New Balance Transfer Discussion Area

Beano

Liquid_Stool wrote:

My Halifax card has a balance of £100 on it which attracts an interest rate of 18.9%

My Abbey card has a balance of £1350, has a 0% left for 4 months, then jumps to 15.9%

i also have a Capital One card which has a balance of £1285 which currently i pay 17.9% on

my question is would i be better of to transfer ALL my cards to this new 6.9% for lifetime balance deal, or just one of them, or is it better to stick with the 0% for the remaing time?

What type of card do you have with Halifax? It may tell you on the card. i.e. Classic/Platinum/Halifax One

Liquid_Stool

hi,

classic i believe

Beano

Liquid_Stool wrote:

hi,

classic i believe

Okay, one option would be to call Halifax and see if you can upgrade your card to a Halifax One card. This currently offers 9 months at 0% on balance transfers and new purchases (but do confirm this with them). If you go down this route make sure you clear the £100 debt on the card first (perhaps doing a balance transfer to Capital One temporarily?). Once you receive the new card you can then transfer all the debt from Capital One and MBNA onto it.

Close the Capital One and MBNA accounts and then in 9 months time apply for another 0% card....

Tip: If you need to increase your credit limit with Halifax to accomodate all the debt make sure you do this before you upgrade.

Liquid_Stool

ok, but is it not better to take the 6.9% lifetime balance deal? or does the halifaxone have an equally low rate after the 9 months interest free period?

also how do i go about closing credit cards? and is it not true that i may not necessarily be able to get one again? - and wouldn't closing them down affect my credit rating?

thanks Beano

Beano

Liquid_Stool wrote:

ok, but is it not better to take the 6.9% lifetime balance deal? or does the halifaxone have an equally low rate after the 9 months interest free period?

It all depends on your ability and appetite to apply for a new card every 6 to 9 months.
If you leave your debt with Halifax One after 9 months, it's interest rate will depend on how risky they perceive you to be (anywhere between 12.9% to 19.9%).

Another option is to try and convert your Halifax card to the Flat rate Card at 5.9% variable.
http://www.halifax.co.uk/creditcards/flat_rate.shtml

The benefit of this card over the 6.9% deal is that you can continue to add debt to the card at any time in the future and still benefit from the low rate. Whereas with the 6.9% deal, to fully benefit you must not use your card again until the debt is paid off.
On the other hand you may view the 6.9% as being better as it's fixed whereas the Flat rate card is variable (which means they have the right to raise this in the future i.e. if interest rates change).

Liquid_Stool wrote:

also how do i go about closing credit cards? and is it not true that i may not necessarily be able to get one again? - and wouldn't closing them down affect my credit rating?

Phone the company up and ask them to cancel the card.
Having too much available credit can harm your credit rating, but granted having a limited credit record is also not a good thing.
I tend to close credit cards that I'm not using so that I can benefit from “new customer only” offers when I want to reapply in the future.
Haven't had any problems reapplying so far.

Liquid_Stool

:money:

thx beano, you've been most helpful and i appreciate it. A lot more helpful than customer support! :T

caz2610

The real winner
The winner is the Virgin* card’s 9 month 0% with no balance transfer fee for any transfers made during the entire 0% period and the ability to perform super balance transfers.

Hi Martin,
I am another new credit card "Tart" following your advice.

In February I transferred my c/card debt to Virgin as a new customer. I then transferred another balance (£1000) to my Virgin c/card in May and was charged £20 transfer fee.

This does not agree with the above quote from today's links.

Any advice?
Many thanks

Reaper

That's because the MBNA staff (who run Virgin) are clueless and many don't know that the Virgin T&Cs are different to the standard MBNA ones.

If you were still within your 0% period when you did the second transfer then they should not have charged you. You may have to phone up several times until you are lucky enough to speak to somebody who knows what the rules are, then ask them to refund the £20 charge.

TheWheelMan

Hi all,

In the 'best balance transfers' latest update, Martin says:

"However, those who already have an MBNA-owned card (Virgin, Abbey, A&L, MBNA) Natwest*, RBS* and Marks and Spencer card are alternatives, though none of these allow Super Balance Transfers."

Does anyone know if this means that an application for a MBNA-owned card would be rejected if the applicant already has one under a different branding?

I ask because I already have an A&L card, have done for years, since before MBNA started operating them for A&L, and I was thinking of applying for a Virgin card. Or perhaps it just means that you wouldn't be able to do a balance trnasfer from one MBNA card to another (I wasn't planning to do that).
Can anyone help?

TIA

Bob

Chadsman

TheWheelMan wrote:

Does anyone know if this means that an application for a MBNA-owned card would be rejected if the applicant already has one under a different branding?

Anecdotal evidence from this board suggests that is the case.