The Best Balance Transfers article discussion area

dollywops

Moggles wrote: »

Sorry to hear you were turned down. This card requires an "excellent" credit rating. Do you meet the criteria listed on the Capital One website? (e.g. held credit card(s) for at least 5 years, have a credit card with limit of at least £5000 etc.)

I have no experience of this lender personally, but MSEs have reported extreme inefficiency in processing applications and a balance transfer (minimum 6 weeks, sometimes longer). Some have encountered difficulties transferring the remaining balance to another card as well.

Capped fees will certainly save you money on a balance of £5500.
Currently, the longest 0% period available is 9 months. See Citi Platinum Mastercard, BT fee capped at £75.
The Virgin Atlantic and the John Lewis cards offer 0% BTs for 6 months, fees capped at £50.

OH has just been turned down for the Capital One card, despite meeting all their criteria for excellence.

I have just gone onto the Citi website. I presume you are talking about the Citi Platinum MasterCard with Travel Rewards. However, when you click on 'Get Details/Apply', for this card, the summary box seems not to mention the maximum of £75 bt fee, only the minimum. I don't want to get caught out on this.

We need to bt £8,500 from my &More card before 20 October. OH already has a Virgin card. We would obviously prefer to do a bt with a capped fee. Someone here mentioned NatWest, but I could not find this. Can anyone come up with anything better than John Lewis for 6 months.

Moggles_2

Originally Posted by dollywops
I have just gone onto the Citi website. I presume you are talking about the Citi Platinum MasterCard with Travel Rewards. However, when you click on 'Get Details/Apply' for this card, the summary box seems not to mention the maximum of £75 bt fee, only the minimum. I don't want to get caught out on this... We need to bt £8,500 from my &More card before 20 October.

Your concern is understandable. Discrepancies of this sort sometimes arise when the card company is in the process of changing its Ts & Cs, but not in this case. A phone call to Customer Services (0800 783 7788) will confirm that this offer still stands.

That said, I've not found Citi particularly generous with credit limits and this lender will only allow you to balance transfer 90% of your credit limit.

Someone here mentioned NatWest ...

Natwest is one of Martin's top recommendations (due lengthy interest-free period and modest BT fee), but this lender tends to hand out lower limits than Citi! TBH, I would be rather surprised if you were able to shift a balance of £8500 to either of these cards.

absfabs

Thanks again, Moggles.

Do you meet the criteria listed on the Capital One website? (e.g. held credit card(s) for at least 5 years, have a credit card with limit of at least £5000 etc.)

Yes, I do.

I have no experience of this lender personally, but MSEs have reported extreme inefficiency in processing applications and a balance transfer (minimum 6 weeks, sometimes longer). Some have encountered difficulties transferring the remaining balance to another card as well.

Thanks, as I had to apply on paper rather than online, I haven't posted it yet, done search now, phew!

Capped fees will certainly save you money on a balance of £5500. See Citi Platinum Mastercard, BT fee capped at £75.
The Virgin Atlantic and the John Lewis cards offer 0% BTs for 6 months, fees capped at £50.

What are my chances being accepted by Virgin for 0% offer a SECOND time round?
And are any of the 3 above as meticulous about "excellent" history as Capital One? (whatever the glitch is, possibly joint household account)

Thanks for all your advice, you guys are brilliant!

Edit: apologies, haven't quite figured out how you display quotes as quotes, referring to moggles reply #534.

Moggles_2

Originally Posted by absfabs
What are my chances of being accepted by Virgin for 0% offer a SECOND time round?

In your first post (#509), you mentioned closing your Virgin account some 18 months ago. Provided that (and this is crucial) the Virgin card is marked "settled" on your credit report, you will be treated as a new customer.

Moggles_2

Originally Posted by absfabs
Are any of the 3 above [Citi, John Lewis,Virgin Atlantic} as meticulous about "excellent" history as Capital One?

Martin believes that C1 scores more harshly than some. That said, I would keep an open mind about the reason(s) you were unsuccessful. None of us knows how individual credit card companies view our applications. Fortunately, there are ways to improve your chances of acceptance.

