IF Life of Balance transfer card - low available balance!

Reya

Argh! I applied for (online) and was accepted for the Intelligent Finance LoB card that Martin recommended in a recent email. I had to state on the online application which balances I wanted to transfer and how much they were for. I want to transfer £3500 from an HSBC Gold card, so I gave that information and waited. I was accepted, the PIN number came through, and then I got a letter.

IF won't/can't accept the balance transfer because it's for more than my new card's limit. The card arrived yesterday and I was shocked to see the limit is only £1700. What good is that to me? I now have to call them and transfer less than half what I'd originally intended to, which means I'll still be paying high interest on what's remaining in my HSBC account.

Is this because they've wised up to why I wanted the card, and because it's LoB so they don't want me putting too much over to them? And how much is safe to transfer? Should I put across £1600, leaving me with a safety net of £100 up to the limit, because the card does charge a tiny bit of interest, although it's negligible.

Also, I have the LoB deal for any monies transferred for the first eight months, so presumably I can hammer the balance down as much as I can, then transfer more from the HSBC account after, say, six months.

It's just so frustrating. I had to tell them how much I wanted to transfer when I applied, so why wasn't I refused back then? Grr.

magentadreamer

It is frustrating, but as you've pointed out you do have the LOB on transfers for the next 8 months so once you've made some payments you can see if you can Bt back up to your max level again - I'd transfer as much as you can off the HSBC card. you might find you can only do BT's up to either 90% or 95% of your credit limit tho'. I've not got an If.com card so not too sure what percentage you can BT but I do know that other cards do have a percentage limit.

mountainofdebt

to spite your face.

It may be worth you, when you phone to activate your card to see if they can be persuaded to increase your limit - hubby managed a £500 increase doing it this way - but in any case I would accept whatever limit they give you and transfer sufficient from your HSBC card

Then once the balance has been comlpeted I would reduce my limit on the HSBC card.

Also I would throw any extra money at the HSBC card rather than the IF card - it will cost you less in interest doing it that way.

Reya

Magentadreamer, I'll have to check what percentage I can transfer, as I hadn't thought of that. Thank you! Hopefully I can do that when I call to activate the card (after which I fully intend to either cut it up or shove it into the bottom of the freezer!)

Mountainofdebt, the IF card only wants a minimum of 2% of the balance each month, which works out roughly at £32 if I transfer £1600. The thing is, I've no idea what my minimum would be on the HSBC card. I'll need to look back through old bills to a time when that was all I owed, and see. The purchase interest won't be the same, though, as I've stupidly bought a lot with that card. Ugh. I will, however, throw what I can at the HSBC card. Currently the minimum payment is just over £100 a month, so less the £32 for the IF card that leaves me hoping I only need to pay £68 or less. I can afford a little more, but not much. *sigh*

Reya

Oops. Sorry, and thank you to whoever moved this. I tend to spend most of my time in the Debt Free Wannabe forum, so I forgot there must be forums for credit cards. *facepalm*

mh1923

I got approved for an IF card, but haven't been told the credit limit yet. I'm hoping for 2000, but any amount will help.

-Michelle