Can I turn credit cards into cash in my current account?

jazz_jasper

Hi,

I'm hoping someone can help with this...

I'm getting married at the end of June 2009, I have to pay a lot of final balances in cash. Like most people I don't have thousands of pounds to pay everyone on the same day so I need to have access to a cheques or cash to pay people on the day.

I already have a loan to help out, and I also have about £3500 credit available on two credit cards! I was wondering if it was possible to pay the credit available on my credit cards into my current account with out having to pay huge fee's and interest?

I know one way of doing it is with an egg money card but they are not accepting people at the moment.

One idea I had was to write credit card cheques to the people who need paying and then to transfer the balance to one of the 0% credit cards I have avaliable. Would this work or would I still end up paying horrific fees and interest?

Any ideas anyone? Any advice or help would be really really appreciated!

I didn't really understand the article on stoozing and I don't know if it applies as I don't want to make profit I just want the money!! Hope that someone can make sense of this!!

Thanks

Jazz

cifpower

The best way to do this would be to apply for an MBNA branded card like Virgin which allows you to transfer cash up to 95% of you credit limit for a small fee

jazz_jasper

Thanks, I've just re read the stoozing article a few times and I think I get it.

I have a virgin credit card with £1900 on it and from what I've read it would be a 4% fee.

I just need to confirm that I need to phone up and ask them to 'do a balance transfer to my current account.'

I'm assuming that if I was to transfer say £1500, I'd get the 4% fee and then would have £1500 credited to my current account?

Sounds obvious but I just want to be sure that I understand correctly!!

Moggles_2

jazz_jasper wrote: »

I have a Virgin credit card with £1900 on it and from what I've read it would be a 4% fee. I'm assuming that if I was to transfer say £1500, I'd get the 4% fee and then would have £1500 credited to my current account?

How long have you had your Virgin card?

16 months at 0% is currently available to new customers from Virgin. There's a 2.98% handling charge.

If you're no longer in this introductory period though, you'll pay interest at balance transfer rates plus the BT fee on top.

jazz_jasper

I'm about to have them send me the card so I'm a brand new customer. Do I have to phone them for the request or can you do it online?

Snooze

jazz_jasper wrote: »

I'm about to have them send me the card so I'm a brand new customer. Do I have to phone them for the request or can you do it online?

I'm not sure with MBNA to be honest but I regularly move large sums to my current account using my Egg Money card and it can be a hassle sometimes; MBNA probably operate in a similar way. If you make the transfer requests online you end up with a whole pile of hassle shortly after as they freak out and phone you up asking you 3 million security questions, why you're moving it, what are you using the money for, etc etc. If you phone them up to make the transfer request then it usually keeps them fairly chilled.

You probably won't get any of that if you're only moving £2k but something to bear in mind.

Rob

Moggles_2

jazz_jasper wrote: »

I'm about to have them send me the card, so I'm a brand new customer. Do I have to phone them for the request or can you do it online?

Congratulations
:beer:

On receipt of your new card, you can request the transfer of funds to your bank account. It's best to do this when you call to activate the card. (There's a dedicated, Freefone number).

Virgin will allow you to transfer up to 95% of your credit limit. The money arrives in your bank account in about 6 days.

jazz_jasper

Fantastic!! Thanks very much everyone, that's made things a LOT easier! I'll give them a ring when I get the card through!

Can you have a virgin card and an MBNA card?

Thanks again!

cifpower

jazz_jasper wrote: »

Fantastic!! Thanks very much everyone, that's made things a LOT easier! I'll give them a ring when I get the card through!

Can you have a virgin card and an MBNA card?

Thanks again!

A virgin card is an MBNA card but, yes. you can have more then one card from the same stable.

Snooze

jazz_jasper wrote: »

Fantastic!! Thanks very much everyone, that's made things a LOT easier! I'll give them a ring when I get the card through!

Can you have a virgin card and an MBNA card?

Thanks again!

Yes you can, but personally I don't think it's a good idea applying as they'll already know you've got one of their cards and will probably decline you. Some people have several from the same stable but I don't understand how/why it works and your credit limit will usually be comparatively tiny on a 2nd card if you do get accepted.

As we're talking about MBNA, my card arrived 3 days later after applying with the pin arriving the day before it, and my balance transfers were done later on the same day of the application! Very fast service from them.

Rob

leapfrogx

I have spoken about this here ... however be careful this method comes with health warnings !

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1424587