Have you looked at your credit file lately? This is the information potential lenders see when you apply for a new credit card, so it's worth checking whenever you're rejected. Mistakes do happen. (For help, see the *How to obtain credit reports* sticky.)

For tips to improve your chances of success, have a look at the *Credit Rating* articles on the main site. In particular, Martin's *Check and Improve your Credit Score*article. I've been shuffling credit cards for more than 10 years to pay off the mortgage early, but I still go through this very handy checklist now and again before making a new cc application.

leew

Can anyone guide me aswell pretty please!

I have a Ulster Card at the mo with around £1000 left to pay off it and the 0% period coming to an end next month.

Any suggestions as to which card i could BT to to avoid some hefty interest payments? Also my Mrs has a Halifax card with around £700 left to pay on hers any help here to? maybe we could transfer bother onto 1 card?

Any advice most grateful, not the best when it comes to credit cards!!

Thanks.

Moggles_2

Originally Posted by leew
I have an Ulster [Bank] Card at the mo with around £1000 left to pay off it and the 0% period coming to an end next month.
Any suggestions as to which card I could BT to, to avoid some hefty interest payments?

The Ulster Bank cards (not to be confused with the Ulster Rugby card which is run by the Bank of Ireland) are underwritten by the Royal Bank of Scotland, so you cannot transfer your balance to Lombard Direct, Mint, NatWest, RBS itself or Tesco, all of which belong to the same stable.

Also my Mrs has a Halifax card with around £700 left to pay ...

This rules out other HBOS cards like Amazon, Bank of Scotland and Intelligent Finance.

Maybe we could transfer both onto one card?

Should be perfectly possible. Have you considered Barclaycard Platinum? This deal offers new customers 0% on BTs made during the first 60 days. The interest-free period lasts 13 months. There's a 2.5% handling charge on each balance transferred.
Alternatively, to maximise the 0% period, 15 months is available from Virgin. A 2.98% BT fee applies.

competitionscafe

I have a £4k limit on a Barclaycard but as the interest rate is carp I have applied for a &more M&S card to transfer this balance to. Am I correct in saying that I should not spend anything on this card (although it says 0% on new spending until March 08) but should apply for another (second) card for any new spending? (eg: the Halifax One card). I can't pay off the entire 4k on the Barclaycard all in one go at the moment and have recently just been paying the minimum each month + a bit more extra now and then so I want to cut the monthly interest charges down as much as possible!

Moggles_2

Originally Posted by competitionscafe
I have applied for a &more M&S card to transfer a balance to. Am I correct in saying that I should not spend anything on this card (although it says 0% on new spending until March 08)

Yes. Generally speaking, it's wise to keep your balance transfer(s) and purchases on separate credit cards. This is because under the terms of most life-of-balance promotions, monthly repayments are allocated to the transferred balance(s) first, while retail transactions sit on successive monthly statements attracting interest at the standard rate, which is variable. (Currently, M&S charge 17.9% APR on purchases and by March 2008 this rate may have soared even higher.:eek:)

This is exactly the poo-trap M&S calculates some customers will fall into and it's one of the main ways, IMO, the company stands to make money! Those taking up this fee-free 5.9% pa deal, are offered 0% on purchases for just 6 months and then bombarded with advertising aimed at persuading them to spend on the card as well.

Should I apply for another (second) card for any new spending? (eg: the Halifax One card).... I have recently just been paying the minimum each month + a bit more extra now and then, so I want to cut the monthly interest charges down as much as possible!

Of the 0% for 12 months purchase deals, the Halifax One card has the lowest minimum payments, certainly.

VincentVega

I have around £2800 on a Llloyds TSB gold Mastercard, which I would like to try to avoid paying interest on. I also have a Post Office credit card, which I believe is backed by the Bank of Ireland, which rules out any other cards backed by them.

Any suggestions on a suitable card I can apply for? I take it that pretty much all of them now charge a fee for BTs?