The Best Balance Transfers Article Discussion Area

excel105

The lowest ‘life of balance transfer’ rates article indicates that the Intelligent Finance card is currently a rate leader. Having a £4K balance on a Capital One, and a £9K balance on a Virgin Card, this seemed the best way to consolidate.

I therefore followed the online application procedure at IF.com, which also required all of my balance transfer information, amounts and account details at the same time. After receiving a call the next day to check some further personal information, I was told that my application had been accepted and that the paper based forms would be out in the post for my signature.

The following week my new card and PIN arrived, which according to the article 'never spend on a balance transfer card', went straight through the shredder.

This morning I was surprised to receive a letter from IF informing me that my balance transfers could not be completed in their entirety because of an insufficient credit limit! I called to discuss this, and was told that this happens on a regular basis and that there is no procedure to inform customers of this during the application approval stage. Had I been advised of this, I would of course have cancelled the application and looked toward an alternate lender.

To make matters worse, in order to discuss my account I needed to clear their security questions. Nothing out of the ordinary there, however they wanted the expiry date from my card (now shredded), or the credit limit from my account (which they have not yet informed me of). Unable to provide either, she was unable to complete authentication and passed me to a supervisor, who apart from being rather curt was also unable to help further. She suggested she might only be able to help if I tell her how much more credit I needed to cover the transfers, however not knowing how much credit I have now this might be slightly challenging to say the least....

I informed the supervisor that I would therefore close the account and look elsewhere, to which she simply responded to the effect of OK, fine and goodbye!

I have a friend who recently worked in IT at HBOS,who informs me that most of their systems are running legacy applications and that *he* would not want to bank with them.

Indeed, when I enquired about a fault on their online banking for an existing Halifax account, I was told that they knew of this, but it would not be fixed for a few months! I cannot state that HBOS's IT issues are unique - or even particularly bad, as I have nothing else with which to compare, however it does not surprise me that my limited experience with IF has been negative considering the rest of their information systems infrastrcture!

Richard

lipidicman

Destroying your card was foolish in the extreme. The article did not tell you to do that. The best advice is to put it away safe.

Also, you went against the advice of turning down a balance transfer because your limit was not high enough ('Dont screw them'). The card is on your credit file so you might as well take advantage of the limit they have given you and then apply for another one. What if your next limit is also too low? Together they may have covered it.

Finally I suspect your credit limit was detailed on your credit agreement. With HBOS mine came up at the end of the online application and was printed at the bottom of the credit agreement (albeit quite cryptically)

excel105

Hi - thanks for the info

lipidicman wrote:

Destroying your card was foolish in the extreme. The article did not tell you to do that. The best advice is to put it away safe.

I entirely disagree - if the intention if a balance transfer card is to use it *only* for such purposes, then putting the card beyond 'harms reach' is the best strategy - for me anyway.

lipidicman wrote:

Also, you went against the advice of turning down a balance transfer because your limit was not high enough

Not exactly, true I had not seen the article you referenced, however I did accept the partial balance transfer whilst I search for another card that will either complete the transfers, or give me the limit I require.

Good advice however about not applying for more than 3 cards in succession!

Richard

ticktockhouse

Hi,

I was hoping to get the answers to a few burning questions I have:

I may have missed something in the article, but which flavour of Barclaycard does one need to apply for in-branch to get the 10 month 0% BT offer? Looking at the website, there are a shedload..

Also, I have a Barclay's current account (left over from the "free £100" offer of a few months ago). I only have a chequebook from this. Does anyone think this will affect my chances?

My current 0% BT (also my first) is due to run out at the beginning of September. It's the HSBC bog-standard Mastercard. I only have a credit limit of £1000 (I really should have pushed for more when I applied, ah well)on this, does anyone think I'll be able to get a better one with whoever I choose to tart with afterwards?

Thanks guys!

Jerry

lizziesharks

robert_harper_2000 wrote:

there is. The credit card companies do not allow you to pay off which debt first. They infact tend to pay off the cheapest ( 0% ) first... then your £100 debt -

Sorry if it's not very clear...

Hi,

Having just looked at this this morning, my understanding is that you:

1) transfer your balance
2) spend £100 in first month in order to qualify for 18 months 0% BT
3) pay off £100 immediately
4) continue to pay 15.94% on £100 for 18 months or until you clear your BT (as well as paying 2% BT fee).
5) after 18 months is up, if you haven't cleared you BT, you pay 15.94% on remaining BT PLUS the £100 spend.

That's how it reads to me. However, I could be completely wrong, and a very cynical person, who doesn't trust banks....

Sunshine_and_Roses

Some advice required off you lovely people please....

Have a Tesco card with 0% on purchases which runs out in August. Spent £3000 on a single purchase and have paid off £100 a month since. The aim was to pay off the balance in full in August but at the moment, circs have changed and I dont think this will be possible.

Are any cards doing a 0% BT with no fees? Time is getting on now so I thought I had better do something about it.

Thanks

lipidicman

Try here:
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cgi-bin/viewnews.cgi?newsid1107182516,76509,

Its either barclaycard (in branch, new customers only) 10 months
or 6 months with PO, M&S or Asda

Slim pickings!

Sunshine_and_Roses

I tried - via Quidco - to apply for a post office card on line, but as soon as I hit the 'apply on-line' key, nothing happened.

Has anyone else had this problem?

berrybee

hi,
i have just applied for the capital one 18 month 0% interest card for a balance transfer of £5k.
so.....if i pay this 5k off over 2 years say, does that mean the 100 quid purchase i made on opening the card will have accrued approximately 35 quid???
also, when you get the decision off capital one, can you say you dont want a credit card after all.
doh!

YorkshireBoy

berrybee wrote:

...if i pay this 5k off over 2 years say, does that mean the 100 quid purchase i made on opening the card will have accrued approximately 35 quid???

Yes, but don't forget that, if you repay the balance with equal monthly payments, the £1,250 remaining at the end of the introductory period will attract a further £50 (or so) interest over the next 6 months - unless you shift the balance elsewhere (and pay any BT fee necessary).

also, when you get the decision off capital one, can you say you dont want a credit card after all.
doh!