Virgin Credit card stoozing up to 34k....

zain

I am just about to consider doing the following:

I have about 9k on my virgin credit card( at credit limit) and have just been accepted for a first direct credit card with a limit of 25k (6 months 0%).

1. I plan to pay off the 9k using my first direct card and then ask for another 9k from virgin to put it into my bank account.

2. Pay this 9k off again using First direct and then ask for a further 7k from Virgin and move it again into first direct.

3. And if i am really cheeky ask again from virgin.. another 9k ...

4. So basically i would get about 34k from Virgin - 25k will be moved over to first direct and 9k will remain in Virgin.

5. All this for about 6 months



Can anyone see anything wrong with this? Will i be able to do this? I have been with virgin about 3 months so am not in the introductory period, will they charge me?

zcaprd7

Yes:

1. Virgin are (I think) MBNA affiliated and may charge for a balance transfer

2. First Direct let you have one balance transfer and then after that charge


Better to get and Egg card, transfer your whole FD limit to Egg (putting it in credit) and then from there into your current account.

Milarky

Can anyone see anything wrong with this? Will i be able to do this? I have been with virgin about 3 months so am not in the introductory period, will they charge me?

AFAIK First Direct stipulate that you can only make a single balance transfer at the promotional rate - and certainly only a single transfer to a 'competitor card'.

And Virgin will charge you [at least it's in the T&Cs that they may now chose to] up to £35 per BT they make on your behalf.

I would be cheeky and just get FD to transfer £25000 [or whatever final amount] straight to Virgin and then ask Virgin to BT to your bank account and pay only a single BT fee.

However I would like to hear what others think about that [putting a huge credit on an MBNA card] before suggesting you go ahead.

Good luck

ashcarrot

You should really get an egg card.

Note with First Direct you can only do ONE balance transfer to the same card or you get charged a cash advance or something charge!!!! (it was on a letter i got today)

zcaprd7

Nah, I bet if you loaded up an MBNA card in credit these days and then asked for a BT to an account they would charge a fee (if they allowed it at all!)

dthyer

Hi Zain,

This is almost exactly what I did about a month or so ago. I had over 7K stoozed from Virgin, and then got a > 20K limit from FD. As an aside, when I initially SBT'd from Virgin, nothing happened for a few days, and then I got a letter asking me to contact them, which worried me, but when I phoned them it was just because I'd asked for nearly 99% of my limit, and they prefer a maximum (S)BT of 95% of the limit, so that was ok in the end.

I didn't have the foresight to ask here before dealing with the FD BT though, so you're smarter than me on that front

I did spot the clause in the FD Ts&Cs that meant it made sense to do the BT in one big chunk, so I did that, putting the Virgin account to well over 10K in credit.
Then I logged on and requested an SBT for > 20K to my FD current a/c. Nothing happened for a few days, and then I got a letter again, asking me to contact them. I'd made sure that the SBT I'd requested this time would leave 5% of my credit limit unused, so it wasn't the 95% issue.

I called them, and they said that the couldn't do a Balance Transfer of money I was in credit by, and that they would have to refund the credit amount back to where it came from. They did ask why I had paid so much, and the best explanation I could come up with was that I was 'confused', along the lines of getting o/s balances of different accounts mixed up.

Now the way FD do a BT is to put the money into your current a/c, and set up a payment to the other credit card company, so when Virgin sent the money back, it went back to my FD current a/c, which is where I wanted it anyway! In fact they had to ask for the sort code and a/c no, so possibly I could have directed it anywhere, but putting it back where it came from was what I wanted anyway. This took a few days as it was done by a different department from the normal BT administration. Once that was done, my Virgin balance was zero, so I did another SBT of 95% of my limit, and that when through fine, with no letter.

I've since done one more BT from another card to Virgin and then SBT from Virgin to current a/c, for 95% of the Virgin limit, and that went through fine, no letter.

Each SBT, and the refund of credit amount, has cost me zero. I guess because I'm within the first few months of the 9 month 0%. I think possibly Virgin cards are better in this respect than other MBNA cards. Also each time, the profit I will earn from each stooz has been well over the £35 I might have been charged (I've had no variation of my Ts&Cs to increase this to £50 or uncapped), so even if I had been charged, it would still have been worth it.

Sorry to have gone on at such length, but I hope this is useful information.

Because of FD's rule about only one BT per lender, I guess you need to do one big BT to get the best advantage of the high limit (unless you have other SBT cards such as egg or Mint), but if you do this to Virgin, you may well go through the same experience as me, unless something has changed in the meantime.

I hope this helps,

DT

zain

Thanks for all the advice. Obviously i need to be careful. The best option seems to be to get an egg card. I have been banking with egg for several years so there should be no problem there.

I am not quite sure how i would juggle the egg and FD cards? Suppose i get a credit limit of 15k with egg, can i move it all into my current account and then pay it off using FD card and repeat?

Am i allowed to do this?

Thanks in advance

Reaper

I am not quite sure how i would juggle the egg and FD cards? Suppose i get a credit limit of 15k with egg, can i move it all into my current account and then pay it off using FD card and repeat?

Yes Egg are happy for you to do this BUT note that First Direct will not let you do a second BT to the same card (well, they will, but it will cost you).

zain

Well I just applied for an egg card which i thought would be straightforward....

I have been an egg customer for several years and i had an egg card which i cancelled about 2-3 years ago. Unfortunately, I cannot apply for another card unless i freeze(or hide) my account ( I didn't realise this). So now i have applied as a new customer and they haven't made a decision.

Apparently, i cannot unfreeze my account until i send my credit agreement form back ( if i get accepted!)

So they are not treating me as an egg customer- this i thought would help me get the 15k max credit limit for egg!

Eventually, they will merge the two folders and i should get my account back!

Complicated or what?