Help with credit card shuffle

DOZYMARE

Hi there,
I have just read Martin's thread about doing the credit card shuffle and to be honest it had never occurred to me. However it makes perfect sense. I am struggling with what to transfer where to get the best deal. I figured if anybody could help me work it out, you guys could. For the record I am unable to get any further credit at the moment.

Here's my credit card debt:
Egg, apr 20.9%, bal £5392.13, credit limit £5500. Bal trf rate - as yet unknown (they are getting back to me)
Lombard, apr 14.8%, bal £1595.10, credit limit £2300, bal trf rate 14.8%
Barclaycard Platinum, apr 27.9% & 22.9% (cash and purchases), bal £6878.94, credit limit £7450, bal trf 6.9% for life of balance (checked and double checked and this is right!)
Mint, apr 14.9% & 21.9% (cash and purchases), bal £7681.44, limit £7800, bal trf rate 14.9%
Goldfish, apr 0% (they are such nice people), bal £7876.63, limit £7876, bal trf apr n/a
Virgin, apr 24.9%, bal £5532.05, limit £6000, bal trf rate 0 - 7.9% after discussion with them, not guaranteed.

By far and away Barclaycard is the best deal. Something to note is that I am currently paying the higher rate of interest on the Barclaycard balance as it is mostly made up of cash. For a transfer in and out I guess my mum could help up to the value of around £3000 as long as she got it back straight away. So I could repay £3000 to the Barclaycard and then do a balance transfer to my current account of £3000 to repay my mum, that is if they do balance transfers to bank accounts, would need to check first. How best to work this out?

Moggles_2

You seem to be close to your credit limit on all 6 of these cards. Where was your Goldfish 0% balance of £7000 plus, transferred from?

md_14uk

I know you said you can't get credit but have you tried to apply for egg money? As you're already an egg customer you maybe in with a shout on this one. You could then make the Barclays transfer to Egg Money and then have this transfered to your current account.

See http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cgi-bin/viewnews.cgi?newsid1076883546,34894,#middle for more info.

You might want to try asking barclays if they can switch the whole balance to 6.9%? Tell them you are planning to transfer it to another card but you'd be happy to leave it with them if they'll change the rate on your existing balance!

You also need to find out the fee for BT's on all of these cards. You have a small amount available on each card but the saving you could make by switching to the lower rates maybe cancelled out by a BT fee!

DOZYMARE

To Moggles - Goldfish wasn't transferred from anywhere, the debt has always been with them. I rung them and explained I was having difficulties and they were the only card company to help me. I have been on interest free with them for a year now.

To md_14uk - I have heard of Egg Money but never bothered to read about it. If it may save me money I will read up on it now! I also like your idea about speaking to Barclays. I worked for them for 17 years and have never missed a payment so I might be in with a good chance. Thanks!

Moggles_2

Goldfish wasn't transferred from anywhere ... I explained I was having difficulties and they were the only card company to help me. I have been on interest free for a year now.

One lender in a million, I should think!

I know you said you can't get credit but have you tried to apply for egg money?

Egg Money card is definitely worth a try. Even a small credit limit could be gradually raised as your Egg Green card is paid off. This would give you another mule card and more flexibility.

DOZYMARE

I have read up on Egg Money and I am going to give it a go. Just waiting for my mortgage application to go through and then I can start doing applications again.

Is it worth me switching say £700 from Barclaycard to Lombard and then back again, several times? Would this work? Would my whole balance then be made up of balance transfers and attract the lower rate?

Moggles_2

Is it worth me switching say £700 from Barclaycard to Lombard and then back again, several times? Would this work? Would my whole balance then be made up of balance transfers and attract the lower rate?

You've got the right idea. Unfortunately, with your current balances, you would have to perform this operation 10 times to clear the present Barclaycard deal.

If you could reduce or pay off the Lombard Direct card first, it's worth considering. You'll need to check your terms & conditions or ring Lombard to make absolutely certain there's no balance transfer fee to pay. AFAIK, there are no handling charges for transfers to the Barclays life of balance 6.9% deal but, once again, you need to check your Ts & Cs.

DOZYMARE

Little bit of good news. Rung Barclaycard to see if they will give me their balance trf deal without transferring the balance out and in again and they said no, but they did agree to reduce my interest rate for purchases to 14.9% from 22.9%. They can't (or won't) reduce the cash interest rate which is still 27.9%. However they did advise me to use the loophole where I transfer money out to another credit card and transfer it back again to get their 6.9% life of balance deal. I have done that today with £700 and will keep doing it until the balance is entirely made up of balance transfers.

So thanks for suggesting I ring Barclaycard, it did help.

Moggles_2

Rang Barclaycard ... and they said no, but they did agree to reduce my interest rate for purchases to 14.9% from 22.9%.

Well done Lisa!
Already you're saving some money

They can't (or won't) reduce the cash interest rate which is still 27.9%.

Cash advances on credit cards are extremely expensive, as you've discovered the hard way. Let's hope your post here will warn others to steer clear of borrowing cash on a credit card.

... they did advise me to use the loophole where I transfer money out to another credit card and transfer it back again to get their 6.9% life of balance deal. I have done that today with £700 ...

You would save even more money, if you could reduce or pay off the Lombard Direct card first, before you request further balance transfers.

Keep us posted.

Very best
M

:beer: