Credit Card Advice Needed.

Sussex_Man

Hi All,

Need a bit of expert credit card advice.

I have always been very careful with money and have prided myself on being able to save. I bought a house last year and have spent the last 6 months decorating. To finance the works, I used credit cards as they were much cheaper than re-mortgaging.

Im getting married in September and to make matters worse I was made redundant in May though hopefully I'll be back working again shortly. Outstanding on my credit cards is £9,600 with Virgin (0% just run out) and £9,000 with Egg (3 months into 13 month 0% offer)

So, my consideration is this at the moment. Since decorating started, I have reactivated cards with Mint and Capital One. I have combined them all into 2 cards of Virgin and Egg closing all other cards. I have just been approved for an Abbey card on 0% though the paperwork now says its with Santander which Im not sure is under MBNA.

I spoke to MBNA who own Virgin apparantly today who say they have a lifetime product. It works on life events, such as redundancy, death of someone close or getting married. For 79p per £100, they will pay 5% of the balance for 3 months. For this to work for me, I would need to take it out before I get married as it doesnt work post weddings. I asked if I had more than 1 MBNA related card could I do the same and the answer was yes. To clarify, I asked if I could take it out for 3 months then cancel the policy. Answer was yes though obviously he recommended not to!

So my question is with the amount of credit activity I have had recently (Mint, Capital One, Egg, Abbey), if I choose to get another credit card that works under MBNA and take advantage of this offer, is it affecting my credit score adversley?

I have worked out that over 3 months, having taken into account the balance transfer fee I would need to pay, coupled with 79p per £100, I would have £1000 taken off my balance which is great. If I can get a second card under MBNA sorted then even better and instantly, my debt could drop from £18,000 to £16,000 without really doing anything..

Does this sound too good to be true, has anyone else taken advantage of it or should I worry a little more about the 'footprint' on my credit rating???

Thanks in advance.

CannyJock

Sussex_Man wrote: »

Im getting married in September and to make matters worse

Worse than getting married? You're kidding right?

CannyJock

Sussex_Man wrote: »

I have just been approved for an Abbey card on 0% though the paperwork now says its with Santander which Im not sure is under MBNA.

It's not, Santander separate provider completely. Old Abbey cards were MBNA.

Sussex_Man wrote: »

I spoke to MBNA who own Virgin apparantly

Yup they do.

lisyloo

Yes it sounds too good to be true.
Do you have a link to the product?

I can't believe they will just give money to people for getting married.

CannyJock

Sorry for the multiple posts, but replying to this as I read more of it.

Are you sure that the PPI they talk about (79p per £ 100) is relevant? If you're already redundant from May, then you can't claim for being made redundant from July onwards, I'm sure I've read elsewhere that you need to pay the premiums on these for a minimum period of time before you can make a claim? It sounds suspiciously like a sales line to me that has small print to negate it as being viable for you.

Sussex_Man

Slight typo in my original nite. I phoned MBNA as I had heard about the it from a friend, not them phoning me.

Im suprised that they also will give money just for getting married, but apparantly the policy covers death, redundnacy and marriage, so not just marriage. Not sure if that makes any difference.

Canny Jock - The PPI is only relevent for me so I can work out how much it will cost me to take out the policy aganist what I would get back. I did clarify that I had been made redundant already and I was advised that I cant subsiquently claim for that which is fine, but I can claim for my pending wedding. Will phone them tomorrow to see if there is any paperwork they can send me or I can find on the web.

CannyJock

From everything you've said, are you asking for advice on how to move the £ 9,600 Virgin balance now incurring some horrendous rate of interest elsewhere, or are you asking about another card for spending for your wedding? Was that your idea in reactivating your 2 old cards?

If you've already been approved for an Abbey card, look into their 0% balance transfer offer and move as much as you can of the Virgin balance onto it to save yourself money.

Check with your other reactivated cards about 0% promotion deals and hopefully you can clear the Virgin balance in full.

On the question about your credit report, have you checked to see if reactivating your old cards has resulted in a search in your credit report? To improve your credit report, clear the Virgin balance and cancel the card.

I'd be tempted to clear the Virgin card then maybe sit on it for another 9 months. Nobody is getting decent repeat deals at the moment on MBNA cards, but hopefully in 9 months time you can get a repeat deal to move the Egg balance to? Allow yourself a few months before checking with MBNA though - if they're not playing ball by then, you want to be able to cancel the card and have it shown as settled on your credit report before you start applying for new cards.