New Balance Transfer Discussion Area

MSE_Martin

This discussion relates to the Best Balance Transfers article now on the site.

To ask a question or discuss click reply

cambb

Hi,
I have a Cahoots flexible loan which i currently owe £7300 and i'm paying £550 a month off. Is it possible to apply for say a virgin credit card and then transfer the loan onto the 0% for 9 months?

thanks in advance

Reaper

One bit doesn't sound quite right:

Do a balance transfer and you’ll be charged a fee e.g. 2% of the amount transferred, capped at a maximum of £50, so you may pay no interest but you pay more on top.

The fact a fee is capped is important, as if you’re transferring over £1,000, the impact is lessened

No it's not! Even if you transfer £2,000 using your figures the fee would be £40 so the cap wouldn't be any use.

MSE_Martin

Quite right reaper - i'll change it. It was meant to be an example of how fees and caps work - but your right - readin it - it may confuse people

Reaper

One other thing Martin - you say

Virgin doesn’t charge a fee throughout the introductory 9 month period

Is this definate? I seem to remember you getting annoyed with Virgin over their shifting position but can't remember now what the final rules where. I had a feeling it was not free for the full 9 months though.

Reaper

cambb wrote:

Hi,
I have a Cahoots flexible loan which i currently owe £7300 and i'm paying £550 a month off. Is it possible to apply for say a virgin credit card and then transfer the loan onto the 0% for 9 months?

thanks in advance

Yes, cambb, you can. Many loans have tricky surrender penalties but the Cahoot flexible loan does not.

You need a card which can transfer money to your bank account so you can get the money to Cahoot. Many cards do not allow this, you need an SBT card (see Martin's article). Egg or Virgin are good candidates.

MSE_Martin

Good question i was onto MBNA again this morning to infinite clarify and it comes from their product team this time (via the press office)

Last time what they incorrectly told me was Virgin NEVER charges a BT fee. That was wrong.

Now they are saying Virgin is the ONLY MBNA card which allows BT fee free transfers throughout the intro period (though it will charge after). I hope this makes sense.

To be honest i can't go on any more than the 'official' MBNA answer. If anyone has info that differs I will put it too them. However press offices are (usually) substantially more reliable than the call centres.

cambb

Thanks for the advice.

I've just applied for a Virgin credit card

MSE_Martin

Cam yes there's no reason that shouldn't work - though you may technically have to pay the money into your bank account and then pay off the loan - depending on the process, but as Virgin is a SBT card this is possible

martin

nearlyrich

I just got a Barclaycard fee fee and interest free for BT's 12 months. Credit limit was £5400 but I am fairly new to stoozing and I just wanted a new home for £4800. I have to pay 2% of balance each month starting from mid March.

nlamont

When the Barclaycard 0% for life deal was on I got one and transferred £3000 to it, which I've been steadily paying off. The money went into a high rate savings account so I've done OK out of the deal.

I've nearly finished paying it off. I'm wondering what to do now. I don't have any other debts or loans so there's no urgency to transfer any; my understanding is I can't do another balance transfer into Barclaycard at 0%.

Should I close the Barclaycard account and try to do the same saving thing but in a year with another card?