Any help welcome

Robflh

Hi x_raphael_xx

Sorry, I thought they were the maximums. What is the credit limit on the card/s.

x_raphael_xx

Robflh wrote: »

Hi x_raphael_xx

Sorry, I thought they were the maximums. What is the credit limit on the card/s.

The limit on the Credit card is £1700, I currently have about £65 spare on it.
I still use the card so this will be the last one I tackle.

tealady

Hello, sounds like you are doing well. Just a small thing. Log into Pigsback, you can get small amounts of money just for clicks on the web site. It isn't much (pennies each time) but its nice to see it creep up to something worthwile. You can then exchange it for vouchers for various shops.

Robflh

Hi x_raphael_xx

People are having the limit on their cards reduce and there is no grantee that this will not happen to you.

Pay off the credit card first and then transfer loan 1 to that card but make sure you can do this before you do it. You will end up with about the same amount on the credit card as you have now but it will be at a balance transfer rate (about 6%).

At the same time, you will have killed Loan 1, removed at least £400 from loan 2, and saved about an extra £22 per month in interest. That is if I have got my sums right.

jamesd

Robflh, would definitely have to check that the card will do a balance transfer of a loan instead of another credit card - I've never heard of one that will except by using an Egg Money card in the middle to extract cash.

Even if the card does do this it looks better to pay off HFC 1 directly first then do HFC 2 via the card method you described. HFC 1 is too close to being completely clear for it to be worthwhile for that one.

Because HFC 1 is so close to being paid off the potential saving is the difference in interest rate between HFC 2 and the balance transfer rate. Assuming a balance transfer rate of 6% that's 21.8% - 6% = 15.8% times 1700 credit card limit = 22.38 a month saved. IF there is a 6% rate available. If it's at the normal card rate of 17.9% the potential saving is 5.53 a month. That's still interesting enough if it is possible to pay off HFC 1, then reduce the card to zero and transfer HFC 2 to it.

But there's a better option: potentially a new card with 0% balance transfer and say 2% balance transfer fee that might be available once HFC 1 is paid off, without having to wait to pay off the credit card. If this hypothetical card would accept the full HFC 2 settlement amount of say 1700 this would save monthly interest of 30.89 with initial transfer fee of 34.

Robflh

Hi jamesd

Let me try that again.

Current debt on HFC 1 is £1,299.48 (£982.30) and on BOS it is £707.04(£600) a total of £2,006.52 (£1,583.60 early settlement)

x_raphael_xx has already said that he hopes to pay off HFC 1 in September and if possible BOS. That would mean HFC 1 is dead. At this point x_raphael_xx is going to apply for another credit card. All the money on the credit card is still at 17.9%

Paying £1,583.60 off the credit card and then transferring the debt on HFC 1 to the card would mean HFC 1 is dead and leave £600 credit on the card. This can be used to pay off the BOS or as it has a higher APR transfer £600 from HFC 2.

Now we are again at this point, where x_raphael_xx is going to apply for another credit card. This time most of the money on the credit card is at about 6%.

If x_raphael_xx successfully applies for a 0% credit card and was successful in transferring the debt on HFC 1 to a credit card, as much as possible of HFC 2 can be transferred at either 0% or at a low APR for the life of the balance. It depends on how fast HFC 2 can be paid off.

As I understand it, it is possible to ring a loan company and make a payment with a credit card. In which case, I cannot see why it would not be possible to transfer the debt to a credit card. All you would need is the loans account number or what ever it is called.

Anyhow, it would only require a phone call to the credit card company, to find out if you can or cannot do it.

jamesd

Robflh, OK, now I think I see what you're getting at: pay off credit card then balance transfer HFC 1 and BOS to it assuming that the rate is 6%. Leaving the credit card debt that was at 17.9% gone and the two loans refinanced at 6% now shifted to the card instead.

I doubt that a rate of 6% is going to be available for this - cash advance rate seems more likely and that wouldn't be an improvement. No harm in asking though.

Robflh

Hi jamesd

If the loans were credit cards, you would not think twice about doing it.

One of my credit cards has cheques that I can use to pay for things. Most of them are at a Cash APR but I still have some that are at a Purchase APR.

I did have some that were at a balance transfer APR but foolishly, in hindsight, I got rid of them because they were very old. However, thinking about it, I do not think they had an expiry date on them.

So, I cannot see any reason why x_raphael_xx could not have a cheque sent to him that is at a balance transfer rate.

I would ring them and tell them that I am going to pay a large amount off my card and that I am then thinking of transferring a debt to my card. I would then ask them what they could offer me for a BT rate.

Once I have got them hooked, I would ask them to send me a cheque at a BT rate. If they then started to query why, I would tell them why.

You can always ask, you may not like the answer but you can always ask or as they say, those who do not ask do not get.

Hi x_raphael_xx
If you do ask, can you let everyone know the answer.

x_raphael_xx

Robflh wrote: »

As I understand it, it is possible to ring a loan company and make a payment with a credit card. In which case, I cannot see why it would not be possible to transfer the debt to a credit card. All you would need is the loans account number or what ever it is called.

Anyhow, it would only require a phone call to the credit card company, to find out if you can or cannot do it.

I did ask HFC about this before, they will not accept a payment from a credit card to pay off a loan. Simply because they will not accept credit to pay off credit.

Robflh

Hi x_raphael_xx

x_raphael_xx wrote: »

I did ask HFC about this before. They will not accept a payment from a credit card to pay off a loan. Simply because they will not accept credit to pay off credit.

That is weird, weird, weird, weird, weird, you can transfer a balance from one credit card to another credit card and that is exactly the same thing.

One day I walked into my bank, took out a second loan, paid off the remainder of my first loan and walked out with £2,000 in my pocket. In doing that I used credit to pay credit. A consolidation loan does the same thing.

Recently I changed my mortgage from an endowment to a repayment and effectively I did the same again.

Ps. a cheque at a BT rate can be used to pay mony

I can kind of see, that they could refuse payment with a credit card but if you was able to get a cheque from your credit card company and it was made out to HFC for £982.30, I cannot see how they can reject a cheque. It would be interesting to find out but not by asking HFC.

Explain the circumstances to your CC company and ask them if they will let you have a cheque at a BT rate or if they would be willing to transfer a balance straight to your bank account at a BT rate. I have actually done this but I cannot remember if it was at a cash APR or at a BT APR.

If they will, you then can write out a personal cheque to HFC and and pay off HFC 1 and a lump sum off HFC 2.

Ps. a cheque at a BT rate can be used to put £1,583.60 into your bank account and you can then write a personal cheque to HFC