credit card payments to the 0% card, and making up the cash into your savings account, but my question is firstly:

1. Does this mean you need to apply for your capital one card simultaneously to your 0% card and should this be 0% too with the offer running for the same period of time?

2. How could you benefit by using a mini cash ISA if you you want to maintain the balance, as you would not be able to top it up if using it to pay back the 0% card?

Also, I notice that Halifax are offering a 9 months 0% card though I'm not sure if its a BT.

Thanks in advance.

guiriman

To take these in order:

1. I already have a Capital One card, it's not 0% but does give 1% cashback. In a year and a half I've got about £60 back this way (which is not bad for a single guy living with his parents). I've built up about £3,000 through spending on this card and transferring to a 0% every month.

2. You're right, this won't work with an ISA, you'll need to do this with a savings account to make it work, however.....if you get a couple of super balance transfer cards and get £3,000 on each (£6,000 total) then stick £3k in your ISA and the other £3k in savings linking the direct debits for both to your savings account.

Go for the Halifax card, I can't as I'm already with it, but yes, it's purchases and balance transfers.

One other (slightly) sneaky point, Capital One gives 1% on all purchases, even if they're then refunded, so (in theory) you can spend up to your limit every month, then take all the stuff back and still get cashback on it.

Hope this helps.

mr.steve_2

Ah, yes I think so. So basically I could use a Capital One card in this way for as long as I want without worrying about paying alot of interest on it, and continue to pay it off with the 0% credit card which I am exploiting?
I was actually thinking about using a mini cash ISA in conjunction with a high interest savings account in this way, because you may as well take advantage of the £3000 you're entitled to and like you say, you can use the savings account direct debit to cover both.
I think I'm slowly beginning to understand all this, and hope to be sure I know what I'm doing by the beginning of the tax year so I can give it a go.

Thanks for the advice!