FirstDirect Gold Credit Card - will this work?

PennyFox

Long time lurker, first time poster here. I hope somebody can help me think this through properly as I miscalculated the first time I used a 0% purchase card. It did work well paying for renovations then and was cleared after one 0% balance transfer though.

First Direct offers 12 months 0% on purchases with their Gold credit card if you transfer min £100 (balance transfer fee 2.5%) within two months of opening this credit card.

I am looking for a 0% purchase card only, I have no balance to transfer. However, I already have a different card which I use and pay off every month. So If I transfer £100 at a cost of £2.50 by not paying off my original card that month but transfering instead I would qualify for 0% purchases for 12 months. Before purchasing anything, I would then pay off the £100 and still have 11 months left or so.

I am already a (very satisfied) First Direct customer and I will be making some large purchases within the next 12 months (building an extension). Partly I am interested in this card because I want the protection offered through paying with a credit card and partly because I offset my mortgage and this will allow me to offset some of my extension budget for longer.

Does this work or is there something I am forgetting? After reading the small print I still think this would work - but will it?

Kind regards,

Penny

jpwjpw

Yeah, purchase on your other card and then transfer it onto your first direct card. Make sure you don't get the first direct card until you make the purchase though as there is a time limit on how long you can do a balance transfer for.

stephane_2

I also have a First Direct account and also have their Gold Credit Card. To answer to your question, yes it would work. Just transfer £100 within the next 2 months, pay it off and you will still qualify for the 12 months 0% on purchases

PennyFox

Thank you to both of you - I know there are one or two other cards out there for purchases but the application process with FirstDirect is very easy which is what I need right now (what with all the quotes coming in, the wishlist suffering a terrible purging brought on by the reality of the quotes and everything else to do with planning an extension)

Thanks also for the advice regarding the timing of the application - will do that.

stephane_2

Good luck..! and the minimum credit limit you get on First Direct Gold is £3,000

YorkshireBoy

Do FD still show you if you're 'pre-approved' for the Gold card in your secure area? If so, they probably also still show you your 'pre-approved' credit limit.

A word of warning though; it's not guaranteed...when I applied, following a pre-approved offer of a £10K limit, I was declined for the card when they obtained a Consumer Indebtedness Index (CII) score for me from Experian (I had massive stoozing debt at the time!).

Good luck, but don't count your chickens.

stephane_2

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

Do FD still show you if you're 'pre-approved' for the Gold card in your secure area? If so, they probably also still show you your 'pre-approved' credit limit.

A word of warning though; it's not guaranteed...when I applied, following a pre-approved offer of a £10K limit, I was declined for the card when they obtained a Consumer Indebtedness Index (CII) score for me from Experian (I had massive stoozing debt at the time!).

Good luck, but don't count your chickens.

Sorry Yorkshireboy...but not sure I understand?

YorkshireBoy

stephane wrote: »

Sorry Yorkshireboy...but not sure I understand?

Which bit?

stephane_2

the pre-approved bit in secure area? what do you mean by that?

PennyFox

YorkshireBoy - I'll go have a look straight away, very good tip that as I had been guessing what the credit limit might be. Have no stoozing debts or otherwise (only learnt that word today) so will remain optimistic about it.

stephane_2

When I applied for my FD CC, did it over the phone, she asked me a few questions about my outgoings...ask me what kind of credit limit I was looking for...said £3,000 which is minimum as did not want a bigger one. Got the answer straight away, 2 days later got agreement through the post and the card a week later