Quick Question Re Balance Transfer

Legacy_user

Hi peeps,

A while back I got a Halifax Credit card with a £7,500 limit. I transfered an 8% card onto it and a few other bits and pieces to take advantage of the 0% offer.

Then I commited the cardinal sin, I spent a couple of quid on it I figured id screwed up and rung them to check they were now saying 3 months was the max because the balance transfer would start paying because i have 3 months interest free on credit purchases if you see what I mean so......


I have just been accepted for an MBNA card with 9 month interest free period but 3% transfer fee.

Now I could transfer the £2000 odd onto this card (already signalled I want to do this) but I could also stick my 11.5% "flexable" loan on it too (£1950 outstanding, bringing total to ~£4000) However I feel slightly nervous that the entire outstanding amount may not be paid off within 9 months if I add this loan. At a very conservative estimate, it would have shrunk to a maximum of £1700, but it would be at 15.9%. (Im basically worried about not getting another card to BT it again)

What would you do in my situation. Also these debts represent the last of my high interest debts, the rest are either interest free or very low interest of 2 or 3%

lynzpower

I take it your credit rating is quite good, having been offered yet another 0% card :T great news.

Is that a cahoot flexible loan? Knowing what I know ( the OH has one) they are a bit of a nightmare, and seemingly rather impossible to pay off so Id move that. And then ask them if they can up it to get the other card on there as well, if not, bargain with the original card holder and blag youve been offered 0% can they match it? If not get yourself another 0% card if you can and move the CC onto that. Go through quidco if you can to get another 0% card, some of them give you £15.

System

lynzpower wrote:

I take it your credit rating is quite good, having been offered yet another 0% card :T great news.

Is that a cahoot flexible loan? Knowing what I know ( the OH has one) they are a bit of a nightmare, and seemingly rather impossible to pay off so Id move that. And then ask them if they can up it to get the other card on there as well, if not, bargain with the original card holder and blag youve been offered 0% can they match it? If not get yourself another 0% card if you can and move the CC onto that. Go through quidco if you can to get another 0% card, some of them give you £15.

It is indeed a cahoot flexable loan. I upped the payments on it to double what I was paying but they "lost" the difference till I pulled them up on it. Shady doesnt even begin to describe this company ! I can transfer the whole sum of 4K that I owe in total on to it, and if i dont apply for any more credit in the next 9 months no reason why I shouldnt be able to transfer the outstanding £1500 ish onto another 0% card.

Thank Lynz

lynzpower

they also seem to have rules of thier own about how the interest is applied. Baffling. Id get out of this asap! Ive got OH to go for a barclaycard ( 0 for balance transfers) and hes transferring it onto that. just used like a big, expensive overdraft.

CLAPTON

firstly the cc
if you literally only put a few quid on it what is the problem? although its true you will pay the full halifax rate (15.9% ?? you dont give that figure)on this after the three months, you're presumably still getting zero on the (decreasing) BT bit. so if the spend bit was small then 15.9% of something small is small! against this you are paying 3% of 2000 which is £60...so if interest on the spend will be less than £60 its not worth doing. so for example over six months at 15.9% a balance of 750 would run up £60 interest...so to my mind if your accidental spend was less than that it might not be worth it.
but the answer is all in the detail here.

as for the loan, it all depends whether you can clear this as well as the cc bit by the end of the 0% and if not, by how much, over how long.
again you're paying 3% BT fee on 2000 which is £60 ...if you clear the loan to zero in 9 months on a even basis at 11.5% you would pay about £90 interest so not much in it, if you dont clear it then you will be paying 15.9% rather than 11.9% presumably on the reamining balance but for how long..

all in the detail i'm afraid. i think i've probably confused rather than clarified but there you go.

anyway well done to be reducing those debts!

System

Clapton, I grasp what your saying. It's common sense. However Hailfraud sorry Halifax dont see it like that. They womon on the phone categorically (after checking with several people) said that money paid in goes off the lowest rate, ie the 0%, so therefore the money I spent gets paid off last and it ALL accrues interest from the end of 3 months, not 9.

Yes i understand about the something small bit, but it would seem that its a kind of "trap" so that if you spend anything, which most people do, you get 3 months and not 9. I dont really know how to explain it any better.

Thanks for the post though. As for the loan, hmm. I dunno. TBH I detest cahoot almost as much as Halifax, for doubling the rate of interest they charge. Point of principle perhaps, dunno.

lynzpower

Pah! Really :eek: I wonder if this happens with egg too, about to make a purchase on that ( moneyclaim gang dopnt worry ) but if that means I will get charged interest on the lot, I'll have to find another route of doing it.

blimey

CLAPTON

i understand exactly what you are saying, and without the t&c in front of me i think the Halifax staff are probably wrong..(no change there then)...i have looked at their site and i can't see any t&c that could be interpreted in that manner.
yes of course the monthly payment goes off the lowest (0%) debt but i can't see anything that says all the BT debt stops benefitting from the 0% after three months if you use the spending facility.....if it is worth it maybe you could call again and some else will say something different
anyway its pretty marginally stuff but its always worth it to beat them at their own game.

southernscouser

This may not be any help to you but for the reason you are worried I'm now sterring clear of 0% cards.

Say you get accepted for a 0% for 6 months card and transfer whatever amount to it and you pay the 2% fee. You then have to do that in 6 months time. You do the same thing. In that 12 months you have paid 4% in 'interest' due to the fees. Now if you were to not be accepted for say a month out of your inrerest free period you are looking at at least another 1% a month in interest. So for 13 months you would have paid 5%!

I prefer the safer option of using a life of balance card at say 4.9% over the 12 months. You don't have to worry about the risk of not getting accepted for another card.