Should I balance transfer?

giggsy07

Hi All,

I have a Graduate Barclaycard and a Capital One (creidt builder - high APR). The balance on my Barclaycard is £1,300 (£1,800 limit) and balance on my Capital One card is £250 approx (£800 limit).

I have qualified for an HSBC card with £4,500 limit. If I balance transfer then there is a 2.9% initial fee and then it is 0% for 15 months on balance transfers.

Should I do the balance transfer? i think I should but have not done one before. Also if I do put the balance on my HSBC card then should I cancel the other 2 cards or just keep them at £0 balance? I have heard that if I close the cards then it could adversely effect my credit rating.

Thanks in advance!

Regards
giggsy07

YorkshireBoy

Assuming the Barclaycard is interest bearing (is it?), then transfer everything to HSBC. The 2.9% fee will be recovered in around 2 months with the saving in interest. You then have 13 months to get the debt paid down.

Close Capital One.

Keep Barclaycard for emergency use (and don't run up a debt again!).

Do not spend anything on the HSBC card after you've BTd to it.

Any

Yes, assuming that your other cards are charging you interest and you cannot repay them quickly (how quickly can you repay that £250? if within 2 months then just pay it off).

Also usually you have only 3 mths from opening to take up the offer, so you need to act soon.

Lucy_Elliot

I am in a similar position - I have found myself with the same card for over 12 months now and wondering what saving could be made.

Can you confirm if your credit rating improves if the card is not being used?

Any

The credit rating definitely improves if you set up DD for the full payment each month and just buy every day things on it (instead of debit card).
Like petrol etc..

As for having a card and not using it.... Theoreticaly it shows someone trusts you to have the card, but then you reach a point where you have so many cards that you have so much "available credit" that they won't be able to lend you any more...

And that depends on your earnings etc etc etc..

Something like mortgage. You can only borrow up to let's say 3.5times of your annual earnings... something like that.