Getting Virgin CC (MBNA) to reduce BT fee

manic

I am, it seems, never without some sort of BT or Money Transfer from Virgin.

I was just wondering if anyone has managed to negotiate a lower fee? I currently have a 13 month offer. BT fee 2.98%, MT fee 4%. Due to Egg Money changing their T&Cs to not allow positive balances, I want the cash to end up in my current account, I'd prefer to do a MT & would be reasonably happy to pay the same fee as a BT.

Any advice appreciated.

Consumerist

I think this is a case of take-it-or-leave-it.

YorkshireBoy

Apply for the 'exclusive' deal advertised here...

http://www.moneysupermarket.com/credit-cards/exclusives/

...then ask them to transfer (some of - not all*) the Virgin limit over to this new card before actioning the MT.

Result is a 13 months (with a late month statement date) 0% MT for only a 1.9% fee...much better than the offer you have now.


* You should keep the old account open with a, say, £500 limit...to increase your chances of further repeat offers in years to come.

Degenerate

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

* You should keep the old account open with a, say, £500 limit...to increase your chances of further repeat offers in years to come.

I'm curious, is this just a theory, or do we have evidence of success with this strategy?

I ask because I kept my old MBNA rewards Visa open with a small limit after opening my Virgin Mastercard and consolidating the credit limit as above. After 18 months with no offers, I decided it was pointless and closed the account.

I strongly suspect that their systems look at their overall exposure to you and won't make any more offers with 2 cards than one. OTOH, with your stoozing background you may know better.

manic

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

Apply for the 'exclusive' deal advertised here...

http://www.moneysupermarket.com/credit-cards/exclusives/

...then ask them to transfer (some of - not all*) the Virgin limit over to this new card before actioning the MT.

Result is a 13 months (with a late month statement date) 0% MT for only a 1.9% fee...much better than the offer you have now.


* You should keep the old account open with a, say, £500 limit...to increase your chances of further repeat offers in years to come.

Unfortunately I have made 2 applications for other cards recently (1 accepted - Nationwide :T & 1 refused - Barclaycard :mad:), so I may be out of luck with a new application at this time.

So I'll stick with 3% BT. I've got a couple of cards I can pay off, then I'll try a smallish positive balance on Egg Money to test the water.

YorkshireBoy

Degenerate wrote: »

I'm curious, is this just a theory, or do we have evidence of success with this strategy?

I have 2 MBNA run cards. I've had offers on each separately, and both together...both on purchases and BTs/MTs.

Others on the stoozing site have had similar success...one stoozer even has 5 MBNA run cards and regularly shuffles limits around before taking deals offered.

I've shuffled limits to get my current 12 month 0% MT deal at a 2% fee, but I've kept the other card open (and will maintain an element of spending on it) because when that card makes me an offer (after the current one has finished and been repaid) I'll reverse the 'switch'.

Plan B for me, had I not got the 2% deal, was to apply for the card I suggested above to 'manic' (and, if successful, switch both credit limits over - leaving a token £500 on each). Fortunately I didn't need to.