Halifax won't let me do a Balance Transfer!

Lucie_2

Not sure if anyone else has come across this problem:

I recently applied (and was accepted for) a Halifax credit card with a 12 month 0% BT promotion. I phoned them with the intention of transferring my MBNA American Express balance over to them, but they said that they won't accept Amex balance transfers??!! They will also not apply the promotional rate to a super balance transfer & let me pay the necessary amount into my current account in order to pay off my Amex balance that way.
Needless to say I have closed the account as it is of no use to me whatsoever.

Does anyone know which lender(s) I can apply to who WILL allow me to transfer an Amex balance to them? Does everyone have these bizarre rules & conditions?

I was planning to wait a couple of weeks to allow the closure of the Halifax card to be updated on my credit record before applying again.

Call_Centre_Monkey

As far as I understand there are two types of American Express cards. In a simple way you could class one as a charge(debit) card and one as a credit card. Halifax can do BTs to the credit card type card, but not to the other. This is because BTs are only possible from credit card to credit card. The reason you wouldnt be allowed to have the promo rate on a Super BT is that it is basically cash you are using to pay off another card, and therefore isnt classed as a BT.

The_Boss

They wouldnt accept a transfer from my regular MBNA card either - obviously they have some issue with the company as they said they couldnt accept anything from that institution.

Polly

I've had a similar experience this week with the Post Office credit card (one of the few left with fee free BTs). Would not do a BT to Amex but couldn't explain why. Very disappointed as I had gone through the whole process of setting up the new card for this very purpose.

Lucie_2

Polly wrote:

Very disappointed as I had gone through the whole process of setting up the new card for this very purpose.

You & me both Polly. It's a pain in the proverbial.

On the upside I have spoken to egg this afternoon & they will accept Amex BTs. Even better is the £14 I'll get through quidco :T

Moggles_2

I recently applied (and was accepted for) a Halifax credit card with a 12 month 0% BT promotion. I phoned them with the intention of transferring my MBNA American Express balance over to them, but they said that they won't accept Amex balance transfers??!!

Amex and MBNA are not the only ones shunned. I had a similar experience with Bank of Scotland in April. BoS would not accept a BT from Marks & Spencer, but could not explain why. I had to route the money through my Mint card.

Perhaps we should start a separate thread to collate other MSE's experiences!

Call_Centre_Monkey

Moggles wrote:

Amex and MBNA are not the only ones shunned. I had a similar experience with Bank of Scotland in April. BoS would not accept a BT from Marks & Spencer, but could not explain why. I had to route the money through my Mint card.

Perhaps we should start a separate thread to collate other MSE's experiences!

All MBNA cards should be accepted. Possibly a mistake was made it the BT request was made at the time of application. If you were to phone up you could do it over the phone no problem.

As far as I know Post Office cards should follow the same line of logic as MBNA cards. Post Office cards arent quite as common though, so I couldnt say for 100% if they should work for a BT.

I explained in my earlier post about Amex cards. HBOS can transfer to the credit card versions fine, but not to the charge card versions, since they arent proper credit cards.

M & S cards are fine as long as you quote the card number. If you use the account number it doesn't recognise it as a credit card number.

Moggles_2

M & S cards are fine as long as you quote the card number. If you use the account number it doesn't recognise it as a credit card number.

Thanks for your feedback.

Perhaps this explains #3 too. MBNA use account numbers as well.

The_Boss

I'm confused. My MBNA transfers were rejected using the number on the credit card - or is there another number I need to use instead?

Call_Centre_Monkey

It should be the number on the card that is used. If you phone up they should be able to do the transfer for you.

M_Thomson

MBNA American Express cards have only just recently started to be issued, so perhaps Halifax has not updated their systems yet to accept them. This could be the reason your request was declined.