Balance Transfer confusion..

pollyo

Hi all
Just got a Barclaycard platinum so that I can balance transfer my Natwest credit card which has reached £1200. The limit is £2910 on the new Barclay card and I was wondering if you could help with my question,
Once i've balance transfered, will it be just that amount that remains interest free for the 15 months if I spend more on that card? Essentially, if the £1200 remains interest free and then I was to spend £300 more (for example) would just that £300 be charged at the normal interest rate?

Many thanks!

NickX

Golden Rule : Never ever spend on a card to which you have transferred a balance unless there is a Purchases promotion of identical length to the Balance Transfer promotion.

You really would be safer to put any new purchases on your original NatWest card which will be empty once the Balance Transfer is completed.

pollyo

That's what I thought, thank you very much!

If I do spend on it though, is it just the new amount that is therefore not interest free? I'm just double checking...

NickX

pollyo wrote: »

If I do spend on it though, is it just the new amount that is therefore not interest free? I'm just double checking...

Yes, but the chances are any payments you make will reduce the 0% Balance Transfer balance leaving the purchases accruing interest until the entire balance is cleared in full.

Don't do it

dylanuk

If you did spend on it - you'd get 0% on your additional spending for the first 3 months, after 3 months - the additional amount spent would then begin attracting interest at around 15.9% per annum (this is the typical rate most people get).

However, as NickX says, any payments you make to pay off the account would go solely towards the promotional balance transfer - so you wouldn't be able to pay off any additional spend until you'd first cleared the balance transfer in full.

On Barclaycards, only once the 0% balance transfer period was up, e.g. in 15 months, would the allocation of payments change to then allocate payments made to the account to purchases first.

If you spent £300 now - and then nothing more, you'd end up being charged approximately just under £48 interest on the purchase/s between now and the end of your balance transfer offer (15 months: 3 months@0% + 12 months@15.9%).