The Best Balance Transfers article discussion area

Faz

Hi guys, I would appreciate some advice here please:

Last month applied for 3 credit cards and was accepted for:

Egg Money (£2500 limit - my stoozing aid),
Virgin Money (£8000) 3% till Dec 2008
Capital One Platinum (£6000) 1.7% till Aug 2008

I have successfully transferred the balances from the two to my current account.

I already have a couple of cards, the big one with £15k limit is Egg.

My credit history is excellent.

I am considering applying for another (or two) credit cards as I want more capital for some short term needs and therefore have looked at:

Natwest - 2.5% fee for 13 months
Mint - 2.5% fee till Dec 2008

My main question is.. if I apply for more credit cards will I be harming my credit history? Could they possibly reject me? Also which of the two is more likely to give me a big credit limit for a BT? My income is over £20k and I'm 23.

My plan is to pay off all the balances when the promotional periods end

Thanks for the help.

Moggles_2

Originally Posted by Faz
I am considering applying for another (or two) credit cards as I want more capital for some short term needs and therefore have looked at:

Natwest - 2.5% fee for 13 months
Mint - 2.5% fee till Dec 2008

My main question is.. if I apply for more credit cards will I be harming my credit history?

Not necessarily, but your available credit already exceeds your annual income by a considerable margin, so your credit rating would be affected by a further credit card application.

Could they possibly reject me?

Only Mint and Natwest know the answer to that one, but you should be prepared for rejection or you may be handed a low limit.

Which of the two is more likely to give me a big credit limit for a BT? My income is over £20k and I'm 23.

Mint and Natwest belong to the same stable. They are underwritten by the Royal Bank of Scotland, which is not known for its generous credit limits, the reverse in fact.

Congratulations on last month's successful balance transfers. If I were you, I'd quit while you're ahead

Babbler

tesco have got a good offer at the moment - 12 months interest free transfers AND interest free on tesco shopping

voodoo123uk

Hi there, first post here by me, not really upto speed with credit cards etc but can some one tell me if you take out a 0% card can you only make one balance transfer, or could you say make a balance transfer of £1000 at the begining then another say a month down the line so on and still have the 0% intrest.

I have to buy some equipment but it won`t all be all at once, i was going to use my current card to buy the items then balance trancefer to the 0% one every now and again to give me around 1 years 0%.

Any help would be much appreciated

siins

Hi all. I think i have found a decent deal from Citibank for a nice long term offer.

Fee Free Balance Transfers
Lifetime Interest of 5.8%

I have been looking over the T&C's and cant find any downsides to this one.

I am going to move to 2 debts from other cards one for 3400 & 4200 (both of which are a huuge 17.9%

Any advice on Citibank would be appreciated!

Jake'sGran

My son has a £5000 credit card debt which he keeps transferring to what he thought were the best balance transfers but now it seems that the repayments are ALL £5/10 or a percentage of the balance whichever is the greater. He missed this in the small print with the current card and has just had to pay £150 for his first payment. He is on incapacity and will not be able to keep this up as he has a mortgage etc. I spent an hour last night trying to find a card that will accept a minimum payment say, £10 or £20 with a balance transfer but no luck. The best I could find was Barclays which is
14 months £5 MIn or 2.25%

Does anyone know of any balance transfers that are better than this for repayments.

Moggles_2

Originally Posted by voodoo123uk
If you take out a 0% card, can you only make one balance transfer or could you make a balance transfer of £1000 at the beginning, then another a month down the line and still have the 0% interest?

Some lenders restrict the interest free offer to balance transfers requested X days from account opening.

To help you further, we need to know which cards you currently hold.

Moggles_2

Originally Posted by siins
I think i have found a decent deal from Citibank for a nice long term offer.
Fee Free Balance Transfers, lifetime Interest of 5.8%. I have been looking over the T&C's and can't find any downsides to this one.
I am going to move 2 debts from other cards one for 3400 & 4200 (both of which are a huge 17.9%). Any advice on Citibank would be appreciated!

It's a decent deal but Citibank is not known for its generous credit limits, so you may not be handed sufficient credit to transfer both balances.

Have you considered the Marks & Spencer &More card?

Moggles_2

Originally Posted by Jake'sGran
My son has a £5000 credit card debt which he keeps transferring to what he thought were the best balance transfers but now it seems that the repayments are ALL £5/10 or a percentage of the balance whichever is the greater. He missed this in the small print with the current card and has just had to pay £150 for his first payment. He is on incapacity and will not be able to keep this up as he has a mortgage etc. I spent an hour last night trying to find a card that will accept a minimum payment say, £10 or £20 with a balance transfer but no luck. The best I could find was Barclays which is 14 months, minimum 2.25%.
Does anyone know of any balance transfers that are better than this for repayments?

Cards issued by MBNA have the lowest minimum payments, ranging from £5 to £25, depending on the brand of card.

Please be aware that the balance transfer fee would be collected with the first minimum payment, so your son's first repayment would still be 3% of the balance, but he would pay from £5-£25 per month from there on.

renard_2

MARTIN: I may be mistaken, but it appears that Marks and Spencer have now varied the terms of their balance transfers.

I have just followed your link to their &MORE credit card site, and find the following:

Fee free balance transfers at just 7.9% p.a. for 2 years from date of transfer (on balances transferred within 6 months of account opening)

If I am correct, this means that the &MORE card is no longer so attractive for balance transfers.