Virgin & free wine

manic

Just received the following offer in the post:

0% on balance transfers for 12 months from the date account is opened (2% handling fee)
0% on card purchases for 3 months from the date account is opened
Free case of wine (worth £60) if card is taken out before 26 Sept and used by 14 Nov

Bearing in mind that I have an offset mortgage at 5.59% until Feb 2007 (then goes up to 6.05%) & an Egg Money card.

Is this worth taking out for stoozing?

Bisoy

Hi Manic,

I think it is still worth. My philosophy is as long as you're not in the point of damaging your credit rating I think it's still worthwhile. Besides Virgin offers 12 months 0% interest free with 2% BT fees.

Example: credit limit £ 5000 * 2% = £100
£4900* 5.03%(icici)*30/ 365= £ 16.20/month ( basic taxpayer)
£16.20*12= £194.47- £100= £94.47

£ 94.47 which is not bad. We need to accept that we can hardly get a card now with no BT fees. Also my wife has just applied virgin card last Monday but there's no offer of free case of wine on their website.

Clariman

Hi manic, I would check what it means by "the card used by November". It it means that you have to make a purchase on it, then you will probably be paying interest on that purchase for 9 months. While the BT is for 12 months, the purchase at 0% is for 3 months. Watch out!

manic

Clariman wrote:

Hi manic, I would check what it means by "the card used by November". It it means that you have to make a purchase on it, then you will probably be paying interest on that purchase for 9 months. While the BT is for 12 months, the purchase at 0% is for 3 months. Watch out!

Thanks.

I think that's true, but, if I open an account, make one purchase to get the wine, pay off that purchase straight away, then, when the balance is at £0.00, do the balance transfer, I should be OK, as long as I don't do any purchasing!

What concerns or confuses me is the following in their T&Cs:

We will charge interest on handling fees, and on the interest you already owe, at the rate which applies to the relevant transactions

Can anyone shed any light on what this might mean?

YorkshireBoy

manic wrote:

I think that's true, but, if I open an account, make one purchase to get the wine, pay off that purchase straight away, then, when the balance is at £0.00, do the balance transfer, I should be OK, as long as I don't do any purchasing!

Check with Virgin that you don't have to be in possession of a statement showing a zero balance first. Also, if you have to wait 4-8 weeks (after opeining your account) before doing the BT, then the 2% uncapped BT fee will have a significant impact on your 'profit'.

Can anyone shed any light on what this might mean?

You'll pay interest on the BT fee at the BT rate - which, fortunately, during the intro period is 0%.

If you're only going to use this card for a 12 month stooz you can forget about this condition.

manic

What if I buy something for £1. The interest on that over 12 months would be tiny, wouldn't it?

manic

Following on from a thread that I posted in the main credit card board

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=277054

I have received my card with a £10k limit on it.

So, in order to get some free wine, I need to spend first, clear the balance, then do a BT.

I just want to check that I do a BT from Egg money to Virgin by asking Virgin to pay £9800 (£10k - 2% BT fee) to my Egg Money account. I will therefore have a -£9800 balance at Virgin & +£9800 at Egg Money.

I suppose that I can't transfer the full amount, because when they take the 2% fee, it will put me over my credit limit, so I can only transfer £9800.

Does this all sound correct?

YorkshireBoy

manic wrote:

I just want to check that I do a BT from Egg money to Virgin by asking Virgin to pay £9800 (£10k - 2% BT fee) to my Egg Money account.

Don't mention paying Egg Money. Just ask to transfer a balance from Egg Money to the Virgin card. The rest will 'just happen'!

I suppose that I can't transfer the full amount, because when they take the 2% fee, it will put me over my credit limit, so I can only transfer £9800.

You can only BT up to 95% of your credit limit.

manic

If I understand the T&Cs correctly I should only pay off £5 per month, after the BT, to benefit fully from the stooze.

The T&Cs say:

1b By the payment due date shown your statement each month, you must pay whichever is the least of:

2.25% of the balance shown on the statement (but you must pay at least £5)

adm_4

Was this offer invite only? I'd do it for the wine and stooze if I had the code...

manic

adm wrote:

Was this offer invite only? I'd do it for the wine and stooze if I had the code...

Yes. It ended on 29th September too.