The Best Balance Transfers article discussion area

Nettleship

Can anyone help? I have a £6000 overdraft in a RBS current account (Royalties Gold) & want to tranfer it on to the longest 0% interst credit card balance tranfer, while I pay all or most of it off. Upto now I have an excellant credit rating. Any ideas?
:beer:

Moggles_2

Hi Nettleship

Welcome to MSE!

Virgin currently offers 0% on balance transfers for 15 months. There's a 2.98% handling fee.

This lender periodically issues credit card cheques which can be paid into your RBS current account or you can request a super balance transfer to your bank.

Caution: IMO, it's best to request a SBT by phone, so you can check the 0% offer will apply. Otherwise you risk being charged for a money transfer, which is very expensive!

Biteme

Hello all,

I hope you can point me in the right direction, am very confused with all the credit card jargon out there at the moment

I have a cc balance that I need to transfer as the minimum payments are making my life difficult and I think that the HSBC is the best deal (as per the MSE email) but not sure how I work out how much the fee will be and the minimum repayments would be... I think am being blonde or Ive read so much that am confusing myself.

the balance I need to transfer is £7,000 can any of you point me in the right direction!?!?!?

Any help would be appreciated.

Biteme
Confused!!

ACT_3

Hi - I'm a newcomer too! Sorry I can't help Biteme... I have a cry for help too.

I understand the whole balance transfer thing and I have an old balance with Egg that's no longer on their offer rate - it's now 17.9% or something equally horrible but a 2% minimum monthly payment!

Anyway, I want to transfer it and need to cut my outgoings but every lifetime balance offer I've looked at has a higher minimum payment so the result would be higher monthly payments despite the lower interest rate. Any suggestions?

Biteme

Thats one of my fears is that I will go through the whole process of changing and then end up worse off.

Moggles_2

Originally posted by Biteme
I hope you can point me in the right direction, am very confused with all the credit card jargon out there at the moment

First, you need to decide whether to go for a 0% balance transfer for a fixed period of time or a life-of-balance card which charges a permanently low rate of interest for as long as it takes to clear the balance.
A third option is a card like HSBC which is a cross between the two. Currently, it offers a fixed rate of interest (4.9%) up until a specified date.

There's no right answer. Which of these three options you choose will depend on your circumstances and how you handle your finances.
For further explanation, you may want to read Martin's Best Balance transfers article.

The 0% deals will keep your monthly repayments to a minimum & save you more money, provided that you're prepared to ditch & switch when the 0% promotion ends. If I were you, I'd consider those first.

Calculations for 0% cards are more staightforward too, as there's no interest to consider. If you transfer £7000 to a 0% BT card, where the minimum monthly payment is 2%, your first payment would be £140. (Where a 3% minimum is payable, £210)

If you go for a life-of-balance or HSBC type card your monthly repayments will still be lower than at present. Remember each repayment includes the interest that accrues from the day the BT is debited to your account until the date your statement is printed, so your minimum monthly payment can only be estimated.

Whichever card you choose, you can reckon to pay a one-off handling fee of between 2-3% as well.

Moggles_2

Originally Posted by ACT
I have an old balance with Egg ... it's now 17.9% or something equally horrible but a 2% minimum monthly payment! I want to transfer it ... but every lifetime balance offer I've looked at has a higher minimum payment so the result would be higher monthly payments despite the lower interest rate. Any suggestions?

Have you considered the Goldfish 3.9% until July 2010 deal? A minimum monthly payment of 2% is required and a 3% handling fee applies.

TraceT

Hi guys

Hoping for some help!

I got married on 27th July this year, recently applied in my new married name for a Capital One Platinum card to transfer £1218 from an MBNA card. Received a letter today from Capital One refusing me. I have an exemplary credit score and couldn't understand why? Rang them explained the change of surname etc., they said nothing they can do, can't tell you why refused, apply again in 6 months.

So I applied for online reports from Experian (not got it yet) and also Equifax. The Equifax one came through straight away and against the Electoral Roll section it says "not known" or words to that effect.

I am surmising this is why I have been turned down. I forgot to change my details on the electoral roll (sent the change through 2 days ago), although I have changed them on the Council Tax, Bank Account and other credit cards.

Is there anything I can do to get them to look at it again, or should I just try and apply for another card elsewhere? If so, I'm stuck as my bank account, other credit cards, council tax are in my married name, but my electoral roll info is still in my previous name, so which ever name I apply in, something somewhere isn't going to tie up.

I need a 0% card that isn't associated with MBNA, I am paying this balance off at £200 a month, I've just had to make one payment to it, so balance will now be £1018.

Any advice/suggestions would be greatly appreciated and apologies for such a long post.

Trace

P.S. Hubby can't apply in his name, he's only been back in the UK since April this year after 6 years in Gibraltar.

laurawaite

hi everyone i'm hoping this might help someone

i don't have a very good credit history (have never missed any payments but have quite a high level of credit already compared to my income, also been at my job and address less than 3 years, and OH has a BAD history which could be affecting my name)

i had a £1800 balance on an aqua credit card (something like 33%) which i wanted to transfer and applied unsuccessfully for several new, lower interest rate cards.

as a last ditch attempt i applied for a barclaycard and to my surprise was accepted with a 2K limit and was able to transfer my balance at 6.9% for the life of the balance with no fee!

so if anyone is looking for a good balance transfer card that hasn't got a perfect credit history give them a try!

Moggles_2

Hi TraceT

Welcome to MSE!

You don't say which Capital One card was involved, but two market-leading offers were launched recently and heavily advertised. As a result, C1 was flooded with applications and could afford to cherry-pick applicants. As you say, the fact that you're not yet on the electoral roll under your married name probably tipped the scales. Congratulations for tackling this straight away. Lenders score us differently, but everyone's credit rating improves no end once enrolled.

Having registered your details, the period before your name is added to the electoral roll varies during the calendar year. It's possible to enrol each month from early December until mid-August, using the rolling register procedure. Unfortunately, you may have just missed the boat. There is a blind spot from mid-August till mid-October. This is because a borough-wide audit is undertaken in August and the register is updated in October. If so, your married name will appear on 1 December 2007. That said, it's worth contacting your borough council's electoral services dept to make sure. You never know. You might just have made it onto the August update!

Personally, I wouldn't apply for another card right away. Some lenders automatically decline applications that cannot be checked electronically. IMO, your best bet is to write an appeal letter to C1, stating your married and single names. This is a common enough situation after all and the fact that you're on the register under your single name at the same address is very much in your favour.

You may want to read Martin's How to improve your credit score article first, to make sure no other factors are working against you.

Let us know how you get on.
M.