RBS Balance Transfer - Purchasing fee racking up interest at full rate!!

excitableashell

I have recently (August) transferred £5500 from my Barclaycard c.card to the RBS offer 16mth interest free on balance transfers with 2.9% fee. My intention was to pay the fee off ( I thought this would be requested up front) and continue to pay amounts off in monthly installments which would hopefully of cleared the debt during the 0% free period.

All went really smoothly and I have no complaints for RBS however...

I have just received my first statement which shows the balance transfer amount and also the £190ish fee for doing this for me. I have noticed however that this fee is classed as a 'Purchase' on the card and after 3 months of having the card the purchase rate will go up from 0% to the full wack of 19ish%. Is this correct? Is it a case of my intention of clearing this fee & comfortably settling an amount each month from the big chunk of debt is now not possible??

If, as Martin suggests on his guides, I will be paying off the largest debt first surely I am fighting a losing battle & would of been better with a loan as the way I see it now is that as fast as I am paying off the lump sum the transfer fee will be racking up interest all the while as it is deemed a purchase!!

Has anyone else come across this problem when doing balance transfers? Is it possible that I will be able to pay the fee amount & clear it? This is not something I saw in Martin's advice page so is this a loophole that has been missed by me??

Help needed please!

roofusb

What's the minimum payment on your statement? Usually in these kind of BT deals the lender makes the first month's 'minimum payment' the full BT fee, so there should be no ongoing 'purchase' on the account.

excitableashell

The minimum payment for this month is £158, not the £193 of the transfer fee.

KiKi

Why don't you call them up and ask? They will be much better placed to provide advice on your specific issue as they will know the T&Cs of the card you've done the BT on.

KiKi

CLAPTON

compared to the saving generated by 5500 at 0% interest how much exactly will the interest on the fee actually be?

YorkshireBoy

Read your T&Cs, or at least scan the summary box, where you'll find that fees are repaid before purchases in the payment order.

Ergo, there will be no interest on the fee because it will be repaid well before the 0% on purchases promotion ends (3 x 2.25% minimums more than twice covers the 2.9% fee).