The Best Balance Transfers article discussion area

Moggles_2

Originally Posted by travelling light
Royal Bank of Scotland fee is online as 2.5% for BTs

Thanks for posting. Apparently, NatWest has raised it's BT fee to 2.5% as well.

sortinmedoe

riad wrote: »

With RBS and Natwest cards the fee is paid off FIRST before the Balance Transfer... which makes their BT's one of the best around!! So you would not be paying interest on the fee till the debt is paid off.

Oh! On the back of my letter it says "Please be aware that the balance transfer fee will attract interest at the rate applied to purchases from the date charged until paid off)" I don't understand why they would put that if the fee is paid off first!

Are they saying, that if I only pay the minimum each month then I will pay interest on the fee. So, if I pay the whole fee of £102.56 right away, then I won't pay any more than that over the year?

sortinmedoe

Moggles wrote: »

Thanks for posting. Apparently, NatWest has raised it's BT fee to 2.5% as well.

As it says 2% on my letter, they'd have to stick to that wouldn't they?

Moggles_2

Originally Posted by sortinmedoe
As it says 2% [BT fee] on my letter, they'd have to stick to that wouldn't they?

Yes. Yours is an existing customer offer.
As from this week, new online applicants will be charged 2.5%.

pkempc

Just received a letter today confirming my successful application for a no fee 0% BT CC from Capital One and BT in progress. https://www.capitalone.co.uk/web/raid/templates/formdual_temp_10_001.jsp?page_id=10400&context_id=2&step=1&product_id=2310

Managed to transfer over £5k to a John Lewis CC in time to avoid any interest charges. The John Lewis CC was 0% for 6 months with a 2% fee but capped at £50. http://www.partnershipcards.com/?ad=XJ10&COUP=JLW&AQST=IT802

With careful budgeting the debt WILL be paid off by next April.

So that's a £5k loan for over a year for a total cost of £50.:beer:

Moggles_2

Hi pkempc

Welcome to the credit card boards!
Excellent news. Well done & thanks for posting.

Cheers
M
:beer:

famerswalker

I applied Virgin's Credit Card about 2 weeks ago. When I received the card (it was fairly easy and qick about a week), I called to activate the card. I was told I could balance transfer to my CURRENT ACCOUNT! I couldn't believe my ear, but the guy said it was right and it was just like transfering credit to another credit card, with 2.98% transfer fees. So I asked for 95% credit limit transfer, will use 2500pounds to pay for another credit card, what left(1500) would be stay in my savers account for some extra cash (interests), and will pay back to virgin 15months later!

So come on ladies and gentlemen, stooz it!:money: :T

Moggles_2

Hi famerswalker

Welcome to MSE & thanks for your input!
Used sensibly, the Virgin card is certainly well worth having.

Cheers
M
:beer:

TASchroder

Just received my first statement from Capital 1 and noticed that they only credited 3% cashback, rather than the 4% advertised. Their accompanying literature never mentions the actual rate. I have an unblemished credit history, so maybe the 4% offer is no longer valid

SheppeyMan

Not quite sure if this is the right area but will post anyway as I believe it will help others.

The story starts when Virgin decided to impose an usurious rate of 29.5% onto me because a Direct Debit bounced a couple of months ago. I contacted Halifax who were able to offer a LOB of 6.95% (max 95% of my Halifax credit limit) and I therefore transferred that amount into the Virgin CC on 30/8/07 but it did not clear the whole amount of the Virgin balance.

I have a direct debit set up to pay the monthly minimum sum and received a statement setting the minimum payment expected based on the original balance. I naively expected that as the transfer had taken place long before the minimum payment was due this would be picked up by the banking software and it would be regarded as the monthly payment. After all, I had kept my part in more than ensuring that the monthly payment had been made.

Today I found that the Direct Debit had been forwarded for the amount on the statement. Unfortunately there was not enough money in my current account to meet the original minimum payment demanded by Virgin and the Direct Debit was bounced (which will cost me £35 in due course).
I rang up Virgin to courteously notify them of what had happened and I was told (to add insult to injury) because the Direct Debit had failed I would be charged £12! I was also told that I should have notified them that I wanted the money that had gone in to be treated as payment for this month. It seems that the Virgin Direct Debit is set up to take the statement minimum payment on the due date REGARDLESS of any other prior payments.

This behaviour on their part will eventually cost me £47 when I had more than covered the minimum payment already. I am not sure what to do next and any suggestions would be helpful - should I sue? After all, if there had been no Direct Debit in the first place, the BT payment would have been regarded as including the minimum payment.

In any case, I have today applied for a Barclaycard credit card with 0% BT. Hopefully, if I am successful in my application, this will take care of the rest of Virgin balance.